Airline hit with largest fine in DOT history for blocking 128 Jewish passengers from boarding flight

GERMANY'S flagship airline has been hit with a $4 million penalty over allegations the company discriminated against a group of Jewish passengers.

The US Department of Transportation said Lufthansa denied 128 Jewish passengers from boarding their connecting flight from Frankfurt to Budapest, Hungary, on May 3, 2022.

The passengers, many of whom wore distinctive clothing worn by Orthodox Jewish men, were traveling from New York City to Budapest with a connecting flight in Frankfurt.

However, Lufthansa denied the passengers boarding their connecting flight due to alleged misbehavior by a few individuals, the passengers told the USDOT.

The passengers were treated as a single group by the airline despite most not knowing each other or traveling together.

During the flight from New York to Frankfurt, the captain alerted Lufthansa security that some passengers failed to follow the cabinet crew's instructions, including refusing to return to their seats and assembling in the aisles and emergency exit rows.

However, several passengers told the USDOT that they did not witness anyone failing or refusing to comply with the crewmembers' instructions.

When the airline landed in Frankfurt, Lufthansa crewmembers had not identified any specific passenger who they claimed was misbehaving during the fight, the USDOT said.

A Lufthansa report stated that an airline security duty manager flagged at least 123 passengers' itineraries to High Priority Comment.

Every one of the passengers flagged was Jewish.

OUTRAGE

At the time, Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt told NBC News that some passengers were accused of violating the airline's mask policy.

Lipstadt called the airline's actions "classic antisemitism."

"Unbelievable. [When] I first heard it, I said, 'Oh, this must be wrong. Someone must be misreporting this,'" Lipstadt said at the time.

"And then, of course, it turned out to be precisely right - and worse than we even thought.

"If any airline had done it, it would have been outrageous. But the terrible, awful irony of it coming from the German national airline was outrageous."

US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the penalty is a clear message to the airline industry about discrimination.

"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," Buttigieg said.

"From cracking down on long tarmac delays to ensuring passengers are properly refunded, our department has strengthened our enforcement efforts to hold airlines accountable for their treatment of passengers, and we will continue to push the industry to serve passengers with the fairness and dignity they deserve."

In the USDOT's report, Lufthansa said the company had zero tolerance for any form of religious or ethnic-based discrimination, including antisemitism.

"Lufthansa states that it and the entire passenger airline group have had a robust and fruitful relationship with the Jewish community around the world, especially the United States," the USDOT's report read.

"Lufthansa states that it is a trusted choice, to this day, for members of the Orthodox Jewish Community who continue to use the Lufthansa Group for travel throughout Europe as well as to Israel."

The airline said it regretted the incident and has publicly apologized numerous times.

The U.S. Sun has reached out to Lufthansa for comment.