German airline Lufthansa announced Thursday that it has reached a settlement with most Orthodox Jewish passengers who were denied boarding a plane in Frankfurt earlier this year because some of them refused to wear masks. Had given. Following the May 4 incident, in which New Yorkers were transferred at Germany’s busiest airport before boarding a trip to Budapest, Lufthansa issued an apology.
German media at the time reported that some passengers on the incoming flight had apparently refused to comply with rules that required them to wear face masks, after which Lufthansa staff allegedly removed all of those passengers. Blocked those who identified as Jews. The incident took place on May 4, 2022, on flight LH401 from New York JFK to Frankfurt. The flight was performed by a Boeing 747-400 aircraft. This was to connect Budapest with the large number of Orthodox Jewish commuters.
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“We can confirm that Lufthansa has reached a settlement with the majority of passengers,” the airline said in a statement. It gave no details and refused to confirm a report by aviation news site Simply Flying that Lufthansa has agreed to pay $21,000 (roughly Rs. 17 lakh) to each passenger who was denied boarding was.
Regional authorities and Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, the rabbi of Berlin and head of the local Chabad community, expressed concern after the incident. Tektal said German companies should be sensitive to potential antisemitism in light of the country’s Nazi past.
During this, the video of the incident recorded by the passengers went viral on the internet. After this Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr apologized to the passengers. Simple Flying quoted him as saying, “Lufthansa regrets the circumstances surrounding the decision to exclude affected passengers from the flight, for which Lufthansa sincerely apologises. While Lufthansa is still assessing the facts and circumstances of that day.” Reviewing, we’re sorry there was a large group. Denied boarding instead of limiting it to non-compliant guests. We apologize to all passengers unable to travel on this flight, not just the inconvenience but also for crime and personal impact. We will engage with affected passengers to better understand their concerns and openly discuss how we can improve our customer service.”
With inputs from PTI