The Department of Transportation (DOT) has fined German flag carrier Lufthansa $4 million over a 2022 incident in which 128 Jewish passengers were booted off a connecting flight from Frankfurt to Budapest after just arriving in Germany from New York JFK.
During the transatlantic flight from New York, some of the passengers disobeyed the face mask mandate, which was still in place in Germany at the time, despite numerous reminders from the cabin crew and several announcements made by the Captain.
The flight attendants onboard the Frankfurt-bound flight didn’t identify any specific passengers who had misbehaved, but one of the Jewish passengers, who was wearing “distinctive garb typically worn by Orthodox Jewish men,” told a crew member that they were connecting to Budapest.
The Captain contacted Lufthansa’s internal security team and informed the Security Duty Manager that they believed the misbehaving passengers were connecting to Budapest. In turn, the security manager placed a block on every single passenger connecting from the New York flight to the Budapest flight.
Rather than trying to identify the individuals involved, Lufthansa decided to boot every single person connecting to Budapest. All of the connecting passengers were Jewish, but they were not traveling as one group, and many did not know each other.
In response to the DOT investigation into the incident, Lufthansa said “an unfortunate series of inaccurate communications, misinterpretations, and misjudgments throughout the decision-making process” were to blame for incorrectly denying boarding to all the Jewish passengers connecting to Budapest.
“Lufthansa maintains that these actions, although regrettable, do not support any finding of discrimination,” the airline told the DOT.
During Lufthansa flight LH401 from New York JFK to Frankfurt, the airline claims that as many as 60 passengers at any one time “repeatedly disregarded both in-flight public address announcements from the flight deck and in-person crew instructions.”
“Lufthansa stresses that in some cases, passengers not only refused to comply with safety and security requirements but argued with Lufthansa flight attendants and other passengers who courteously reminded them of the obligation to wear masks.”
The airline told DOT investigators that it couldn’t identify the individuals involved because the “infractions were so numerous” and because passengers switched seats during the flight.
“Lufthansa rejects any allegation by the Department that the events in this matter resulted from any form of discrimination and disputes that any employee involved in the decision at FRA to deny boarding manifested bias against the impacted passengers on the basis of the passenger’s perceived religion or ethnicity, conduct that is strictly prohibited at Lufthansa,” the airline’s defense continued.
Despite disagreeing with the DOT’s finding that it discriminated against the passengers, Lufthansa nevertheless agreed to enter into a Consent Order with the Department to avoid potential litigation.
Lufthansa has been fined $4 million for discriminating against the passengers on the basis of religion, although $2 million is being credited because Lufthansa has already agreed to a massive compensation payout in an out-of-court settlement.
Each of the affected passengers received $21,000 in compensation from the airline.
The DOT opened its investigation into the incident after it received 40 complaints from passengers booted from the Budapest flight. The US government had the power to investigate Lufthansa because the passengers started their international journey in New York.
In the aftermath of the antisemitism row, Lufthansa became the first airline to fully adopt a more encompassing definition of antisemitism, which was created by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
Lufthansa also says it is continuing to work with the American Jewish Committee to develop corporate sensitivity training sessions.
Pax that cannot obey the rules should be dealt with. And that’s exactly what the Captain did. Why do some groups of people (looking at you, Evangelicals Christians and Orthodox Jews) think in-flight safely rules or the laws we live by somehow don’t apply to them ? No wonder why religion is quickly becoming like the dinosaur, and the fastest growing ones are atheism and agnosticism !