An ultra-Orthodox Jewish yeshiva student was removed from an American Airlines flight due to the actions of “unrelated passengers,” Baltimore Jewish Life reported on Tuesday.
The incident occurred on May 5 as 17-year-old Reuvi Scheinerman was returning to his yeshiva in Connecticut from Cleveland. His father had booked him on an American Airlines flight via Washington’s Reagan National Airport following the Passover break.
According to the paper, the young student was wearing a yeshiva uniform and only had a kosher phone on him (a phone that can only direct and accept calls and usually doesn’t contain any smartphone functions such as a camera), and so couldn’t document the incident.
Scheinerman passed through security and barely made it onto AA Flight 4447 before boarding closed. Helping a fellow passenger with their bag, he settled into seat 23A, relieved to find 23B empty. But his relief was short-lived when an a gate agent approached him and asked him to board off the plane, and he complied. Confused and left waiting at the gate, he met Yehudah Roffman, another yeshiva student who was also removed from the flight.
The plane departed just 6 minutes late and arrived on schedule at Reagan National. Both passengers were confronted by the gate agent, who accused them, saying, “You know what you did,” without explanation and added they would both be blacklisted from American Airlines, directing them to find another flight.
The report added that when Reuvi asked the agent “Is this antisemitism? Why was I removed from the flight?” the gate agent responded by saying the pilot had asked to remove him. When asked for the pilot’s name, he was refused answers.
Reuvi proceeded to ask him what he did wrong, to which the agent said he didn’t know, and said he had to remove anyone in case the pilot “doesn’t want you on his flight.” Despite Reuvi's status as a minor, American Airlines failed to notify his parents of his removal.
Eventually, the gate agent relented, rescinding the blacklist and allowing the two to rebook a flight for the following day.
Yehuda, however, refused to book another flight and chose to rent a car, offering Reuvi a ride. The teen called his parents to tell them of the incident, after which they agreed for him to accept Yehuda’s offer – arriving in Connecticut the next morning.
The report added that Reuvi’s father, Motti Scheinerman, was “shocked” at the open display of antisemitism toward his son, especially seeing as no explanation was given as to the reason he was removed from the flight. He added the fact that American Airlines didn’t consider noticing him about his son’s predicament was outrageous.
The incident bears a striking resemblance to the notorious May 2022 Lufthansa flight, where visibly religious Jews were barred from boarding their connecting flight due to a few Jews on the previous flight failing to adhere to COVID-19 mask regulations.
A Lufthansa supervisor in Frankfurt was recorded acknowledging that blame was unfairly placed on Jewish passengers, saying, “Jewish people who were the mess, who made the problems, and everyone had to pay for a couple.”
The airline ultimately settled the matter for close to $3 million to preempt legal proceedings against the company.