Lufthansa, the German airline, has been fined $4 million by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) for barring over 100 Jewish travelers from boarding a connecting flight in Frankfurt last May, Al Jazeera reports.
The DOT has described the incident as a violation of civil rights law and the largest penalty it has ever levied against an airline for such a violation.
The incident involved a group of 128 Jewish people, many of whom were wearing traditional Orthodox clothing, who were traveling from New York City to Budapest. The airline, citing the misbehavior of a few passengers, prevented the entire group from boarding their connecting flight.
According to the DOT, passengers interviewed by authorities stated that Lufthansa treated the group as a “single entity” despite many of them not knowing each other or traveling together. The misbehavior in question included obstructing flight attendants and arguing with the crew about wearing masks.
Lufthansa, in its response to the DOT, acknowledged the incident and offered a public apology. They said that the situation arose from a “series of inaccurate communications, misinterpretations, and misjudgments” and that their staff acted without awareness of the passengers’ ethnicity or religion.
However, the airline maintains that its actions, while regrettable, do not constitute discrimination and disagrees with the DOT’s findings.
