About 100 Orthodox Jews from New York City travelling on a religious pilgrimage to Budapest, Hungary, were barred by Lufthansa from their connection in Frankfurt, Germany, last week, reported Jewish news outlet Hamodia.
The airline's agents explained that the group of people, flying on the same flights but not all associated with one another, was being turned away because several had failed to wear face masks during the first leg of their journey.
The group flew out of New York's John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK), where the US has dropped its COVID-19-induced mask mandates on flights. However, Germany still requires all passengers on flights to wear a mask.
“Because of operational reasons coming from the flight from New York, for all passengers here we have to cancel you on this flight,” Lufthansa agents told the Jewish passengers, according to the outlet.
According to several cited witnesses from the flight, only one or two of the Jewish passengers from those who were barred from flying were not wearing a mask on their flight from New York.
After the passengers protested against being forbidden to board, they were purportedly told by Lufthansa agents that they were all being barred because of the actions of a few individuals.
A video from the incident, posted on the internet, showed a male passenger speaking with a female Lufthansa agent. The passenger insisted that he had been wearing a mask, as had all the others in his group.
“Is this a Lufthansa decision that all Jewish people can't go on any flight today? Because this is 2022, and this is a western country, so this has to go up to upper management because this is anti-Semitism,” fumed the man.
However, the Lufthansa agent responded with:
“It would have been just the same if you had been African, or Polish. It was Jewish people who were the mess, who made the problems.”
Eventually, all the passengers reportedly reached their destination, albeit having suffered the inconvenience of delays lasting several hours.
In a statement, Lufthansa confessed that it had blocked the group in question from boarding a connecting flight. However, it dismissed accusations of anti-Semitism.
“We find the claim of anti-Semitism unwarranted and without merit. We confirm that a larger group of passengers could not be carried today on Lufthansa flight LH1334 from Frankfurt to Budapest, because the travellers refused to wear the legally mandated mask on board.”