Six Israeli passengers were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after refusing to wear masks on a Lufthansa flight from Tel Aviv to Frankfurt.
Israeli Passengers Arrested In Germany After Horrific Lufthansa Flight
Once again, alcohol was a culprit. The group allegedly purchased copious amounts of alcohol from a duty free shop at Ben Gurion International Airport and had begun consuming it in-flight, with masks lowered of course.
When flight attendants admonished the travelers not to consume their alcohol onboard, the passengers refused. When flight attendants admonished the travelers to put their masks on, the passengers refused. In fact, the passengers responded by cursing out the flight attendants.
Despite several warnings, the passengers refused to stop. However, the aircraft did not divert. Instead, the captain radioed ahead to summon law enforcement officials and the flight continued to Frankfurt. Upon landing, police met the aircraft and arrested the six passengers.
The Yeshiva World reports all six passengers were Israelis. A passenger described what occurred onboard:
“They had their masks off for the entirety of the flight. They continued to stand in spite of being told several times to sit down, including being told by the pilot over the loudspeaker. They opened a bottle of alcohol and began doing shots. Nothing helped. When we arrived, the pilot asked us all to stay in our seats as police had been asked to intervene and were currently boarding the plane. The six passengers cursed out the staff and continued drinking. They were simply acting in a disgusting manner. This was well out of the ordinary. It was embarrassing for us all.”
Nice…
CONCLUSION
Yesterday it was Tunis Air, today Lufthansa…poor drunken behavior is not reserved for the Anglo world. But I admire that the crew opted to continue to Germany and leave the hoodlums to themselves…too many diversions strike me as necessary. Now I hope these six receive stiff fines and criminal records that will remind them for the rest of their lives that it does not pay to drink and fly.
image: Lufthansa
Glad that they were arrested, and I hope they will need to pay a penalty of some sorts.
In Israel we call these a**holes “Arsim”, and there are quite a lot of them unfortunately. Think of an Israeli version of what’s called “Chavs” in the UK.
No, not “stiff fines”…rather 6 months imprisonment. These lowlifes need to get the message ( and have it resonate with anyone contemplating similar anti-social behaviour). It’s long overdue to deal more harshly with such ratbags.
I’m not opposed to prison, I generally prefer forced labor (i.e. supervised community service) to prison (not speaking in a specific German context).
The flight attendants on board need to be reprimanded. Passengers have a right to have a drink and we need to put a check on this variant of COVID bullying which is being more and more commonplace.
If the FAs cannot provide service and conduct themselves in an appropriate manner they should find a job in another industry.
Political leaders should be introducing legislation to protect victims of COVID bullying and levy high fines or even imprisonment for the offenders.
Not funny.
People act like this because harsh punishment is never given. As noted above 6-12 months prison time, no suspended sentences along with stiff fines.
Major fine and imprisonment. At least 6 months and no early release.
I think that Lufthansa should ban them as well. As a business owner myself I know that some customers are simply not worth the trouble and these people certainly seem to qualify.
I think these miscreants deserve the harshest of penalties: 1 year of flying only on United.
@ Mathew: I’m not sure making a reference to sentencing Israelis to “hard labor” in a Germany is what you really want here. Or is it? Not trying to be contentious, but context and perception are important.
Goodness no, that was not my intention.
Being Israelis in Germany, they will probably get REPARATIONS and go back home Rich!
Good. Lock them up. They are an affront to civilised society.
Alcohol often gets involved in disruptive behavior…
It’s simple: think before you imbibe!