Jewish Family Sues Spirit Airlines Over Alleged Anti-Semitic Abuse
A Spirit Airlines plane lands at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Image by Joe Raedle / Getty Images
A Jewish family from New York is suing Spirit Airlines, claiming they were harassed by flight attendants on their way to Florida in a “discriminatory campaign,” Law.com reported.
The situation began over a question about safety regulations and allegedly resulted in one flight attendant labeling the family as “retarded Jews.”
In January, Yisroel Sternberg and Chana Beck boarded a flight from Newark to Fort Lauderdale with their three infant children. They bought an extra ticket for the baby’s carriage, which converted into a car seat. Doing so is approved by the Federal Aviation Administration but became an issue at check-in — it doubled as a stroller, which is against Spirit’s policies.
A flight attendant told them they couldn’t bring the carriage aboard. After further disagreements, the couple agreed to stow the seat below deck. Tensions worsened when an attendant grew angry at Sternberg, who was assigned to a seat separated from his family, for switching seats to help with his children. When he moved back, he was told to “shut up” with a threat to call the police.
The crew did call 911, claiming that the couple was “being disruptive and cursing at the flight attendants,” according to the complaint. When the plane landed, they were escorted off by two sheriff’s deputies, their return tickets were voided and they received a lifetime ban from Spirit.
Spirit would not comment on the case but Derek Dombrowski, the media relations manager, told Law.com that the airline stands against discrimination.
“Spirit Airlines strives to maintain a welcoming environment for all of our guests, and we have zero tolerance for discrimination,” Dombrowski said.
Alyssa Fisher is a writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
The Forward is free to read but not free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
