Discrimination|The airline denied access to the connecting flight from all of the more than a hundred Jewish passengers on the plane after some refused to wear face masks.
German the airline Lufthansa has been fined four million dollars in the United States for discriminating against Jewish passengers.
In May 2022, the airline denied more than a hundred Jewish passengers access to a connecting flight in Frankfurt after some of them had refused to wear a face mask on the flight. Some of the passengers had also stood in groups in the aisles of the plane and in front of the emergency exits and had not followed the staff’s instructions.
The passengers were traveling from New York to Budapest via Frankfurt.
After this, the airline denied entry to the connecting flight to Budapest from all the Jewish passengers on the plane, even though only some of them had refused to follow the instructions of the flight staff.
of the United States according to transport authorities, the airline was guilty of discriminating against Jewish passengers by treating them as if they were the same group.
Lufthansa agrees to pay the fines, but denies discrimination. The airline said in a statement that the incident was an “unfortunate series of inaccurate messages”.
The company defended itself by saying that many of the Jewish passengers on the plane were Orthodox Jewish men, and they were dressed in their characteristic black jackets and hats. They had also used a few of the same travel agencies when booking their tickets.
Since the flight personnel had not been able to separate the passengers who refused the instructions from the others, they had come to the solution of denying everyone access to the connecting flight.
Lufthansa apologized for the incident and said it wanted to be “an ambassador of goodwill, tolerance, diversity and acceptance”. The company also said it is training its staff.
At issue is the largest penalty ever imposed on an airline for violating civil rights. However, by paying the fines, Lufthansa avoided a lawsuit.
US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg’s by the record fines signal to other airlines that authorities are ready to act if passengers’ civil rights are violated.
“No one should face discrimination when traveling.”
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