Frankfurt (dpa) - The German flight attendants' union Ufo on Monday called a token strike targeting the airline Lufthansa at the weekend.

The strike, aimed at the main Frankfurt hub and at the Munich airport, is to be limited to five hours between 6:00 am and 11:00 am (0400-0900 GMT) on Sunday morning.

Lufthansa said the planned strike is illegal. "Our clear aim is to maintain our full flying schedule on October 20," the German airline said in a statement.

Lufthansa, the largest airline in Europe by number of passengers if all its subsidiaries are included, said it was considering legal action against Ufo.

Daniel Flohr, Ufo's deputy head, said via an online video message that there was a possibility the union would target Lufthansa subsidiaries. Ufo has issued demands to Germanwings, Eurowings, CityLine and SunExpress, all of them linked to Lufthansa.

Flohr said Lufthansa was hoping that it would find enough strike breakers to keep its planes in the air and that it had informed Ufo that no emergency flight plan for customers would be drawn up.

"The risk of cancellations at short notice is completely irresponsible with respect to the customers," he said.

Lufthansa is challenging Ufo's right to engage in collective bargaining through the courts. A Frankfurt court ruled recently that Ufo had legally cancelled agreements with the airline.

Lufthansa was currently seeking a new collective bargaining deal with Germany's largest services trade union, Verdi, which competes with Ufo for members, Flohr said.

A Verdi spokeswoman said in Berlin that issues had been raised with Lufthansa on Friday, without providing details.

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