The United States fined German airline Lufthansa $4 million for its treatment of a group of Jewish passengers who were denied boarding a 2022 flight in Frankfurt after they had flown to Germany from New York.
The U.S. Transportation Department said Tuesday that the fine is the largest the agency has issued against an airline for civil-rights violations, although Lufthansa was given credit for $2 million for compensation it gave the passengers, cutting the fine in half.
The department said most of the 128 passengers who were denied boarding “wore distinctive garb typically worn by Orthodox Jewish men.” Although many did not know each other and were not traveling together, they told investigators that Lufthansa treated them as if they were a group and denied boarding to all over alleged misbehavior by a few passengers.
They were among 131 passengers who were flying from New York through Frankfurt to Budapest to observe the yahrtzeit of Reb Shayale of Kerestir in Hungary.
Some said flight attendants told them on the first flight about the requirement to wear a face mask and not to gather in aisles or near emergency exits. The Lufthansa crew members did not identify any passengers who failed to obey their instructions, which the airline said was due to the sheer number of violations and because many traded seats during the flight.
The captain alerted Lufthansa security about misbehavior among the passengers, which set in motion the steps that led to their being denied boarding on the connecting flight, according to a consent order in the case.
Lufthansa rejected “any allegation by the Department that the events in this matter resulted from any form of discrimination” and disputes that any employee acted on bias, but it acknowledged “errors in company procedure and communications.”
Lufthansa reached a settlement with most of the passengers in 2022.
(AP)
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2 Responses
Lamentably, $4M for a company of that size, is not even a dent & means so absolutely nothing.
But why is another authentic Jew still flying Lufthansa:- איזה בושה וחרפה
Without knowing the particulars of this case, I can’t pass judgement.
I am assuming that this group who didn’t know each other, nevertheless banded together to make a minyan on the plane, as Jews do, even if they are total strangers. So in that sense, they are 100% behaving as a group, they likely engaged the airline staff in argument insisting that they be allowe to daven, as a group, and therefore the airline was correct in treating them as a group.
From eyewitness experience, I have seen this scenario play out on planes, as I sure all of us have. It does not sit well with me.
The airline has every right and indeed duty to lay down the law of conduct on the plane. They are responsible for the safety and comfort of the passengers, and it’s obvious that a group of men blocking the narrow aisle and not responding to anyone for 15 minutes, is not something that can be practically tolerated. This is NOT discrimination or anti semitism. The proof: They won’t stop you making a minyan in the departure lounge. It’s only on the plane.
So I think this case is a very bad outcome and will probably cause real antisemitism Chas VeShalom.
Enough of this, daven in your seat on the plane, as many if not all poskim say.