The Transportation Department said it has fined Lufthansa $4 million for discrimination against Orthodox Jewish travelers in May 2022.
Lufthansa will pay $2 million of the fine in cash. The DOT will give Lufthansa a credit for the remaining to $2 million in deference to compensation the airline has paid to affected passengers.
According to a consent decree issued by the DOT, 131 passengers were traveling from New York JFK to Budapest (via Frankfurt) to attend an event to honor a rabbi on May 3, 2022.
At that time, Lufthansa required passengers to wear face masks. During the first leg of the itinerary between New York and Frankfurt, flight crew instructed passengers about the face mask rule and another prohibiting passengers from gathering in aisles. Upon arrival in Frankfurt, the flight's captain reported that some of the passengers violated the rules, but the flight crew did not identify specific violators. Ultimately, Lufthansa prevented 128 of the 131 passengers from boarding their connecting flight from Frankfurt to Budapest without determining which individuals committed the violations.
"As such, Lufthansa took action that had an adverse effect on these passengers whose only affiliation with each other was that they were of the same religion and/or ethnicity," according to the consent decree. The DOT said Lufthansa's actions violated DOT regulations against discrimination.
In a statement, Lufthansa said that following the incident, Lufthansa partnered with the American Jewish Committee to develop a training program for managers and employees to address antisemitism and discrimination.
"Lufthansa is dedicated to being an ambassador of goodwill, tolerance, diversity and acceptance," the carrier said. "As the first airline to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's working definition of antisemitism, Lufthansa will continue to foster a thoughtful dialogue with Jewish communities and organizations around the world."
According to the consent decree, Lufthansa has publicly apologized on numerous occasions for the incident and says that the denied boarding resulted from a series of inaccurate communications, misinterpretations and misjudgments throughout the decision-making process.
However, Lufthansa disagrees with the DOT's finding and agreed to the penalty only to avoid litigation, the consent decree reads.
The decision to deny boarding for the Frankfurt-Budapest flight was not a result of discrimination, Lufthansa maintains. Rather, the crew was unable to ascertain the specific violators because infractions for refusing to wear masks and for gathering in aisles on the JFK-Frankfurt leg were so numerous and took place over lengthy portions of the flight.
The passengers, most of whom were male, were dressed in traditional Orthodox Jewish black and white garb, according to the DOT. Most of them did not know each other and they did not book flights as a single group, said the DOT, and many of the passengers purchased tickets as individuals or small groups.
The airline stated that some flight attendants facilitated praying by small groups of passengers, proof that their actions weren't driven by antisemitism.
"Lufthansa states that the large number of noncompliant passengers and the fact that many traded seats made it impossible to identify them," the consent decree reads. "In such circumstances, Lufthansa maintains that the crew appropriately prioritized addressing the large-scale passenger misconduct, which jeopardized the safety and security of the flight and obstructed the crew from performing their safety and passenger service duties, rather than attempting to develop a list of individual passengers who were violating regulations."