Lufthansa fined a record $4 million for discriminating against Jewish passengers
This is the largest fine ever imposed by the Ministry of Transport on an airline. Lufthansa faces record fine after excluding Jewish passengers. Lufthansa, Germany’s largest airline, has been fined a record $4 million for discriminating against Jewish passengers, the US Department of Transportation announced Tuesday.
The fine follows an incident in May 2022 in which the airline prevented the boarding of 128 Jewish passengers. The Department of Transportation noted in a consent order that the passengers were wearing “distinctive clothing typically worn by Orthodox Jewish men.” They were denied boarding as a group and could not connect in Frankfurt to Budapest on a flight from New York because of the “alleged misbehavior of some”.
However, the passengers do not know each other and are not traveling together.
In a press release, the airline said that the incident “resulted from an unfortunate series of miscommunications, misinterpretations and misjudgments during the decision-making process” and that these actions, “we regret, do not support any finding of discrimination and the conclusions of the Department in the department in this matter.
The misconduct detailed in the report included 60 passengers on board who “repeatedly ignored” safety instructions and public announcements from flight attendants and cabin crew. The crew said some passengers blocked economy class flight attendants from serving food and drinks on board, “disturbed other passengers” and fought with the crew over wearing a mask. The DOT said Tuesday’s penalty was the federal agency’s largest for a civil rights violation.
