how do you figure out in real time who to penalize? its difficult. if they were smart in any way one they decided they were going to punish them they should have begun taking pics of every person without a mask and then not allowing them to board the next flight. they were not smart. they should have just let everyone who they couldn't id without a mask board but they didn't. now they are paying the price. this isn't an issue of antisemitism, its an issue of bad judgment. the end. LH was wrong but they weren't being anti Semitic. that's my opinion

Okay, joking aside...this is bad. The bigger issue was the "mass ban" (as somebody else said, the optics of collectively telling a bunch of Jewish folks that they can't board their flight to leave Germany and "you know why" is...impressive).

As to how it should have been handled? Since it was apparently like 100-150 folks connecting onto the same flight, I'd say that you let them through onto the connecting flight. However, you inform the other passengers on that flight that "The folks coming from the prior flight have been non-compliant with mask rules" and let them change if they want to, no questions asked. That's a less-than-ideal situation but it's probably the lesser of the evils when compared to how this played out. A better option would have been for the on-board FAs to take notes as to who was being bad (even if they don't know names, "the passenger in 26L" is a good starting point), canx their tickets, and give them more than "just" a 24-hour ban...(which in Europe really just means "catch the next train"). Alternatively, they could have...say, radioed ahead to immigration at FRA and maybe some of the worst troublemakers would have been denied entry into the EU, which would solve the issue of blocking their connections (and let the whole "political" side of this be the problem of the German government).

By the way, given the collective nature of this fiasco, I do wonder how this is going to play out in terms of EU261 and so on. I feel like LH blew this badly enough that there's a good chance that the rule-breakers are going to end up getting compensated since it'll be very hard to disentangle them after the fact unless someone has on-board video.

Same way every other airline in the world does it. You file an incident report, write down the pax name and seat number, hand them a red card, and ban them from flying the airline again as long as masks are required.

The US airlines had thousands of people on these lists without a problem.

What you don't do is ban every Jew or every Black person or every Polish person on a plane because you can't tell them apart or didn't spend the time to file incident reports.

except that what do you do when a HUGE number of people break the rules at one time in a big group. maybe that is what happened this time. you don't know I don't know. the solution you described CAN NOT be done in the manner you describe if its a huge group breaking the rules all at one time. just can't. so they made a BAD CALL banning them all like they did. I have stated that multiple times. but your solution doesn't work in a big group breaking the rules all at the same time, they are just too massive to be dealt with like you suggest by 1 or 2 flight attendants. what this WASNT was antisemitic. in no way shape or form

Other then the LH supervisor openly saying on video that it was literally one or 2 Jews that caused all the Jews on the flight to be banned for 24 hours?
And that over a dozen witnesses says there were just a couple people on the plane that had isolated mask incidents?
Or that despite some non-Jews having mask incidents on the plane, none of them had issues with their connecting flights, only the Jews on the plane did?

I'm glad you're so confident in your assessment.

is LH the only carrier nowadays that doesnt have plastic ties on board? bet you once you tie up 1 person and put them in a seat everyone else will fall quickly into line (not that should have been out of line to begin with) Then you have that person taken away by the police upon landing


what you dont do is say since those causing the problem were male or yellow or purple or women or Jewish etc etc therefore all those on board of that group are hereby banned

If you really believe there was anti-semitism involved I have a couple of bridges to sell you at a good price, that said I do believe that those who didnt listen and obey the crew were the culprits but that wasnt the vast majority of the Jewish passengers it seems and since I havent read otherwise I believe alot of the blame is on the agents who were traveling also for not making sure each person when purchasing understood LHs T&Cs and agreed to them. I say that since many in that community are against any and all masking. BUT that doesnt get LH off the hook for how they resolved the issue

wrong that is in no way shape or form the position of LH. it wasn't 1 or 2. more like 50..nice try though. If a clueless boarding agent in Frankfurt said 1 or 2, they were clueless, in Frankfurt, and weren't on the flight. so no. sorry. wrong again. over a dozen witnesses said it was approx 30-40. get your facts straight. and when a group of 30-40 people all congregated together not wearing masks it is REASONABLE to conclude that they might distract ones attention from an isolated 1 that isn't wearing a mask not with the group. im ecstatic you are so confident in your assessment

A collective punishment is not acceptable. Personally I think, that there isn‘t a religious or political motivation as I‘m sure the same could have happened to a group of soccer fans, where some did something wrong and all wearing shirts of the same were punished. If the FA is so angry about the behavior of some passengers, he has to do his homework and find out the name/seat of the individuals, which behaved wrong.

From my point of view, the LH staff involved made slightly wrong decisions at different points of the incident, which results in the very wrong decision of a collective punishment. An airline has to protect the dignity of its staff members, not their egos.

The supervisor shouldn’t give interviews in English as she wasn‘t able to choose the right words in English. Using the words „the Jewish people“ when talking about two (or more) individuals is easy to misunderstand in English. I think, she would have chosen different words than the 1:1 translation when talking German.

German federal police at airports is always armed and one of every group of three to five carries a MP5 or G36. They can’t leave it somewhere when called to an incident where it‘s not needed.

To record and publish the video of the supervisor was likely against German law. To call other people „Nazi“ is against German law.

I‘ve experienced that wearing a mask is not enforced when flying LH first class. On my recent two flights even the announcement about wearing a mask was muted in the first class area.

Please provide a valid source for this.

There were 125+ passengers barred from boarding the connecting flight. Even if you can prove it was 40 that did not comply with mask rules, why did the other 85+ deserve to be banned?

wow I had no idea you were on that flight can you please fill us in with more info. Id like to believe your numbers since it seems you are quoting them from somewhere please supply your source Ive yet to read any article or see any video on any media that says what you did

I wanna live in a black and white world like friedablass..... MANY people believe if you can attach 40-50 people out of a collective group of NY GIANTS fans all traveling on the same plane its fair and just to ban the entire group.....it happens all the time cuz its called common sense....sorry if this time it was a huge group of JEWISH people traveling in GERMANY.thats a horrible combo and a bad coincidence but this incident was in NO WAY antisemitic and to suggest otherwise is lazy and inflammatory

You still haven't provided proof that it was 40 people (or even 30).

The eye witness accounts I've seen and heard personally stated maybe 1 or 2 were not complying with masks. There were several more congregating WITH masks but at the time that didn't seem to be an issue. But there were nowhere near 30 people, let alone 40, causing problems. So if you have a source for that statement, please be so kind and provide it. Or if you were in that flight, then please provide your first hand account.

except some of the pics shows what appears to be non-Jews not wearing their masks properly either what happened to them,?

As for the Police and the guns I personally have nothing against that, anyone who travels thru Europe should know thats how it is unlike over here where theyd be wearing only their pistols. Ive been in FRA countless times and always saw the police with those guns walking around they didnt grab them simply to round up the Jews, and anyone who thinks hahts what happened better lay off the booze and leave emotions out of this.

Im sure the capt called in from the flight and it was sent to whomever was in charge for LH and they informed the police of possible rioting by a couple hundred Jewish passengers

friedablass hasn't supplies a single scant of evidence that is was only 1 or 2 (or 3) (0r4)....cuz they have none of course....the eye witness accounts that I've see and Heard personally say at least 30 up to 60 were not complying with masks. there were another 20 or so that wore masks some of the time but most of the time had them off. but there were NO WHERE near 1 or 2 or 3 as some have claimed. so if YOU have a source for that statement, please be SO KIND and provide it. or if YOU were on that flight, then please provide YOUR first hand account

can you believe a hundred passengers were denied boarding for a 1 hour flight to Budapest.....and had to wait 3-12 hours to board another flight....o the HORROR....talk about civil rights violations..that ranks right up there with not getting your hot meal on time....1st world problems