A passenger on a recent flight tells YWN about the extremely disturbing experience she had with LOT Polish Airlines from JFK to Israel with a stopover in Poland. The woman said that she was so horrified by what she saw that she wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes.
“Mrs. B”. said that the first leg of her flight – from JFK to Poland – was completely fine. The problems started when the passengers began checking in for the final leg of the flight from Poland to Tel Aviv. Every single non-Jew [and presumably Jews that weren’t obviously Jewish] were allowed on the plane with their hand luggage, without being required to hand it over to be checked or weighed. On the other hand, every single obviously Jewish passenger was required to hand over their carry-on to be checked and weighed, and numerous pieces of hand luggage were pulled aside to be stored under the plane. Mrs. B. said that she doesn’t know if the scale was rigged or not, but it was only the “Jewish hand luggage” that suddenly proved to be overweight and was taken away to be placed under the plane. When she realized what was going on, she started to video it.
Mrs. B. said it was quite a scene as Jews scrambled to extract their tefillin and other necessary items from their hand luggage, while all the non-Jews calmly boarded the plane without their hand luggage being checked at all. It should be noted that the hand luggage of all the passengers obviously already passed inspection in JFK and was allowed on the first leg of the flight with no issues.
Mrs. B. added that she hopes that all the Jews actually received their hand luggage when they got to Israel. She explained that when she boarded the plane and sat down, she looked out the window and saw the airline employees putting the hand luggage on the plane and videoed this as well. She clearly saw how two pieces of hand luggage “mysteriously” didn’t fit on the plane and an airplane employee removed those two pieces of luggage from the conveyor belt and walked away with them.
A YWN article in October reported on a Ukrainian Airlines flight packed with Jews traveling from JFK Airport to Tel Aviv for Sukkos, which also employed “Jewish profiling.”
Multiple passengers that YWN spoke with said that nearly every Jewish passenger was forced to place their hand luggage into a case to see if it fit. Despite that nearly every person’s bag fit perfectly, they were all charged $150 extra to be allowed to take their hand-luggage onto the plane. No non-Jews were required to place their hand luggage in the case.
Another passenger told YWN that a nice woman working at the check-in desk in JFK warned her that when she got to Ukraine this would happen as they “try to make money off you people”. Sure enough, this is exactly what happened.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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15 Responses
While i wouldn’t be surprised if this was true,
the video doesn’t corroborate anything because the non-Jews shown have bags much smaller than the rolling suitcases that were pulled aside. Ukraine should be boycotted altogether.
Yep!
It’s time to have our own chasidisha airline.
Why is it ok to trust descendants of people who tortured and murdered our ancestors mercilessly, yet not ok to drive cars made by other descendants? Think about who you’re trusting.
dispute the payment
of the entire flight
It’s time we stop patronizing these filthy Anti-Semites. Why give them our hard earned money?
“Curiosity”
You seem right for the most part but certainly not entirely. I saw some walk through with large bags, such as the guy with the backpack (towards the end of the video- they didn’t even so much as glance his way).
if you didn’t fly through Poland or any other hateful country you wouldn’t have this problem…you want to save money but not your soul then suffer…..
all those who take these airlines with stopovers in these historically anti-Semitic countries were trying to save themselves some money by not flying direct from the US to Israel, and they are learning the hard way that nothing has changed in Europe since the Holocaust and that one should not use their airlines or give them even one cent of your business.
Here is their number +44 2037888001, couldn’t see an email. If enough people call up to complain at least they may keep their hatred hidden!
This video should be shown to the Polish President who is at the moment in Israel and is still vehemently denying the existence of Anti Semitism in his country
I fly LOT a bit lot, never ever encountered any problems, in contrary I specifically try to fly LOT, very accommodating,
This incident may have 1 isolated story,
Good luck
Agree with mavenschoice.
I refuse to fly to EY on flag carriers for European nations that have a history of anti-semitisim. Why should I support them?
ok, so all those saying not to take stopovers in historically anti semitic countries here are your options
do not fly through germany
russia
ukraine
lithuania
poland
wait, France!
oh, spain!
and… England!!! (dont forget the expulsion)
gee, any more….?
and to Sara rifka, can you explain what anyones soul got to do with this?
Not only limited to LOT. I flew delta from tlv to jfk and had the same incident. It wasnt even weight. It was “we have no more room to stow hand luggage” as I watched others board without issue. The agent was a Russian lady. She refused to call a supervisor. Ended up removing my tefilin and complying. Filed a complaint and lost bc they were following “safety regulations”.
I fly frequently. I am Haredi and look it. I take care to keep my carry on baggage within the rules, both as to size and weight. I have never been told my carry on has to be put in the hold, even after it has been weighed. I have been offered to do so many times being told cabin space is tight, but never had a fuss made when I declined. I was on a flight to Israel recently when the Cabin Service Manager asked me in a genuine attempt to understand, why it was that so many passengers to Israel flew with so much carry on. He was not being in the least bit anti-semitic. He said how much easier it is to fly when you are not encumbered by a lot of carry on baggage. He then also asked me why it is that on the flights to Israel, so many of the passengers ignore the standard safety instructions and get up and start taking their baggage out of the overhead lockers before the plane has come to a complete stop and the fasten seat belt signs have been turned off? Again he was not being anti-semitic but said he had seen instances where baggage fell out of an open locker when the plane was still moving. Asher bachar banu doesn’t mean “you have a license to be as arrogant and inconsiderate as you like”; in fact the opposite.