Lufthansa faces a $4 million fine from the United States Department of Transportation and a strict warning never to lump passengers, Jewish or otherwise, together on the basis of their ethnicity or religion.
US Levies $4 Million Fine Against Lufthansa After Discrimination Against Jewish Passengers In Frankfurt
Our story takes us back to 2022, a story I covered then, in which all (identifiable) Jewish passengers were removed from a Frankfurt to Budapest flight because of the poor behavior of a limited number of Jewish passengers traveling from New York to Frankfurt.
- The incident occurred on Lufthansa 401 from New York (JFK) to Frankfurt (FRA) on Wednesday, May 4, 2022 onboard a Boeing 747-8
- As many as 170 Orthodox Jews were traveling on the flight, with many connecting to Budapest to visit the grave of Rabbi Yeshaya Steiner of Kerestir
- This included a trio of group bookings as well as many individual bookings
- Some Jewish passengers onboard refused to wear masks despite repeated reminders from flight attendants
- These Orthodox passengers also apparently annoyed flight attendants by performing prayer in the galley, leading to a warning from the captain over the PA that the passengers were not to block galley and had to wear masks or else they would “have a problem” with their connecting flight
- Upon landing in Frankfurt, passengers connecting to Budapest were individually paged, with most (but not all) Jewish passengers denied boarding for their onward flight to Budapest
- The Budapest flight took off with less than 20 passengers, operated by an aircraft that could handle 192 passengers
- A gate agent allegedly told a passenger that this was at the insistence of the captain, who decided he did not want to risk any trouble on the flight to Budapest
- Armed police officers surrounded the gate area and shielded Lufthansa agents from direct questioning over why all passengers who seemingly appeared Jewish were being denied boarding for the mask violations of a few
- One angry passenger called a police officer a Nazi, which is a crime in Germany
- Passengers were rebooked on later flights, with many not being permitted to travel until the following day
Video (see here) is damning and Lufthansa was forced to apologize (with handwritten notes from the CEO) and sent every impacted Jewish passenger a $21,000 payment (with some of that going to attorneys).
Two years later, the DOT issued a cease and desist to Lufthansa, instructing the German airline never to engage in such behavior again, and also fined Lufthansa $4 million:
Lufthansa took action that had an adverse effect on these passengers whose only affiliation with each other was that they were of the same religion and/or ethnicity. Lufthansa’s actions impacted passengers who did not engage in problematic conduct. OACP finds that, under the totality of the circumstances, Lufthansa’s treatment of the 128 Jewish passengers as a collective group, based on the alleged misconduct of a smaller number of those individuals, constitutes discrimination based on religion in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 40127.
Based on our review of available evidence, we find that Lufthansa’s staff made no meaningful effort to specifically identify and track the individuals who failed to follow crew instructions to abide by the applicable laws and regulations, and to tailor the consequences accordingly. Those efforts could have included obtaining the names and likenesses of the misbehaving passengers and linking them to the seats they were sitting in. To the extent that misbehaving passengers were out of their seats, Lufthansa staff could have tracked which seats were empty and then identified which passengers took those seats. While these processes may not have been perfect, they would have resulted in tracking the individuals about whom Lufthansa had concerns and would have significantly reduced the likelihood that innocent passengers would be denied boarding for discriminatory reasons. Instead, Lufthansa has failed to show that its crew took any action to document the identities of specific passengers who engaged in misconduct.
And while I’m not sure the $4 million fine was necessary, the DOT’s message is clear and appreciated: you cannot punish all passengers who “look alike” because a few of them act up (when not acting in defense of imminent harm, for those who may broaden the group punishment discussion). It is unacceptable anywhere, but particularly uneccpetable in the developed world (and legally, on a carrier that serves the United States or impacts US citizens).
I hope Lufthansa has learned a very valuable lesson here.
This was a very unfortunate incident which has been blown out of proportion .
I have much sympathy with haredim , because they are frequently singled out for second looks because of their unusual appearance .
Nevertheless , an airline has rules , and airline staff do have an obligation to advise passengers of the rules , and they ought to have complied during the flight .
That said , Germans do tend to present as officious and authoritarian .
The settlement does appear fair , because the passengers were granted generous compensation .
As Matt has personally experienced, sometimes flight crew and FA’s can become arrogant thinking their role as authority figures gives them carte blanche (sp?) to do as they please.
Good for the DoT for calling this behavior out.
That being said, the pilot certainly was within his authority to request passengers not block the galley. I’m reminded of this wonderful advice given by James Dalton on Roadhouse:
“If somebody gets in your face and calls you a c***sucker, I want you to be nice. Ask him to walk. Be nice. If he won’t walk, walk him. But be nice. If you can’t walk him, one of the others will help you, and you’ll both be nice. I want you to remember that it’s a job. It’s nothing personal.:”
Doesn’t that movie end with him ripping someones throat out with his bare hand?
The bad guys used the Hamas style human shield defense, unfortunately. Lufthansa could have tried to identify the bad guys but engaged in collective punishment of all. That is not good and Lufthansa got fined. The terrorists got $21,000 each.
The flight attendants had the opportunity to identify the repeat violators. In not doing so, lead to a poor decision by the pilot. While I can understand frustration by the crew, targeting the correct passengers for punishment is essential.
This is a reminder to put away the broad brush when we find ourselves in anger.
Yeah, the FAs and pilots really messed up.
@Matthew, the actual fine is only $2 million. They got a credit for $2 million for compensation paid to pax.
Appreicate that clarifcation!
LH’s partner UA will have contributed to the costs of this incident.
You mean as a JV partner?
Exactly why the lack of certainty the fine was not necessary, Matthew? What would have been a more appropriate remedy?
I’m not sure the government needed additional money after each passenger was paid $21K. I did appreciate the strong reminder to LH that such conduct was unacceptable.
Well , the Dem authorities would have found Even More Unacceptable , if the haredim had insisted on being moved away from a Female for the religious reason . Dem authorities would have increased the fine .
What are you on….you make no sense. Just like your leader…..he’s found his audience b/c their minds are just as screwed up as his dementia fried orange brain is.
Isn’t there a $1k bible or $1k pair of sneakers you should be buying?
Losers….
But the rule was to wear a mask..Anyone traveling during that timeframe would have been in trouble and not able to travel without a MASK??? So why were they so wrong in denying further travel to anyone not cooperating with the mask rule?
Because they made other assumptions more than the simple mask rule . My theory is praying in the galley , whilst dressed in black clothes and wearing special shawls , was the final straw .
They were also offended by a group whose religion they didn’t understand . The train conductor in West Germany was offended by me , and I had done or said nothing at all .
Germans are Very distrustful of the unusual and those who are disobedient , and looked upon the haredim as an Alien Group. They may not have exactly known my group , but they suspected I was unusual and might be disobedient .
That’s funny….that the Germans aren’t familiar with jews. Not sure I buy that one.
What I think is missing from Matthews summary is context. This event occurred during a worldwide pandemic, when masks were required throughout the world. So most likely the crew was over whelmed by the large group of Haredim that are used to practicing their ‘beliefs’ as they please. The other paying passengers seem to be the lost victims in this event, and I guess who Lufthansa was attempting to protect. The mistake they obviously made was just discriminating against the entire group of Haredim. They should have just focused on the those violating the rules Lufthansa had in place.
But I feel that is easier said than done when you have so many people dressed alike, and with similar characteristics.
What I haven’t read is did Lufthansa remove any passengers who were not members of Haredim? Did they remove anyone who looked like they were a member of Haredim but really were not?
Well , not only are Germans unfamiliar with haredim , ( because there were none left after they were gassed ) ; but they also have not been exposed about Why there are none , or Who did the gassing . No one talks about it .
Postwar Germans depend on Western books to learn about their own recent history . Eisenhower ordered townspeople near the concentration camps to be ordered to tour the camps and to prepare food for the victims .
They removed anyone with a Jewish name, or could otherwise be determined to be Jewish. This was really a poor choice on everyone at LH and more so the police that stood by to protect staff.
@flyerco … +1 . Yep . AND if they cannot classify someone , then they act on their Suspicions .
Interestingly , when the Gestapo took charge of all policing under Heydrich , the apprehension rate of actual criminals went way down , and the apprehension rate of respectable people who were suspected of thinking differently went way up .
Too bad that the LH employees/contractors involved in this incident haven’t been personally hit by the fine.
@GU … Understand your sentiments . However , postwar Germans know nothing about haredim , and have “conveniently forgotten” what their previous generations actually did by gassing millions .
As such , they are like the ignorant-uninformed , and I am loathe to blame them for what they do not know .
Czechs don’t blame the postwar German visitors for what they don’t know , but they made darn sure to expel All the Germans after WWII .
I have this idea (and I think this should apply to Crowdstrike and Boeing):
The CEO’s and executives, to the extent of their involvement, should be held personally liable. They set the leadership tone and are supposed to do more than just vie for promotions while golfing. Hit their benefit package. In the case of Boeing, prison time would be appropriate.
We live in an era when our corporate executives are largely unaccountable for, at best, lackluster and mediocre performance. In the meantime, Japanese airline CEOs all flew on Y2K lest something go wrong in the air, they’d be the ones to know about it.
That said, I was considering applying for a job with Toyota and the recruiter laughed and said no way a gayjin such as myself would get near the engineering department.