A trio of Orthodox Jewish passengers have sued JetBlue, claiming the carrier engaged in Antisemitism and unlawful discrimination after throwing them off for requesting a seat change.
Antisemitism? Lawsuit Claims Jewish Passengers Were Thrown Off JetBlue Flight For Making Seat Change Request
On December 31, 2023 a trio of Orthodox Jews checked in for their flight, JetBlue flight 2050, from Palm Springs (PSP) to New York (JFK). A husband and wife, Abraham and Miriam Lunger, were traveling along with their friend Brucha Ungar.
Per the complaint, “Due to his religious beliefs, Mr. Lunger is unable to sit next to a woman unless she is a blood relative or his wife.” I’ve written about this before in the context of airline seating. It is called “Shomer negiah.”
Upon arriving at the gate before boarding the flight, Mrs. Lunger asked the JetBlue ticket agent if Mr. Lunger could be seated next to her, or at least not next to another woman, due to his religious modesty beliefs, and the JetBlue ticket agent told Mrs. Lunger that they could try to change their seats on the plane and make arrangements with other passengers.
Let’s stop for a moment. It isn’t clear here if the Lungers simply refused to pay for confirmed “preferred” seating in advance to be seated next to one another, or whether there simply were no seats next to each other when booking. That’s an important unknown we will return to.
Mr. Lunger was assigned seat 18A while Mrs. Lunger had 21B. The couple boarded and took their seats. When a woman approached to take seat 18B, Mr. Lunger stood up and stepped into the aisle (in hopes of finding a volunteer to switch seats with him).
But before he could do so, a flight attendant purportedly “yelled at Mr. Lunger to go back to his seat.” This is at least somewhat understandable considering how blocking the aisle can dramatically slow down boarding.
Mrs. Lunger then explained the reason why her husband was standing. Meanwhile, Mr. Lunger found someone to switch seats with him. But while attempting to complete the seat swap, the flight attendant blocked it, forbidding Mr. Lunger from switching seats.
The complaint insists that at no time did Mr. Lunger raise his voice or become belligerent:
At no time while Mr. Lunger was trying to observe his religious beliefs, did he force, become loud, or use a stern voice to intimidate any other passengers into changing seats with him.
(the complaint does not mention whether Mrs. Lulnger raised her voice…)
The flight attendant asked Mr. Lunger to step to the back of the plane. He complied. The flight attendant then brought one of the pilots back, who told Mr. Lunger that he could not move seats “because it was a violation and it would cause a weight imbalance.” That’s absurd.
Lunger claims the man he was attempting to switch seats with weighed about the same as he did and was only a few rows away on the same side of the aircraft.
From the complaint, it appears that Lunger switched seats anyway, prompting the pilot to come back out of the flight deck. Both Unger and Mrs. Lunger attempted to explain to the pilot the religious conviction prompting the seat shuffling, but the pilot told all three that they would need to exit the aircraft:
“Sorry, you have to get off the plane. The crew members don’t feel safe flying with you. The flight will not leave with you on the plane.”
This prompted outrage from some passengers onboard, like Rachel Sklar:
Why is @JetBlue ejecting orthodox Jewish passengers for asking to change seats? I’ve been sitting here the whole time and it was fine.
— Rachel Sklar (she/her) (@rachelsklar) January 1, 2024
Yes and also why isn’t there protocol for this, a circumstance that is not unusual? What *was* unusual here – this was resolved pretty easily (my boyfriend gladly switched seats once he realized what the need was) and everyone was seated & waiting . Then they were kicked off.
— Rachel Sklar (she/her) (@rachelsklar) January 2, 2024
To rub salt in the wound, the complaint claims that the trio were marked as “no shows” and had to pay both a fare difference and same-day change fee to be rebooked the next day.
Now the trio is alleging that JetBlue engaged in Antisemitic behavior by refusing to accommodate their religious needs and removing them from the flight.
Key to the complaint is the allegation that other passengers switched seats without issue:
Even though other passengers, who were not dressed in Orthodox Jewish Attire, had switched seats on the plane, either with Mr. Lunger or someone else, only the Plaintiffs were kicked off the plane.
And on this point, I’d say the entire lawsuit rests…
You can read the complaint here.
Did Other Passengers Change Seats?
This is a dicey issue and there are many Orthodox Jews who reject the teaching that a man cannot sit by a female unless it is a spouse or blood relative. The issue became so acute in Israel that EL AL is now banned from facilitating gender-driven seat assignment changes.
I have shared about my own experience surrounding a Haredi passenger on a flight to New York over a decade ago. I was asked to move to a middle seat so the man could avoid sitting next to a woman.
In that case, I moved, even though it was from an aisle seat to a middle seat (there was a bit more to the story). I’d probably do it again today depending upon flight length and seat assignment.
It’s not because I want to perpetuate treating women as second class. Goodness no. Rather, it’s because my understanding of Shomer negiah is that such behavior is actually done out of respect for women (i.e., you only touch your own spouse or family members, no one else of the opposite sex).
Perhaps intentions should not matter. But as a religious person myself, I try to make reasonable faith-based accommodations to others, including those outside of my faith group. I struggle to view such actions as hostile to women. This is not like refusing to sit next to a gay person or black person out of animus…it is not analogous.
Even so, if your religion requires certain seating arrangements on airlines, it is incumbent upon you to take care of it in advance and even book extra seats if necessary. If the Lungers could have taken care of this issue by booking preferred seats (at additional cost) in advance next to one another and failed to do so, I have much less sympathy for them.
However, asking someone to swap a window seat for another window seat does not strike me as unreasonable.
But the key here is whether other people were allowed to switch seats and the Jews were not, as alleged. If that can be established, there is a case here.
CONCLUSION
A new lawsuit against JetBlue claims a Jewish trio was unlawfully discriminated against after making a seat change request. Whether this lawsuit will “take off” depends upon whether other passengers were treated differently, as the lawsuit alleges without any specificity or example.
Should you switch seats for an observant Jewish passenger? I would. Not all discrimination is equal.
> Read More: EasyJet Settles With Woman Who Was “Forced” To Move Seat To Accommodate Religious Passengers
> Read More: Would You Have Switched Seats?
Note, Mr. Lunger is not pictured in the stock photo above.
As an atheist, I prefer not to sit next to religious people. Can we make that happen? Being sarcastic, of course – but why should anyone have to tolerate some religion which denigrates women. Oh, wait – most of them do……
The question is does that denigrate or actually elevate women, as archaic and foolish as you (or even I) find it?
Denigrate. The whole ritual bath after a woman has had her period because she is unclean pretty much settles the issue.
@Matthew … Elevate . She is protected from sitting next to a clown .
Well this fellow didn’t that woman to be “elevated” at 30,000 ft next to him…
I prefer not to sit next to fat people because they lean on me.
Once, I was sitting in between 2 husky members of the Colombian Navy. I felt squeezed but the flight was only about an hour so I didn’t create a fuss. If I did, maybe they would have planted some cocaine in my luggage and had me arrested?
I prefer not to sit next to fat people because they lean on me.
So you are suggesting
You prefer to sit next to lean people because they fat on you?
@Matthew … excellent and fair article . But where was Ms. Ungar ? She could have moved next to Mrs. Lunger , n’est-ce pas ?
I do not detect any anti-semitism ; that is an overused speculative conclusion .
If I was a FA , I would allow the Lungers to switch seats . The FA in this case was very bossy .
If others were allowed to switch seats , and I was on the jury , I would find for the orthodox, but not on the basis of anti-semitism . Rather on the basis of unfairness in applying the rules , if others were allowed .
I am neither religious nor atheist but agnostic. I believe religion has its role in only private corridors because it will trample on the rights of other faith’s followers. Religions have inflicted millions of deaths and collateral damages in human history. The world is watching how Israel is fighting a religious war, not a conventional war, against Hamas and its effects on the world economies and security. Men use religions to dominate women and are adverse to the freedom and advances that women have achieved in life. Religious fanatics use their hearts to make decisions not their heads to reason for compromises to coexist in harmony because religions demand absolute adherence. Education is key to preserve a secured secular society. There is a large swat of “bible belt” and southern states that strongly believe that women ‘s place in society is the kitchen, cooking cleaning and child rearing . Did we not just watch Katy Brit peddled her human trafficking’s lie after the State of the Union last Thursday in the kitchen? We will not have a woman president in our life time in this country.
These chaos and conflicts on domestic airplanes derive from the normalization and rationalization of such behavior and misconduct in society by businesses staff and instigated by politicians. The breakdown in families and academic environment are the root cause. If employees come to work without basic interpersonal skills they are not adequately ready to fulfill their duties. We must learn lots of things in life on our own without being schooled or trained for.
Unrelated to the article, I post my comment here because my comment is blocked on OMAAT, unsure when and how it started. It happened to me years ago when Tiffany moderated the comments before being posted.
I am Jewish, 73. Lived in Israel for 3 years in my 30’s. Secular. I have no sympathy for this guy and hope he loses his case. An airplane is PUBLIC transportation and does not have to yield to anyone’s religious or cultural beliefs. No one forced this man and his wife to get on that plane and the company does not owe him any accommodation. If he had booked in advance and reserved seats or paid more for seat upgrades, he would have had no issue at all. If told to sit down and to not switch seats, he must comply. Otherwise, risk being removed from the plane. As you noted in your article, even El Al, the Israeli carrier has stopped making these accommodations for the ultra religions. I hope Jet Blue fights him tooth and nail and then gets him to pay their lawyer and court costs. As for this being anti-semtism, I don’t think he has a leg to stand on. Sit down, get out of the isle and don’t switch seats if you are told not to switch seats. Who knows, maybe the seat switch was to one of the premium seats that he was not entitled to ?
Well said.
This clown got the smackdown because he refused to follow the instructions of the flight crew, that’s it. End of discussion. No other details matter, nor should they. You don’t get to vote on whether the crew instructions are reasonable or not, you don’t get to disregard them if you don’t like them, it doesn’t matter if the Flying Spaghetti Monster told you that you could upgrade yourself to Business Class or that Girls Have Cooties. This is not complicated, it’s very simple, and it should be: You follow the instructions of the crew, or you don’t fly, period. Game, set, match. Idiots.
Because the crew is ALWAYS right 100% of the time?
No. Whether they’re right or wrong is immaterial, and most of all, you – as a passenger – are in no position to pass judgement on whether they are right or wrong. YOU ARE NOT QUALIFIED TO DECIDE THAT. That’s not your place. Your place is to follow their instructions. Period.
Don’t like having to follow instructions? Fine, get your own plane and learn to fly it, or take the bus. What you think of crewmember instructions does not matter. At all. Not one bit. That’s how it works. That’s the law. That’s common sense. And frankly, who the hell are you to contradict any instructions a crewmember gives you? If you do not recognize their authority over you, you should not be on that plane, or any other plane, period.
Why is this so hard for the horn-wearing, chest-beating, MAGA morons to accept? You don’t just get to just do whatever the hell you want because you think you’re a such a Stable Genius.
psycho?
Yet, Dems seem to pretty much do whatever they want.
Well said. That is the law. Either obey the crew’s instructions or take the bus. Religion has no say on the plane. Just sit down and suck it up.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Although I would add that I am Jewish and I would NOT move seats to accommodate these people. The world doesn’t revolve around them. This is the problem with the Orthodox community as they live as if everyone should give them what they want. During Covid in NY the Orthodox continued to have weddings and parties with 100 people when it was said not to attempting to stop the spread. Funerals abounded, everyone went for Orthodox funerals whilst other religions followed protocol and didn’t Allow family to attend with the limits imposed on all citizens.
Enough already I’m tired of explaining the difference between Orthodox and reformed Jews now all I have to so is show people this article
Ok, that may be true, but in this case, they still would have to prove that the FA moved around/accommodated the same request from non-Jewish people on the same flight or somehow be privy to any anti-Semitic views from the FA the weren’t revealed during the incident. And if there were others who moved, did they do it without involving any of the flight crew?
Everything is antisemitism. The air is antisemitism. Telling the truth is antisemitism. Saying a name incorrectly is antisemitism. The funny thing is they never deny the claim made against them. Of course they can’t deny when one says this group owns a disproportionate amount of wealth, has disproportionate majority ownership and control of all industries, has extremely disproportionate representation in the cabinet, or created communism. They instead say that pointing that out is antisemitism.
Do I believe there was a seat issue here, yes. It’s a common occurrence with orthodox having problems with the seating on planes. Is this likely a matter of antisemitism, technically yes since everything is antisemitism, but no. Flight attendants and pilots have done this in general regarding seating issues that come up. Flight attendants are equally miserable to all, although, I’m not saying they are in the wrong here or commenting specifically about the flight attendants involved in the situation.
The real cause of all these seating issues is the government not allowing people to operate companies that cater to a specific segment of the population. There is no problem with orthodox operating an airline just for them and just for men. The government doesn’t allow it and that’s why there is constant tension and disharmony. If gays want to run a gay only airline that’s fine as long as Christians and Whites are able to run Christian and White only airlines, Different groups shouldn’t be forced together when one doesn’t want to be. There’s no consent if one party wants to be separate and is forced to interact with those they don’t care to. That’s slavery and rape.
keep your hackneyed generalizations to yourself
+1,000.
I’m trying to reconcile having a disproportionate amount of wealth and control over industry with also creating communism. It seems implausible.
So the guy refused to pay for reserved seats even though his seat mate was a critical issue, then he got in trouble because stood in the aisle blocking traffic yet he’s trying to blame other people? Good luck on that one.
@Christian … Or , the FA was uncool . I would have said : “Hey , whatever works for you and them . “
More entitled people… Pay for your seats, luggage whatever in advance. Although I wouldn’t expect less from a Rabbi, historically cheap people.
Sad to see how there is no embarrassment to publicly share your antisemitism. The saddest part is you actually think you are “normal”.
Never claimed to be normal, just honest. Nothing Anti-Semetic about me, I’m 100% a Semite, you know the real kind with roots in the Mideast going back over 3000 years which is traceable, not a European transplant claiming to be semetic.
Yeah Frank, 100% jew hater
Jesus Christ on a pogo stick!!! You people are all just completely insane.
Believe whatever magical nonsense you want to believe, but leave other people out of it and don’t push your magical insanity on others. Can’t deal with sitting next to a woman? Grow up. Then get your own plane, or start your own airline just for lunatics. Otherwise, STFU and stop the insanity, all of you.
get a job
You could have expressed that without the offensive language and bigoted remarks.
And you could have expressed your remarks with them. That’s the point.
This altercation is part of a bigger problem…”religious belief” is fast becoming the way to discriminate / not do something with everyone else having to accommodate you. Don’t want a vaccine? Religious belief. Don’t want to serve a gay couple? Religious belief.
Religious belief does not relieve you of the responsibility to do your part. Using public transportation and can’t sit next to an unrelated female? Then reserve seats.
I’m not necessarily going to fault the crew on this one. Boarding is one of the most hectic parts of flying for both passengers and crew, so for him to disrupt the boarding process…that’s a no in my book. Also, when I see a passenger say they didn’t raise his/her voice or be forceful and it was all the crew’s fault…not buying it. It takes two to tango. As a frequent flier, I have yet to see a crew member “start” something. Usually, I find they are extra patient given the crap they have to deal with.
This lawsuit has no grounds. Claims of discrimination are completely specious.
When you buy an airline ticket you are accepting a contract with a lot of fine print. You must comply with the regulations, otherwise the one at fault is you.
The captain has ultimate authority over the flight and has the right to remove anyone who doesn’t comply with the regulations. Standing up while being requested to sit down with your seat belt on is a breach of such regulations. Disrupting the boarding process of also a breach.
There are also very clear reasons why you are assigned a certain seat.
Now, as an act of goodwill a passenger may swap seats with you and a flight attendant may help you do so. But you can’t invoke discrimination if that doesn’t happen. All you can blame is yourself for not making arrangements before the flight. If all two hundred people on board decided to swap seats for whatever good reason they might have, it would be complete chaos.
Removing these people from the aircraft was not an act of disrespect towards their belief, it was rather a sign of respect towards the rest of the passengers.
Did his religious beliefs also prevent him from paying extra to book his and his wife’s seats? Ibmean if it’s that damned important, then you pay the money and avoid this yourself. Don’t put your issues on other people to deal with and cry discrimination when the world doesn’t end up revolving around you. Take some responsibility for yourself!
I will be registering and worshipping the “Church of Flyertology”
My religion prohibits me from sitting further than the 3rd row of any aircraft. I demand every airline to not discriminate my beliefs and “accommodate” my religious requirements on my basic economy ticket.
By they/xe/per holiness of Flyertology the M Cas Maximilian DCCXXXVII
The question is whether someone is assumed to be a victim of discrimination in negative encounters and even if others were not similarly treated, it’s possible that a passenger just caught the FA’s and Pilots bad side. The presumption of innocence should lie with the defendant.
IMO, some people are just lawsuit happy and you can smell it coming such as the case of the teen who reported a peeping tom FA putting a cell phone camera on a seat and she reported it, no harm (because it didn’t happen) but they sued for money… because the airline has deep pockets. That’s why.
In this case, there certainly is damages in that there was a religious motivation for wanting the seat change (therefore a protected category request) and the FA was being a jerk about it and there was inconvenience and expenses but whether that should trigger punitive damages to make the legal fees worth it is another matter.
ALL THAT BEING SAID, while I can understand and deeply respect Orthodox Jews going through a great deal of personal effort to comply with their religious requirements, sometimes it may not be reasonable or possible and grounds and flexibility should be understood. If he was on a lifeboat full of women, what’s he supposed to do? Jump off? Even ultra-religious Catholics are allowed to take medicine or dietary medical foods during lent.
I have had positive experiences with Jetblue flights in the past but I have read of exceptions. I’m saddened to think that their service may be going downhill as the CEO is profit driven to make it into a frankenstein merge with Spirit.
Quite frankly, perhaps more effort should be made on social skills training with FA’s as well as personal mood management. My own job was often highly stressful so I took classes on meditation and better managing people as well as conflict de-escalation. Some FA’s are perhaps trained to be Air Wardens and get attitudes about it and this stuff happens.
As a Part 121 flight instructor, considering the length of the flight and the flight was full, weight and balance would most likely not have been an issue. I might agree that the passengers in question didn’t want to pay for guaranteed seating OR they hoped that someone would be willing to swap seats with them. Since the gate agent wasn’t able to make a seat swap due to a full flight, an announcement might have been made but then, that delays boarding. Maybe the man should have asked the “onboard leader/purser/lead flight attendant” as he boarded that he might have an issue should he be not able to be seated next to his wife AFTER boarding was complete. The onus for this debacle lays squarely at the feet of the passenger. The airlines will try to make concessions IF they can and IF the passengers give them a heads up. If the request is denied…then…suck it up. As far as the couple being deplaned, only those aboard know the truth. Pilots and flight attendants have a very short fuse when passengers cause disruptions. Most pilots will take a flight attendant’s assessment of the situation with greater validity because they deal with the passengers directly. “Been there…done that.” But, the captain will also listen to both sides of the story. Usually, the gate agents and/or ground supervisors will get involved as well as dispatch. However, the captain ALWAYS has the last word.
There’s audio of the incident, and eyewitness testimony. I know this because *I* recorded the audio and was an eyewitness, as was my boyfriend, who had switched seats with the gentleman who was ejected. By the time the pilot came back to eject them everyone had been seated and settled and we were just waiting at that point. So there *was* seat-switching of a non-Jewish passenger that was permitted without incident, and weight was not an issue. (It was an Airbus 320.) We both gave interviews about this, I submitted a complaint to Jetblue via DM (that was the procedure they told me to submit it by – never heard back) and my boyfriend was called by a Jetblue representative about the incident, and he was clear that it was egregious and not at all in line with how other passengers were treated. It’s appalling that they were classed as no-shows. (Also it was 10pm local Palm Springs time on New Year’s Eve and really just such a mean thing to do to older passengers, especially.) I’m so grateful that I was seated right there and was able to capture this audio, and so grateful my boyfriend was paying attention and offered to make that switch so we could demonstrate just how little problem Jetblue actually had with someone switching seats. (And by the way we’ve done it to sit together as a family in the past.) Really not ok. I saw it happen.
You people are so brainwashed it is disgusting. People of small minds are placed in positions of authority and then can screw you over if they want to and you believe that’s OK because it is the law.
I will no longer use jet blue. Not over religious issues. But because they are a woke airline run by a bunch of pea brains.