discrimination
Lufthansa apology: onward flight without Jewish passengers
A Lufthansa employee prepares boarding for a flight at a gate at Munich Airport. Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Although not everyone was without mouth and nose protection, a whole group of orthodox Jews was prevented from continuing their journey after their arrival in Frankfurt. Now Lufthansa is reacting.
Lufthansa has apologized for refusing a group of orthodox Jews to fly from Frankfurt to Budapest last week. “Lufthansa expressly apologizes to the guests,” the airline said in a tweet.
“The events are not in line with our values.” Hesse’s anti-Semitism officer, Uwe Becker, called on Lufthansa management to take a stand.
The incident happened last Wednesday (May 4) in Frankfurt/Main. This was preceded by the repeated refusal of some passengers on the flight from New York to Frankfurt, even after the crew had asked them to wear masks to protect against infection with the corona virus, Lufthansa had previously explained on request.
The “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, citing a passenger on the Lufthansa plane from New York, wrote that all travelers who could be identified as Jews by their hat and sidelocks were excluded from further carriage – and not specifically the passengers who who had misbehaved.
The Lufthansa statement goes on to say that the incident is being taken very seriously and that intensive work is being done to clarify the matter. “Regardless of this, we regret that the larger group was not able to continue their journey instead of limiting this decision to individual people.”
Hesse’s anti-Semitism commissioner announced that a whole group of people had obviously been held responsible for something that obviously only affected individual travelers simply because of their recognizable belief. “This is discriminatory and not a trifle, and the top management should feel that it is all the more personal responsibility to apologize for this incident and to take a clear and unequivocal position,” said Becker.
He would be happy to talk to Lufthansa. “Something like this must not be repeated,” said the anti-Semitism officer.