Reader Gregg flags a story on Naked Capitalism, calling for a boycott of Lufthansa, based on a claim that the German flag carrier removed a passenger from a flight for wearing a medical mask. I obviously wasn’t there, but something doesn’t add up.
Man’s mask makes Lufthansa crew uncomfortable?
A passenger traveling on a Lufthansa flight makes the following claims (and Naked Capitalism notes that this is “a reader well known to the site”):
So it finally happened — I got taken off the flight for wearing a mask.
Trying to go home to visit my mom, who we have managed to keep COVID free still to this day, so the same protocol that was kept us safe for five years was followed. But the tolerance towards it is gone now apparently…
I think I told you a story about them being very aggressive about it a couple years ago, well, this time they starting harassing me about it from the start, I told them to leave me alone and to go do whatever they have to actually do as their job and to stop bothering me, and then the captain came and said that I was “making the crew uncomfortable” and they will either physically remove me or rebook me to another flight and route. The latter would have meant spending an additional day at various airports, so I refused, and then they indeed came with a cop.
Then I had a long conversation with the cops explaining to them what happened, they said I didn’t really do anything wrong but Lufthansa as a private company can do whatever they want (what about the contract that is the ticket?) and this is “tresspassing”, etc. I said to them that I have a strong suspicion the flight was fully booked (indeed, every single seat was taken) and Lufthansa was looking for a way to kick someone out, they nodded silently, and that was it…
The website asked the person who was removed from the flight more about the interaction with the crew over the mask, and the explanation was as follows:
They didn’t ask me to remove it, they were just very aggressively asking me why I am wearing it, with questions implying I had a mental health problem. I told them to leave me alone and stop bothering me, they came back, I told them that I am not an idiot, but a professional who knows very well what he is doing, and that they should also go back to doing their job, which certainly does not feature harassing passengers, they continued. All that time I am sitting motionless and silent in the seat, thus “causing disruption” is just out of the question, but then they came telling me I am making them “uncomfortable” and should be taken out the plane and rerouted. I categorically refused because I had paid for this flight, not for the other one and for sitting at airports for another 12-24 hours, and also because the whole thing was so surreal I couldn’t believe they were serious. Then they came with police…
The scheme was effectively to deliberately provoke even a mild reaction to persistent pestering, then use that as justification for further action and escalation. And I did not wise up to that on time…
I think there’s more to this Lufthansa story
I wasn’t there for this incident, so obviously I can’t say with certainty what exactly happened. However, I haven’t seen any video evidence or commentary from witnesses. This story just doesn’t make much sense. And I say that as someone who often masks up when flying. A few thoughts:
- It’s interesting that this person claims this wasn’t the first time that something like this happened, and that he dealt with a “very aggressive” mask situation a couple of years ago; I suspect I’ve flown a lot more miles masked than this person, and I’ve never had anyone say anything
- Culturally, it’s just not very German to be publicly nosy and question people about their decisions while on the job, when they’re not in any way violating rules
- It’s a little preposterous to think that the flight was oversold, so the crew was given the task of finding passengers they can identify as being problematic, to have them removed from a flight by the police; that’s just never something that an inflight crew is tasked with, let alone that the captain is in on this scheme
- This is more a general tip, but regardless of the merit to the passenger being kicked off the flight, refusing to get off the plane is never the right move, because once the decision has been made (especially with the captain’s involvement), it’s final
To be clear, I’m not saying the story is totally fabricated, though I feel like there’s more to this that hasn’t been disclosed. I just struggle to make sense of the claims, so I’m not willing to say “yeah, boycott Lufthansa!”
What could have really happened, though? Did this person have some out of the ordinary mask setup that the crew had never seen before, and then this passenger responded super aggressively, telling the crew to mind their own business, do their work, etc.?
I just can’t see any airline crew question a passenger and implying they have a “mental health problem” because they choose to wear a mask.
Bottom line
A website is calling on a boycott of Lufthansa, after a passenger claimed he was removed from a flight by police because the crew started questioning him about wearing a mask. I wasn’t there, but I’ve never witnessed an airline crew comment negatively on a passenger’s decision to wear a mask.
The whole thing seems more preposterous when you consider the passenger dealt with a similar “very aggressive” mask situation a couple of years ago.
So I’m not saying it isn’t true, but there seems to be a common link here, and it’s this passenger. I’d be fascinated to know what kind of a mask he was wearing, and more specifically, how the interaction went, and what the crew said.
What do you make of this Lufthansa mask story?
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