BERLIN (AP) — Germany's flagship airline, Lufthansa, canceled 290 flights on Friday as cabin crew workers went on strike at Frankfurt and Duesseldorf airports.

The carrier said the cancellations included 23 long-haul flights, and that overall some 37,500 passengers were affected.

Lufthansa urged travelers to check its website or call its hotline before heading to the airport to see if their connections were affected. Lufthansa subsidiaries such as Austrian Airlines, Germanwings, Eurowings and Swiss aren't affected.

The UFO union said earlier this week its members would go on strike for a week, starting Friday, if its demands were not met.

Among other things, it wants transition payments for its 19,000 members if they choose early retirement.

It plans to move the strike around different airports but has not announced a schedule, aside from saying it would not target Munich's airport through Sunday, which is the end of the southern state's fall holidays.