Lufthansa fined $4 million for stopping Jewish passengers from boarding plane

The Transportation Department fined Lufthansa $4 million on Tuesday, after finding the airline had discriminated against 128 Jewish passengers traveling from New York to Hungary in 2022 by preventing them from making a connecting flight in Germany, according to an agency announcement.

The passengers were en route to an annual memorial event to honor an Orthodox rabbi in Hungary.

The Transportation Department said the fine was the largest it had levied for a civil rights violation, saying the German airline's behavior constituted religious discrimination, violating multiple U.S. statutes.

The agency's investigation began after it received more than 40 complaints from Jewish passengers traveling from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to Budapest, via a scheduled stopover in Frankfurt, on May 3, 2022.

The Transportation Department said Lufthansa did not allow the passengers to embark on their connecting flight because of the misbehavior of a small number of individuals on the first leg of their journey. Most of the affected passengers were Jewish men in traditional Orthodox attire, who were treated as a single entity and penalized for the actions of a few, the department said.

The problem started when the captain of the first flight alerted Lufthansa security about some passengers not adhering to crew instructions, which were to wear face masks during the flight and not gather in the aisle or emergency exits. They were not considered security risks, however.

As a result of this alert, a hold was placed on the tickets of more than 100 passengers heading to Budapest, all of whom were Jewish, the department found. However, no specific individuals were identified as having violated crew instructions, contradicting Lufthansa's reasoning for the denied boarding, the announcement said.

In a legal order filed Tuesday, the department wrote that "the denial of transport in Frankfurt was a continuation of a pattern of discriminatory behavior that began on a flight that originated in the United States."

The airline has been ordered to cease further discriminatory practices and must pay $2 million of the fine within 30 days. The remaining $2 million was credited to Lufthansa for compensation already provided to the affected passengers.

"No one should face discrimination when they travel, and 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," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.

Lufthansa did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but in a statement released in 2022 days after the incident, the airline said it "regrets the circumstances surrounding the decision to exclude the affected passengers from the flight, for which Lufthansa sincerely apologizes."