Easyjet is paying compensation to a British Israeli woman who sued the low-cost airline for gender discrimination after she was asked to change seats to accommodate Charedi men.
Melanie Wolfson reported she was asked to switch seats due to her gender on two flights between London and Tel Aviv in October 2019 and January 2020 and was offered a complimentary hot drink in return.
Ms Wolfson filed a lawsuit last year, seeking around £15,000 in damages, with support from the Israel Reform Action Centre.
“Melanie was shocked, but in the end, she felt helpless and changed seats because she did not want to delay the flight,” IRAC said last August about one of the incidents.
EasyJet will pay an undisclosed sum in compensation, roll out additional crew-member training and renew its guidelines to prevent similar incidents in the future, according to a joint-statement issued with Ms Wolfson.
Easyjet also said its policy is to politely decline passengers’ requests that women move seats because of their gender.
“Unfortunately, according to Melanie Wolfson this policy was not followed in her case.
“easyJet is committed to tackling any discrimination on flights. Therefore, we listened when Ms Wolfson told us about incidents of gender discrimination on our flights when she was asked to move simply because she is female. We take this very seriously and in addition to compensating Ms Wolfson for her experience, easyJet intends to implement additional crew training and renew our crew guidelines in order to prevent these incidents from happening in the future.
“At easyJet we believe that flying should be a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone, regardless of their gender and we are committed to making sure this is the case going forward,” the joint statement read.
