Fernanda Arantes accused a Lufthansa employee of discrimination against her, alleging that the groundworker refused to continue speaking to her after seeing her Brazilian passport. The incident reportedly took place on Tuesday, March 3, at the Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), as the comedian was trying to board her flight to São Paulo (GRU).
What happened?
Arantes described the events on a video she posted to social media, recorded while she was still at the airport. According to the comedian, she was in the Economy class queue trying to pay for extra luggage carrying equipment for her comedy shows, when the Lufthansa ground worker attending to First Class passengers called her in.
She first spoke German with the worker, but struggling to express herself, she asked to continue the conversation in English. Arantes then alleged that the Lufthansa worker said:
“No. You’re speaking German so far. Now you’ll speak German.”
Arantes explained in the video that she was asking for help paying for her extra luggage online, and that the worker responded that it was not their job to assist with.
“You should be grateful that I’m from First Class and am talking to you from Economy,” the employee then allegedly said.
Then, according to Arantes, after seeing her Brazilian passport, the Lufthansa worker said in English she wouldn’t attend to her anymore, adding, “You can go back to your place.” In her video, Arantes hinted at the potential double meaning of the statement.
Ver esta publicação no Instagram
Lufthansa’s Response
Lufthansa has stated to Brazilian media that it was aware of the situation and had reached out to the comedian.
Arantes said that, in the email she received, the airline assured her that it took her account seriously, had reached out to the airport manager to investigate the case, and did not tolerate any kind of discriminatory behaviour.
The email also offered a 300 euros compensation as a “gesture of goodwill”, according to the comedian. But Arantes refused the offer, as it would require her to sign an extrajudicial agreement that would officially close the case, according to her.
Arantes has said that she will continue to talk about the incident and added that, if she receives any money from a potential lawsuit against the airline, she will donate it to a refugee centre in Berlin.
Have you ever experienced or witnessed discrimination at an airport? Share your experience in the comments if you’re comfortable.
