Lufthansa pays $4m fine over treatment of Jewish passengers

German airline staff allegedly prohibited 128 Orthodox Jews from boarding a flight because half of them had been refusing to wear face masks during the pandemic.

German airline Lufthansa agreed on Tuesday to pay a $4 million (€3.67 million) penalty for allegedly discriminating against Jewish passengers at Frankfurt Airport in May 2022.

According to the US Department of Transportation (DOT), which issued the fine, Lufthansa staff prohibited 128 passengers, nearly all of whom were wearing traditional Orthodox Jewish attire, from boarding a connecting flight on the basis of alleged misbehavior by some.

The passengers, who had flown from New York to Frankfurt and were trying to board a connecting flight to Budapest, Hungary, told DOT investigators that they were not all traveling together and did not all know each other.

They claimed that Lufthansa treated them as if they were a single group and denied all of them boarding for the alleged misbehavior of a few.

What has Lufthansa said?

Lufthansa denied that any of its employees discriminated against passengers and contended that as many as 60 passengers at any one time had been disregarding crew instructions to wear regulation FFP-2 face masks.

The airline said the incident "resulted from an unfortunate series of inaccurate communications, misinterpretations, and misjudgments throughout the decision-making process," according to the DOT.

Lufthansa has nevertheless agreed to pay a $4 million fine, half of which will be credited in the form of $2 million already paid in compensation to passengers.

In a statement, the airline said that it has fully cooperated with the DOT since the incident and has set up a "first-of-its kind training program in the airline industry for our managers and employees to address antisemitism and discrimination," among other efforts to liaise with the American Jewish Community.

The DOT said the penalty is the largest it has ever issued against an airline for civil rights violations.

"No one should face discrimination when they travel," said US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

"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."

mf/lo (Reuters, DW Sources)