The Cologne, Germany-based commercial airline Lufthansa has agreed to pay $4 million in restitutions after an investigation by the American Office of Aviation Consumer Protection (OACP), a government body within the US Department of Transportation, for discriminating against a group of orthodox Jewish passengers traveling from New York City, New York to Budapest, Hungary in May 2022.
128 men in traditional orthodox Jewish clothing were prohibited from boarding their connecting flight to Budapest in Frankfurt, Germany two years ago. Some of these passengers refused to comply with COVID-19 pandemic rules still in place at the time, such as the mandated wearing of a face mask, for which Lufthansa punished them collectively. That is despite the fact that many of the Jewish passengers did not know each other and, evidently, did not book their flight tickets together either.
Some of the Jewish men were rebooked by the airline to a flight going to Budapest later that day.
During the investigation by the US Department of Transportation, the airline admitted that they had penalized people who committed no violation. In their estimation, only around 60 of them disregarded cabin crew instructions in total. However, they had reached the conclusion that ‘it is not practical to deal with each passenger individually’. Despite that admission, the company still maintains that its employees did not engage in any racial discrimination.
However, after the investigation by the DOT, they have agreed to pay $4 million in penalties for the incident.
Lufthansa will pay $2 million of the total $4 million fine to the US Department of Transportation, while the remaining $2 million will be paid to the aggrieved Jewish passengers.
The incident has ‘resulted from an unfortunate series of inaccurate communications, misinterpretations, and misjudgments throughout the decision-making process,’ a Lufthansa spokesperson has stated, as quoted by Reuters. The company has also highlighted that they are partnering with the American Jewish Committee to organize a training programme for its employees on avoiding antisemitism and discrimination.
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