German carrier Lufthansa has agreed to pay a $4 million (€3.67 million) fine for denying boarding to Jewish passengers, the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) announced.
Lufthansa prohibited 128 Jewish passengers, many of whom were dressed in traditional Orthodox Jewish clothing, from getting on their connecting flight in Germany in May 2022. The passengers were flying from John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK), with a layover in Frankfurt, Germany (FRA), before heading to their final destination Budapest, Hungary (BUD). The department received more than 40 discrimination complaints from Jewish passengers.
In a press release, published on October 15, 2024, the DOT said the penalty was the largest it had ever issued to an airline for civil rights violations.
The DOT investigation found that the passengers had been removed “based on the alleged misbehavior of some or a few passengers on the first flight.”
During the first flight, the captain alerted Lufthansa security that some passengers were failing to follow crew instructions. However, the airline later failed to identify the passengers who failed to follow instructions, the department said.
Passengers who spoke with DOT investigations complained that the carrier treated all Jewish passengers as if they were a single group, even though many of them did not know each other and were not travelling together, the press release continued.
“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,” said Pete Buttigieg, US Transportation Secretary. “Our department has strengthened our enforcement efforts to hold airlines accountable for their treatment of passengers.”
The alert to security resulted in a hold being placed on the tickets of more than 100 passengers heading to BUD, stopping them from boarding their next flight at FRA. All of the passengers with a hold placed on their ticket were Jewish.
DOT’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection said it will continue to “vigorously use its authority to ensure all passengers fly free from discrimination.”