Lufthansa Fined a Record $4M After Barring Jews From Flight

Passengers aboard a 2022 Lufthansa flight allegedly refused to comply with face mask requirements, and the crew's response has now led to the airline being hit with the highest penalty the US Department of Transportation has ever issued for a civil rights violation, the Wall Street Journal reports. Authorities say that after the captain told security about the passengers who were refusing to wear masks and also breaking rules regarding not standing in the aisle of the plane, holds were placed on the tickets of 128 passengers on board the New York to Budapest flight, leaving them unable to board their connecting flight in Frankfurt. But the passengers, who were Jewish, say they were discriminated against due to their religion, and that not all of them were part of the same group or even knew each other, the BBC reports.

The DOT says the incident involved male passengers wearing "distinctive garb typically worn by Orthodox Jewish men," all of whom used the same few travel agencies to book their flights. The airline says there were so many people refusing to comply, moving around the airplane, and changing seats that it had to take action against the entire group rather than address noncompliant passengers individually. But the DOT says in a statement that the airline engaged in discrimination and that passengers' civil rights were violated. The airline was fined $4 million, but will only have to pay $2 million. It will receive credit for the $2 million it has already paid to passengers as part of a legal settlement. (More Lufthansa stories.)