Rabbi Sues JetBlue For Religious Discrimination Over Seat Swap Fiasco

A Rabbi is suing JetBlue and is accusing the airline of “malicious and willful” religious and racial discrimination, after he and his wife were removed from a flight over a seat swap demand. I’m not sure what to make of this story…

Rabbi refuses to sit next to women, gets removed from flight

This incident happened on December 31, 2023, and involves JetBlue flight 2050 from New York (JFK) to Palm Springs (PSP). A rabbi named Abraham Lunger was traveling with his wife, but they didn’t have seats assigned together, as he was in 18A, while she was in 21B. Per the complaint, he was “unable to sit next to a woman unless she is a blood relative or his wife,” and since he had no blood relative onboard, that meant he could only sit next to his wife.

So when the rabbi arrived at the gate, he asked the gate agent about about being reseated, but was informed there were no empty seats. Instead, the gate agent told him that he could ask onboard about having his seat changed.

He proceeded onboard and to his seat, but then found that he was seated next to a female. So at that point he “quietly got up from his seat and stood in the aisle in order to adhere to his religious beliefs and not sit next to a female passenger.”

The plaintiff claims that before he even had the chance to ask someone to switch seats with him, the flight attendant yelled at him to go back to his seat. He informed her of his religious beliefs, but she “refused to accept that explanation and attempted to prevent Mr Lunger from switching seats with another passenger who had agreed to switch seats.”

The passenger insists he didn’t become loud or use force, and didn’t intimidate other passengers. Nonetheless, the pilot was called, and “falsely told the plaintiffs that they could not change seats because it was a violation and it would cause a weight imbalance.”

When they refused to comply with those instructions, the pilot reportedly said “sorry, you have to get off the plane, the crew members don’t feel safe flying with you,” and that “the flight will not leave with you on the plane.” They refused to deplane, at which point the pilot said that if they don’t deplane, then everyone else will have to deplane, and they’ll be the only ones left onboard. That’s the point at which they got off.

The case alleges a civil rights violation, discrimination, and harassment. As a lawyer representing the couple explains:

“Everyone deserves to travel safely without fear of prejudice. Our clients boarded a plane expecting nothing more than to be taken home safely to their families. Instead, they were met with discrimination that scarred their experience because of their identity as Jews.”

“Our clients are seeking justice in the courtroom and the reaffirmation that every individual, regardless of their religious beliefs, is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect.”

My take on this JetBlue lawsuit

Obviously this is a sensitive topic, and I want to approach this respectfully (and I’d ask others to do the same). It’s worth noting that this is far from the first time we’ve seen a gender-based religious seat swap issue, as over the years we’ve seen a lot of stories like this involving flights to and from Israel.

First of all, I feel strongly that those who require this special accommodation due to their religious beliefs should do everything in their power to lock in seating that works for them. The rabbi was traveling with his wife, and I can’t help but wonder if there really weren’t two seats available together then they booked, or if they just didn’t want to pay for preferred seating. The phrase “a lack of planning on your part doesn’t constitute an emergency on my part” comes to mind.

As far as the onboard incident goes, getting up from your seat and standing in the aisle during boarding simply isn’t practical — it’s inconsiderate of other passengers, and could delay a flight. Of course if someone is standing in the aisle during boarding, a flight attendant is immediately going to tell them to sit down.

Now, I suspect what happened is that the flight attendant was irritated by his refusal to follow her instructions, and then doubled down, and things spiraled from there:

• Passengers have to follow crew member instructions; from an operational standpoint, a crew member telling a passenger that they have to be seated is a reasonable request, despite it being at odds with his religious beliefs
• I suspect that once the flight attendant decided the man wouldn’t follow her instructions, she decided she didn’t feel comfortable with him onboard anymore, and crews have a lot of leverage in deciding when they feel uncomfortable with passengers (“if he won’t follow my instructions on the ground, what happens if he doesn’t follow my instructions in the air?”)
• Claiming that this had anything to do with weight and balance is unequivocally false; airlines use average weights for passengers, so two men switching seats has no impact on the weight and balance of a jet of this size

Based on the plaintiff’s version of events, it definitely sounds like the JetBlue crew could have done more to deescalate the situation. However, I find that to be the case with a majority of crews at US airlines.

Bottom line

A rabbi is suing JetBlue, claiming religious discrimination. When he found out he was seated next to a woman other than his wife, he stood in the aisle, and the flight attendant told him he needed to sit down immediately. Even when he found someone willing to switch seats with him, the crew refused. It sounds like the crew didn’t do a good job deescalating the situation here, but then again, that’s hardly a first for a US airline.

What do you make of this JetBlue incident?