Frankfurt passengers asked to stay home

It's the busiest day of the week for travellers.

But few people were able to travel anywhere from Frankfurt airport on Friday.

A strike by security staff brought chaos to Europe's third largest air hub.

SOUNDBITE: MARKO AICELE, PASSENGER FROM FINLAND, SAYING (English):

"I'm heading to Helsinki and now I've heard that all the security is closed, totally closed."

SOUNDBITE: TIM OGER, PASSENGER FROM BRITAIN, SAYING (English):

"Now we have to try and get the bags back. It seems they don't have a process for doing this. I should imagine there's lots of people trying to get their baggage back because they can't make flights. It's absolute chaos, not very impressive, not very German."

At least 50 flights were cancelled and thousands of passengers delayed.

The biggest problem was getting people checked in and through security.

Frankfurt airport's spokesman Mike Schweitzer asked other travellers to stay at home.

SOUNDBITE: FRANKFURT AI