The U.S. Department of Transportation fined German airline Lufthansa $4 million for allegedly discriminating against Jewish passengers who were traveling in May 2022, it said in a release on Tuesday.
The penalty is the largest ever issued by the Transportation Department against an airline for civil rights violation.
The department said its investigation found that the airline had allegedly prohibited 128 Jewish passengers from boarding a connecting flight in Germany. The passengers were traveling from New York City through Frankfurt to Budapest.
“No one should face discrimination when they travel, and today’s action sends a clear message to the airline industry that we are prepared to investigate and take action whenever passengers’ civil rights are violated,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said.
The Transportation Department said it had received more than 40 discrimination complaints from Jewish passengers on the flight in May 2022.
The department’s investigation found that the passengers were prohibited from boarding the flight to Budapest due to “alleged misbehavior” on the first flight, which had led to a hold being placed on more than 100 passengers’ tickets and preventing them from reaching their final destination.
The department said that although the captain had alerted security that some passengers were not complying with instructions, Lufthansa had later failed to identify any single passenger that didn’t follow directions.
The Hill has contacted the Lufthansa Group for comment.
