Lufthansa LHA 3.24%increase; green up pointing triangle was fined $4 million by U.S. regulators, who accused the German airline of discriminating against more than 120 Jewish passengers by stopping them from making a connecting flight.
The U.S. Transportation Department said in May 2022, 128 passengers going from New York City to Budapest for an annual memorial event in honor of an Orthodox rabbi weren’t allowed to board a connecting flight in Frankfurt, Germany.
On the first leg of the flight, some passengers said they were told to wear face masks and not to stand in the aisles. The passengers said they didn’t see anyone that didn’t comply.
The captain of the flight informed a Lufthansa security manager of misbehavior by passengers traveling on to Budapest. No specific passengers were identified, according to the Transportation Department. Still, the airline put a hold on over 100 passengers’ tickets.
In Frankfurt, the gate staff called the names of passengers allowed to board, and left the 128 travelers waiting at the gate “confused and upset” as the plane left, the Transportation Department said.
Most of the 128 passengers were wearing clothing worn by Orthodox Jews, such as black hats, pants and jackets. They told the Department of Transportation that they were treated like they were a group of one, even though many didn’t know each other, “because they were openly and visibly Jewish.”
The Transportation Department said the $4 million fine is the largest it has issued against an airline for civil-rights violations.