The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) imposed a fine of $4 million on a German airline for discriminating against a group of more than 100 Jewish passengers by collectively barring them from a flight in 2022, according to a report.
The incident took place when 128 passengers, many of which were visibly Orthodox Jewish, were traveling from New York to Budapest, Hungary, with a Frankfurt, Germany, layover.
After a few passengers failed to comply with the airline's mask policy during the first half of the trip, Lufthansa airlines prohibited all of the visibly Jewish passengers from boarding the connecting flight, NBC News reported.
Following the occurrence, the DOT investigated the airline and found that Lufthansa treated the group as a monolithic entity based on their appearance, violating their civil rights, and despite many not knowing each other.
"Based on the alleged misconduct of some passengers," the DOT said the staff "treated them all as if they were a single group and denied them boarding," according to the outlet.
The airline apologized soon after for excluding many passengers over an individualized mask dispute and agreeing to pay $21,000 to each passenger that was denied boarding, AP News reported.
"We regret that the large group was denied boarding rather than limiting it to the non-compliant guests," the airline said in 2022, according to NBC. "We have zero tolerance for racism, antisemitism and discrimination of any type."
Despite the apology and settlement, the DOT proceeded with the fine to reinforce that discrimination of that nature is not acceptable. The multi-million dollar fine is the largest fine ever issued by the department for a civil rights violation.
Lufthansa has pledged to improve its anti-discrimination policies and partnered with the American Jewish Committee to launch a new training program addressing antisemitism.
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