German airline blocked 128 Jewish travellers over alleged misbehaviour of some passengers, US authorities say.
Lufthansa has agreed to a $4m nice over an incident wherein greater than 100 Jewish travellers have been barred from boarding their flight.
The German airline blocked the travellers – a lot of whom have been carrying distinctive clothes sometimes worn by Orthodox Jewish males – from boarding a connecting flight in Frankfurt in Might 2022 based mostly on the alleged misbehaviour of some passengers, the US Division of Transportation stated on Tuesday.
Passengers interviewed by authorities stated the airline had handled the 128 Jewish travellers travelling from New York Metropolis to Budapest as a “single group” despite the fact that a lot of them didn’t know one another and weren’t travelling collectively, the DOT stated.
The division stated the penalty was the most important it had ever issued towards an airline for violating civil rights regulation.
“Nobody ought to face discrimination after they journey, and at the moment’s motion sends a transparent message to the airline business that we’re ready to analyze and take motion every time passengers’ civil rights are violated,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stated in a press release.
Lufthansa didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
In its response to the DOT, Lufthansa stated it regretted and had publicly apologised for the incident, which resulted from an “unlucky collection of inaccurate communications, misinterpretations, and misjudgments”, in accordance with a authorized order filed by the division.
The service, nevertheless, denied that its staff had engaged in discrimination and stated its actions, “though regrettable, don’t assist any discovering of discrimination and the Division’s findings on this case”.
Lufthansa stated the misbehaviour involving plenty of passengers included obstructing flight attendants and arguing with the crew about carrying masks.
The DOT stated in its order that the airline had “concluded it was not sensible to deal with every passenger individually”.