Lufthansa agrees to a record $4 million fine for its treatment of Jewish passengers

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Lufthansa aircraft are pictured in Frankfurt, Germany, in March. The airline has agreed to pay a $4 million civil rights penalty by the U.S. Department of Transportation. / AP

The German airline Lufthansa has agreed to pay a record $4 million penalty for allegedly discriminating against Jewish passengers, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced Tuesday.

The charges stem from an incident in May 2022 in which 131 passengers planned to fly from New York City to Budapest, Hungary — with a connection in Frankfurt, Germany — for an annual memorial event for an Orthodox rabbi. Most wore the distinctive black hats and jackets typically favored by Orthodox Jewish men, the DOT says.

"Despite the 131 passengers having a common destination, most of the passengers did not know each other and did not book their flights as a single group," according to the department's consent order.

Yet the DOT says Lufthansa treated the Jewish passengers as one entity and barred 128 of them from boarding their connecting flight due to the alleged misconduct of a few.

Crew members alleged that during the first leg of the trip, from New York to Frankfurt, some passengers repeatedly disregarded their instructions to wear face masks — which was required by German law at the time due to the COVID-19 public health emergency — and avoid gathering in the aisles. The airline later failed to identify any specific passengers who hadn't complied, the consent order notes.

Video from the incident, reported at the time by NBC News, shows Lufthansa staff telling passengers that "everyone has to pay" for the mistakes of a few. The staff said "everyone" meant "Jewish coming from JFK," referring to the New York City airport.

The captain of the first flight alerted Lufthansa security, which placed a hold on the passengers' tickets that prevented them from boarding their connecting flight from Frankfurt to Budapest. All 128 passengers with a hold on their ticket were Jewish, DOT officials say.

The move left passengers confused and upset, forced to delay or disrupt their travel plans, they added. Lufthansa rebooked most of the passengers on other flights that same day, while some made their own alternative arrangements.

The DOT received over 40 discrimination complaints from Jewish passengers after the incident, prompting its Office of Aviation Consumer Protection (OACP) to open an investigation.

"Most passengers who were interviewed by OACP stated that Lufthansa treated them all as if they were a single group, and denied boarding onto [the Budapest flight] to everyone for the apparent misbehavior of a few, because they were openly and visibly Jewish," it said.

Lufthansa denies discrimination but has taken steps to publicly correct course

The DOT investigation concluded that Lufthansa had discriminated against the passengers on the basis of religion and subjected them to "unreasonable" discrimination.

"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, for its part, says the boarding prohibition was the result of "an unfortunate series of inaccurate communications, misinterpretations, and misjudgments throughout the decision-making process," according to the DOT.

The airline said it has publicly apologized for the incident on numerous occasions, calling it "regrettable" and denying that its employees engaged in discrimination, according to the consent order.

A spokesperson for Lufthansa told NPR that the airline fully cooperated with the DOT throughout its review process.

The airline also outlined steps it has taken since to foster dialogue with the Jewish community, like adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism and partnering with the American Jewish Committee.

"Through our ongoing collaboration, we have curated a first-of-its kind training program in the airline industry for our managers and employees to address antisemitism and discrimination," it said in a statement. "Lufthansa is dedicated to being an ambassador of goodwill, tolerance, diversity, and acceptance."

Mark Goldfeder, a lawyer and the director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, posted on X on Tuesday that he was "proud to represent these passengers, and that thanks to our efforts Lufthansa became the first airline to adopt the IHRA definition." He thanked Buttigieg and the DOT for holding the airline accountable for discrimination.

The DOT says Lufthansa ultimately entered into the consent order, despite disagreeing with the department's conclusions, to avoid litigation that the department had threatened.

The result is the $4 million penalty, which the DOT says is the largest it has ever issued against an airline for civil rights violations. Lufthansa will pay $2 million, and the DOT says it will credit the airline with the other $2 million from compensation it has paid to affected passengers.