Lufthansa hit with document penalty after barring Jewish passengers | EUROtoday

The US has hit Lufthansa with a document $4m (3m) penalty after the airline barred Jewish passengers from a 2022 flight as a result of some allegedly refused to observe guidelines requiring face masks.

The Department of Transportation stated Lufthansa discriminated towards the passengers, treating them “as if they were all a single group”, although many weren’t travelling collectively and didn’t know each other.

It stated the penalty was the biggest it had ever issued towards an airline for civil rights violations.

Lufthansa stated within the consent order that it was agreeing to the cost to keep away from litigation however denied discrimination, blaming the incident on “an unfortunate series of inaccurate communications”.

“Lufthansa is dedicated to being an ambassador of goodwill, tolerance, diversity, and acceptance,” the corporate stated in a press release, including that it had cooperated with the investigation and remained centered on coaching for its employees.

The episode concerned passengers who have been travelling from New York to Budapest, with a connection in Frankfurt, in May 2022.

Many of the passengers have been male, carrying “distinctive garb typically worn by Orthodox Jewish men” and had used the identical handful of journey businesses to e book their tickets, in line with the DOT.

During the primary flight, the captain alerted Lufthansa safety that some passengers had didn’t observe crew directions requiring masks, and barring gathering in aisles and different locations on board.

The alert led to holds on tickets of greater than 100 passengers, all of them Jewish, which led to them being blocked from their connecting flight.

The DOT stated Lufthansa recognised that the motion additionally would harm individuals who had complied with the directions however “concluded it was not practical to address each passenger individually”.

The majority have been rebooked on different flights the identical 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 stated.

The DOT stated passengers interviewed for the investigation stated they’d not witnessed misbehaviour and Lufthansa later didn’t determine anybody passenger who had not adopted the principles.

But within the consent order, Lufthansa stated its employees was unable to single out passengers as a result of “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 stated it was requiring Lufthansa to pay $2m and would give the airline credit score for $2m it has already paid to passengers as a part of a authorized settlement.