A family of Orthodox Jews who were traveling with United Airlines from Newark to Tel Aviv claim they were subjected to antisemitic mistreatment by gate agents who shamed and embarrassed them in front of other passengers as they went to board their flight.
The alleged incident occurred in May 2023, and the family has now filed a lawsuit against United Airlines in a New York state court alleging that the carrier discriminated against them.
According to recently filed court documents, started when the family, dressed in traditional attire worn by Hasidic Jews, turned up at the gate to board flight UA84 to Tel Aviv on May 16, 2023.
The gate agents are accused of challenging the family over how much hand luggage they had brought with them but when Moses Engel tried to explain that he hadn’t been issued with a luggage tag for his personal items, one of the gate agents allegedly responded: “You people are always doing this”.
The lawsuit alleges that the comment was made in “clear and obvious” reference to the family’s religious faith, explaining: “Said false allegations were statements that were intended to embarrass, shame, harass, and himilate Plaintiffs and their family because of their Jewish faith.”
The gate agents then gave the family an ultimatum – remove all of the items they required for the duration of the 12-hour flight to Tel Aviv within just 10 seconds or risk being booted from the flight.
In full view of other passengers, Engel says she was forced to kneel down in the airbridge and start picking out everything the family would need as one of the agents loudly counted down from ten.
Despite his best efforts, Engel says she wasn’t able to retrieve everything the family needed in the short amount of time that the gate agents provided him, including food they had packed for his infant son, along with medication for both him and his wife.
The lawsuit comes just months after an orthodox Jewish Rabbi from New York claimed he was kicked off a Jetblue flight to Palms Spring on New Year’s Eve because he had been assigned a seat next to a woman who he didn’t know.
Abraham Lunger said he tried to get another passenger to switch seats with him because sitting next to a female was against his religious beliefs. Although another passenger volunteered to switch seats, Lunger claims a flight attendant yelled at him and told him he had to sit in his assigned seat.
The flight attendant then called the pilot, who insisted Lunger would have to take his assigned seat because switching could cause a weight and balance issue. When Lunger refused, the pilot ordered him off the plane.
In this latest case, United Airlines has been contacted for comment but the carrier did not respond by the time of publication.
Two days ago I checked in for a KLM flight from LA to Amsterdam. Multiple people were sprawled out in front of the desks removing items from their checked luggage, presumably because they didn’t want to pay extra for overweight baggage. A gate agent told them they had to move because they were blocking other passengers. To my knowledge, no one has sued or reported on their plight yet.
And the silly part about this is that if your checked baggage if over weight (usually around 50 lbs) they will charge you a penalty but there is no weight restriction for any carry on so it can weigh 100 lbs and nobody cares.
The fact is, people of all faiths, ethnicities, and genders try to beat the system. They cram the overhead bins with excess carry-ons, and people who actually follow the rules suffer. When they get caught, they act like it’s the airline’s fault. And of course if they are in a “victim” class of people, they always claim discrimination.
Really? ! Enough with the victim card please. It’s really getting to the point where nobody as hard as they try will sympathize. Be black for a day and then tell me how you are treated. This is just too much bs.
What a nice lady. And you don’t play the victim card at all.
As an orthodox/chassidic Jew I would like to verify that “Yes, our people often think they can outsmart the system.” Suing now after being caught out is just a shameful moneygrab. As for the guy who doesn’t want to sit next to a woman. But 2 tickets you idiot and you won’t have a problem. We don’t need self righteous people making a chilul Hashem.
An apology might be in order, but please take your BS lawsuit and shove it.
The issue about the man wanting to switch seats with another because of his religious beliefs and was denied because the pilot said that it could cause a weight and balance issue is total hooey. No airline that we have ever flown on have ever asked us what we weigh and/or when we choose our seats at the time of booking there never has been anywhere to indicate our weight or any other indicator that states that our personal weight could be an issue with our seat selection. Also, there is no weight restriction for any carry ons, only for checked baggage. So there is no way that him wishing to change seats with another passenger who was willing to do this would have any negative impact on the flight of that plane.
When All else Fails, Play the A.S. or “Victim” Card!
You comply with the luggage requirements or you don’t board – figure it out in advance or be prepared to do a last minute repacking.
If you can’t book the seat next to you, sit next to whoever is there. If you don’t like it, find another way to travel.
I don’t know about the language that may have been used — there’s no call for rudeness or discriminatory comments — but in terms of policy, sounds like United was 100% right and the traveler 100% wrong.