Judge: Airline Must Pay Up for Lacking Kosher Food

by Dovid Gold – VIN News

The São Paulo Court of Justice has awarded $1,400 to Isaac Kopfler, a Brazilian Jew traveling aboard Lufthansa Airlines from Zurich to São Paolo, after the German airline failed to provide kosher food for their passenger despite his request for it at the time he purchased his ticket. The incident occurred on March 21, 2012.

Exame News reports that the Court found the airline was guilty of “moral damage” to its customer as Mr. Kopfler was forced to go without any food for the duration of the 14- hour flight. Only non-kosher food was available. “Kosher food is of paramount importance and is founded on religious precepts. The passenger remained throughout the intercontinental flight without any food,” the Magistrate wrote in the Court’s decision. The Court’s award is less than Mr. Kopfler’s original demand of $5,000.

Following the decision, Lufthansa apologized to the customer, and explained that the customer was actually flying aboard SwissAir, a division of Lufthansa, and said that the problem Mr. Kopfler encountered is “uncommon.” The airline added that the issue occurred because the kosher meal was not loaded along with the rest of the meals prepared by the catering service. Lufthansa reportedly also offered Mr. Kopfler bonus miles as compensation for his inconvenience.

9 Comments

  • Chosid

    I wonder how much they would pay for not supplying a meal of Lubavitch Shchita?

  • ehhh

    This does not inspire me at all!

    Sounds pretty greedy of a person – spend three years fighting for such a holy cause!

    • shlomo

      no it how it work. it 6-8 month to wait. if one side do not come or vena so next 6-8 month even ear, after they send letter, that representative can come in this date and again )))

  • Yoinoson

    I’ve flown Lufthansa many times and have never had an issue with Kosher food. Even on flights from India thru FRA to New York, they always had mine. This must have been an anomaly.

  • I would never want to go 14 hours without food!

    Thats crazy, he should get free airplane meals for life :-)

  • Shnitzel

    This guy needs to grow up. Everybody knows you take food just in case.