Lufthansa, Germany's largest airline, has been fined a record $4 million for allegedly discriminating against Jewish passengers, The US Department of Transportation (DOT) announced on Tuesday.
The fine relates to a May 2022 incident where Lufthansa denied 128 Jewish passengers boarding a connecting flight to Budapest after initially preventing their boarding in Frankfurt.
According to the DOT, this $4 million penalty is the largest ever issued against an airline for civil rights violations.
"No one should face discrimination when they travel," said US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, as reported by NBC News.
"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."
The May 2022 incident involved 131 travelers flying from New York to Budapest via Frankfurt to attend a memorial event for Rabbi Shaya of Kerestir.
During the flight from New York to Frankfurt, some individuals reportedly violated Lufthansa’s mask policy during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to their denied boarding.
Upon arrival in Frankfurt, Lufthansa staff prohibited 128 passengers from boarding the connecting flight to Budapest, citing alleged misbehavior by some on the earlier leg of the journey.
Many affected passengers were visibly Orthodox Jewish men, wearing distinctive religious attire, and had booked through a few specific travel agencies, according to the DOT.
The passengers claimed they were treated as a group despite not knowing each other personally.
The DOT report indicated that Lufthansa denied all passengers boarding due to the alleged actions of a few, without assessing individual behavior.
"Most passengers who were interviewed by OACP stated that Lufthansa treated them all as if they were a single group, and denied boarding onto [the Budapest flight] to everyone for the apparent misbehavior of a few, because they were openly and visibly Jewish," the DOT stated in its findings, as reported by USA TODAY.
Lufthansa acknowledged "errors in company procedure and communications," attributing the incident to "an unfortunate series of inaccurate communications, misinterpretations, and misjudgments throughout the decision-making process."
'No finding of discrimination'
However, the airline contended that these actions, "although regrettable, do not support any finding of discrimination," as reported by CNN.
The airline disputes that any employee acted with bias, asserting that the decision to deny boarding was not influenced by passengers' perceived religion or ethnicity. "Lufthansa is dedicated to being an ambassador of goodwill, tolerance, diversity, and acceptance," the airline stated, according to CNBC.
However, the DOT's investigation concluded that Lufthansa's actions amounted to religious discrimination under US law.
Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the Biden administration’s special envoy against antisemitism, described Lufthansa's treatment of the passengers as "unbelievable." "When I first heard it, I said, 'Oh, this must be wrong. Someone must be misreporting this.' And then, of course, it turned out to be precisely right—and worse than we even thought," she said, as quoted by NBC News.
She added, "If any airline had done it, it would have been outrageous. But the terrible, awful irony of it coming from the German national airline was outrageous."
Lufthansa has since partnered with the American Jewish Committee to develop a "first-of-its-kind training program in the airline industry for our managers and employees to address antisemitism and discrimination," as reported by NBC News.
Additionally, the airline has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism and has taken steps to improve relations with the Jewish community.
The DOT mandated that Lufthansa pay $2 million directly while granting credit for an additional $2 million that the airline has already paid as part of a settlement with the affected passengers.
Despite denying the allegations, Lufthansa agreed to this arrangement, effectively reducing the penalty.
In 2022, Lufthansa settled with most affected passengers, providing each with $21,000 in compensation as part of a civil settlement.
Discrimination complaints filed
The incident prompted more than 40 discrimination complaints from Jewish passengers, leading to an investigation by the DOT’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection.
Passengers reported that flight attendants had instructed them to comply with face mask requirements and not gather in aisles or near emergency exits, but some did not follow these instructions.
Lufthansa's staff could not identify specific passengers who had violated the rules, citing the widespread nature of the infractions, which continued throughout the flight, as reported by AP News.
Footage from the incident showed Lufthansa staff telling passengers that "everyone has to pay" for the actions of a few, as reported by NBC News.
German media indicated that Lufthansa staff denied boarding to passengers based on their Jewish appearance, such as wearing skullcaps or sidelocks.
Lufthansa noted that some passengers not only failed to comply with safety measures but also argued with flight attendants and other passengers who reminded them of the mask requirement.
The airline admitted to "errors in company procedure and communications" and attributed the incident to "inaccurate communications, misinterpretations, and misjudgments throughout the decision-making process."
Mark Goldfeder, a lawyer representing the passengers and director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, tweeted that he was "proud to represent these passengers," noting that Lufthansa was "the first airline to adopt the IHRA definition," as reported by NPR. He also thanked Secretary Buttigieg and the DOT for holding Lufthansa accountable for discrimination.
Since President Biden took office in 2021, the Department of Transportation has issued more than $170 million in penalties against airlines for consumer protection violations.
While Lufthansa is not the first airline to face civil rights penalties, such cases remain rare.
In January 2020, Delta Air Lines was fined $50,000 after being found to have discriminated against three Muslim passengers in 2016.
This record fine from the DOT against Lufthansa highlights the significance of upholding non-discrimination in air travel and serves as a stern reminder to the airline industry regarding the importance of protecting passengers' civil rights.