The group of 128 passengers were denied boarding on a flight in Frankfurt toi Budapest in 2022 after flying to Germany from New York.

German airline Lufthansa was fined a record $4 million (€3.6million) over its treatment of a group of 128 Jewish passengers who attempted to board a 2022 flight in Frankfurt.

This is the largest fine ever issued against an airline for a civil rights violation.

The US Department of Transportation said that a group of 128 passengers who were denied boarding on a flight in 2022 from Frankfurt to Budapest all “wore distinctive garb typically worn by Orthodox Jewish men.”

The passengers, coming from Newx York, who were not all travelling together, told investigators that Lufthansa mistakenly treated them as if they were a group before denying boarding to all based on the alleged misbehaviour by some.

Lufthansa crew members said the passengers failed to obey their instructions to wear face masks and not gather in aisles or near emergency exits.

Their alleged misbehaviour resulted in the passengers being denied boarding on the connecting flight.

The Department of Transportation argued that it could not find evidence of misbehaviour based on the passengers they interviewed for the investigation, adding that Lufthansa crew members failed to identify individual passengers who hadn’t followed the rules.

The airline at the time apologized for the incident and reached an undisclosed settlement with the majority of the passengers.

Lufthansa was given credit for $2 million (€3.6million) for compensation it gave the passengers, cutting the fine in half.