Lufthansa pays Jewish passengers barred from European flight

Almost half a year after refusing to board a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews on their connecting flight to Budapest, the German airline Lufthansa has agreed to pay the affected passengers.

The incident occurred after two passengers refused to wear masks on the flight causing an airline agent to bar an entire group of similarly dressed passengers from boarding the plane. Video released showed a Lufthansa supervisor blaming “Jews coming from JFK,” saying, “Jewish people who were the mess.”

Lufthansa apologized after video of the incident began to circulate online.

Now, months later, they are paying those passengers $17,400 as part of a settlement agreement, according to DansDeals.com, the website that first broke the story.

Uproar over the incident led to the creation of a senior management position to fight anti-Semitism and discrimination. The company also agreed to a training program to teach staff to recognize and combat anti-Semitism.

For many Jews in New York, the incident came amid a rising tide of anti-Semitic events. Last year saw a record high of anti-Semitic incidents, a dramatic 34% increase from 2020, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Most of those recorded incidents targeted New York-based Jews.

At the same time, anti-Semitic incidents in Europe have also increased in the last few years, according to Human Rights Watch.