Lufthansa apologised for excluding an entire group of Jewish passengers after a few of them were defying COVID rules. The group of Charedim, who were en route to Kerestir, Hungary, accused the airline of collective punishment.
Earlier this week, a video emerged, showing a Lufthansa agent admitting that the airline banned an entire group of Jews last week, because a few of them defied the COVID rules. Several groups were traveling to Hungary via Germany with Lufthansa Airlines, about 150 passengers in total. Witnesses said that more than 100 Jews were banned from the connecting flight, because of the one or two who defied the rules.
Lufthansa apologised on Tuesday for the mistake, reports the Deutsche Welle. In a statement, the German airline said that on May 4, a group of passengers were denied onward boarding from Frankfurt to Budapest after an incident on the New York to Frankfurt flight, where some had refused to comply with in-flight masking requirements.
Lufthansa’s statement says, “We have zero tolerance for racism, antisemitism and discrimination of any type.” The company’s statement only refers to “a large number of booked passengers” and “the large group”, for they are “still reviewing the facts and circumstances of that day”.
“We will be engaging with the affected passengers to better understand their concerns and openly discuss how we may improve our customer service,” the statement concluded.