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The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) imposed its largest-ever fine on Lufthansa ($4 million) today. The issue stems from passengers not wearing masks or complying with crewmember instructions, but more importantly Lufthansa was found to violate the civil rights of these passengers. The German airline was found to have discriminated against the Jewish passengers (including those who did not break any rules) and prohibited 128 people wearing traditional Orthodox clothing from taking their connecting flights.
The passengers were denied boarding in May 2022 at Frankfurt Airport (FRA) after arriving from New York John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK). They were scheduled to connect to Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (BUD).
The video shows a passenger rationally explaining that he was not part of a group that refused to comply. A Lufthansa staff member can be heard telling passengers that “everyone has to pay” for the mistakes of a few. Everyone was defined as Jews coming from JFK. All of the passengers denied boarding were not traveling together, did not even know each other, and yet they were treated as one.
The DOT received more than 40 complaints from passengers around this incident. The investigation concluded that Lufthansa prohibited 128 Jewish passengers from completing their travel to Budapest based on the alleged misbehavior of a few passengers on the first flight. The captain of the first flight alerted Lufthansa security that some passengers were failing to follow crew instructions and were connecting to another flight to Budapest. Lufthansa later could not identify any one passenger who failed to follow crewmember instructions. The alert to security resulted in more than 100 passengers’ tickets with a final destination of Budapest being prevented from flying onward. All of the passengers with a hold placed on their ticket were Jewish.
Today we issued the largest penalty in @USDOT history against an airline for violating passengers’ civil rights.
No one should face discrimination when they travel, and our department is prepared to use our authorities to ensure that’s the case. https://t.co/Zj5iHjkTWn
— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) October 15, 2024
US Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, said:
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. 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.”
Lufthansa has agreed to pay a $4 million civil penalty over this incident. Half is payable within 30 days and the other half is credited for compensation already paid to passengers. The airline has said that it’s also partnering with American Jewish Committee (AJC) around antisemitism and anti-discrimination training.
Anthony’s Take: Clearly, something was not right here. To simply identify a group of people on a plane based on race, gender, or religion and then penalize them all based on the actions of a few is plain wrong. It’s good to see the DOT take action and Lufthansa pay this penalty.
(Featured Image Credit: Lufthansa.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
