New Delhi: German airline ‘Lufthansa’ has once again hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons, after a passenger alleged that the airline crew members purposely discriminated against the Indian passengers and non-English speaking people. The passenger, identified as a New York resident, alleged that the flight crew members were not behaving properly especially to elders and those who could not speak English.

The entire controversy sparked after an Indian Reddit user took to the platform alleging of racial discrimination stating that the crew on his recent Lufthansa flight were rude and disrespectful to passengers.

The India-origin user, in his long-written Reddit post, mentioned several instances of the Lufthansa staff members discriminating against Indians and insulting them. He even claimed, “Ground service agents at Frankfurt were not helpful, specifically Lufthansa employees. One such example: I asked an airline representative where I could fill my water bottle in Frankfurt, and he replied by saying ‘Do I look like the information desk to you, don't ask me’.''

Paytm founder responded to the allegations

He pointed out that the airline staff’s behaviour was particularly disparaging towards the elderly and those who could not speak English.

Mentioning an incident about what happened to an elderly woman, who was less fluent in English, when she pointed out to the tea on the beverage cart. He stated, ''Instead of being understanding and handing her (Elder woman) the beverage, a crew member almost yelled at her and asked her to open her mouth and use words’. They also lectured customers about how they need to wait for their turn when they asked for napkins.”

In his post he wrote, “I’ve flown regularly on Air India, Emirates and now for the first time, Lufthansa.” He alleged that the treatment meted out to Indian fliers was not just limited to the crew on the flight, but even the ground staff were rude and insulting in their approach.

Narrating another incident which took place on the same flight, the social media user said that a woman who had ordered vegetarian food was served chicken and when she pointed it out to the crew members she was told that it would not be possible to replace the food since she had already opened it.

Bengaluru-based techie Shantanu Goel shared a screenshot of the Reddit post on X and wrote, “All this behavior, including downright rude and idiotic staff is unfortunately not an aberration but quite common in Lufthansa, which is why I never fly it.”

As the post surfaced, several Indians came out in support of Goel and made allegations of racism against Lufthansa.

Meanwhile, Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma also quote-tweeted the post on X, saying, “Can't wait for Air India and Indigo to go places. Many of us would rather not fly European airlines.''