German airline Lufthansa has agreed to a $4 million penalty for allegedly discriminating against Jewish passengers attempting to board a connecting flight in Frankfurt in May 2022, the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
The incident in question occurred when the airline reportedly prevented 128 Jewish passengers, most of whom were wearing attire commonly associated with Orthodox Jewish men, from boarding their connecting flight in Germany after it accused several Jewish passengers of not wearing masks during the previous leg of the flight.
In a video of the incident, an airline representative was heard saying, “It was Jewish people who made the mess, Jewish people made the problem.”
Despite the fact that many of the passengers did not know each other and were not traveling together, the passengers interviewed by DOT investigators said that Lufthansa treated them as if they were part of a single group, barring all of them from boarding due to the actions of a few individuals.
These passengers had flown from New York to Frankfurt and were trying to catch a connecting flight to Budapest.
As part of a consent order, Lufthansa agreed to pay $2 million in fines, with the DOT crediting the airline for an additional $2 million already paid out to compensate the passengers.
While Lufthansa did not admit to any violations in the agreement, it also denied that its staff had discriminated against the passengers. The airline maintained that as many as 60 passengers at various points had disregarded crew instructions.
In a statement included in the consent order, Lufthansa expressed regret for the situation, stating that it has repeatedly apologized for what occurred. The airline explained the incident was "the result of an unfortunate series of inaccurate communications, misinterpretations, and misjudgments throughout the decision-making process," according to the DOT.
Following the outrage over the antisemitic incident, Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr apologized in a conversation with the Chief Rabbi of Berlin, Rabbi Yehudah Teichtal.
"Antisemitism has no place in Lufthansa," Spohr said. "What happened should not have happened. Our company represents a connection between people, cultures and nations. Openness and tolerance are the cornerstones and there is no room for antisemitism."
Rabbi Teichtal told the Lufthansa CEO: "If an employee wearing a Lufthansa uniform acts in an inappropriate manner – fears and accusations of antisemitism are completely legitimate. We should expect more sensitivity from a German corporation."
Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the White House’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, blasted Lufthansa over the incident after it occurred, saying the airline was guilty of “classical antisemitism”.