WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Transportation Division mentioned Tuesday it’s imposing a $4 million penalty in opposition to Lufthansa for discriminating in opposition to Jewish passengers from New York by Frankfurt to Budapest in Might 2022.
USDOT mentioned 128 Jewish passengers — practically all of whom wore clothes usually worn by Orthodox Jewish males — had been prohibited from boarding a connecting flight in Germany on the premise of alleged misbehavior by some passengers.
Regardless of most of the passengers not understanding one another or touring collectively, passengers interviewed by DOT investigators acknowledged that Lufthansa handled all of them as in the event that they had been a single group and denied them boarding for the alleged misbehavior of some, DOT mentioned.
USDOT mentioned it is going to require Lufthansa to pay $2 million and credit score Lufthansa with $2 million it paid in compensation to passengers. Lufthansa denied any of its staff engaged in discriminating in opposition to passengers however agreed to the settlement to keep away from litigation threatened by the division, USDOT mentioned.