Washington, Oct 16 (Reporter) German airline Lufthansa agreed to pay a $4 million penalty for allegedly discriminating against Jewish passengers at Frankfurt Airport in May 2022, the U.S. Transportation Department said on Tuesday. The US Department of Transportation (DOT) said in a media release, which issued the fine, Lufthansa staff prohibited 128 passengers, nearly all of whom were wearing traditional Orthodox Jewish attire, from boarding a connecting flight on the basis of alleged misbehaviour by some. “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,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “From cracking down on long tarmac delays to ensuring passengers are properly refunded, our department has strengthened our enforcement efforts to hold airlines accountable for their treatment of passengers, and we will continue to push the industry to serve passengers with the fairness and dignity they deserve.” The Department received over 40 discrimination complaints from Jewish passengers who were ticketed to fly from John F. Kennedy airport in NYC (JFK), with a stop in Frankfurt, Germany (FRA), and an ultimate destination of Budapest, Hungary (BUD) in May 2022. DOT’s investigation into the complaints concluded that Lufthansa prohibited 128 Jewish passengers from completing their travel to Budapest based on the alleged misbehaviour of some or a few passengers on the first flight. During the first flight, the captain alerted Lufthansa security that some passengers were failing to follow crew instructions and were connecting to another flight to Budapest, although Lufthansa later failed to identify any one passenger who failed to follow crewmember instructions. The alert to security resulted in a hold being placed on over 100 passengers' tickets with a final destination of BUD, which then prevented passengers from boarding their next scheduled flight at FRA. All of the passengers with a hold placed on their ticket were Jewish. Noncompliant individuals were not named, and Lufthansa staff recognised that the refusal to transport the entire group could result in the exclusion of passengers that had complied with crew instructions on LH 401 but concluded it was not practical to address each passenger individually. DOT’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection will continue to vigorously use its authority to ensure all passengers fly free from discrimination. More information on passengers’ rights to fly without discrimination is here. Since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration, DOT has taken historic action to improve oversight of the airline industry. Since 2021, DOT has: Ensured airline passengers received nearly $4 billion in refunds and reimbursements owed to them, including over $600 million owed to passengers affected by the Southwest Airlines holiday meltdown in 2022. Issued over $170 million in penalties against airlines for consumer protection violations since President Biden took office...////...