Lufthansa Faces Record Penalty for Discrimination Allegations

Lufthansa has agreed to a $4 million penalty after allegedly discriminating against 128 Jewish passengers in May 2022. The U.S. Department of Transportation reported that these passengers, mostly Orthodox Jews, were barred from a connecting flight due to alleged misbehavior by a few among them.

Lufthansa is set to pay a $4 million penalty following allegations of discrimination against Jewish passengers last year. This incident, under the scrutiny of the U.S. Transportation Department, involved 128 Jewish passengers barred from a Frankfurt connecting flight due to alleged misconduct.

The passengers, mostly Orthodox Jewish men departing from New York and en route to Budapest, were denied boarding based on the purported misbehavior of a few. Despite the claim that many did not know each other, Lufthansa treated them as a homogeneous group, leading to the exclusion of all.

The airline strongly denied any discriminatory actions, attributing the situation to communication errors and regrettable misjudgments. Nevertheless, it agreed to a $2 million penalty and a further $2 million compensation. In a bid to address the issues, Lufthansa is launching an antisemitism and discrimination-training program.

(With inputs from agencies.)