Lufthansa hit with record penalty after barring Jewish passengers
The U.S. government has imposed a record $4 million penalty on Lufthansa after the airline prevented Jewish passengers from boarding a flight in 2022, citing alleged non-compliance with face mask regulations.
The Department of Transportation stated that Lufthansa discriminated against these passengers by treating them “as if they were all a single group,” despite many not traveling together or knowing each other.
This penalty marks the largest civil rights violation fine ever levied against an airline.
In a consent order, Lufthansa agreed to the payment to avoid litigation but denied any discrimination, attributing the incident to “an unfortunate series of inaccurate communications.”
“Lufthansa is committed to being an ambassador of goodwill, tolerance, diversity, and acceptance,” the airline said in a statement, adding that it had cooperated with the investigation and would continue to prioritize staff training.
The incident involved passengers traveling from New York to Budapest with a layover in Frankfurt in May 2022.
According to the DOT, many of the affected passengers were male and dressed in “distinctive garb typically worn by Orthodox Jewish men,” and they had booked their tickets through a small number of travel agencies.
During the first leg of the journey, the captain informed Lufthansa security that several passengers were not adhering to crew instructions regarding mask-wearing and restrictions on congregating in aisles and other areas.
As a result, tickets for more than 100 passengers— all of whom were Jewish— were placed on hold, preventing them from boarding their connecting flight.
The DOT said Lufthansa recognised that the action also would hurt people who had complied with the instructions but “concluded it was not practical to address each passenger individually”.
The majority were rebooked on other flights the same day.
“No one should face discrimination when they travel, and today’s action sends a clear message to the airline industry that we are prepared to investigate and take action whenever passengers’ civil rights are violated,” US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said.
The DOT said passengers interviewed for the investigation said they had not witnessed misbehaviour and Lufthansa later failed to identify any one passenger who had not followed the rules.
But in the consent order, Lufthansa said its staff was unable to single out passengers because “the infractions were so numerous, the misconduct continued for substantial portions of the flight and at different intervals and the passengers changed seats during the flight”.
The DOT said it was requiring Lufthansa to pay $2m and would give the airline credit for $2m it has already paid to passengers as part of a legal settlement.