Jewish Family Reports Being Denied Water In Business Class, Given Toilet Paper To Use As Napkins

An ITA Airways (née Alitalia) business class passenger reports that their kosher meal order flagged them as Jewish, which caused the crew to refuse to provide them service – or even water – and when they asked for a napkin they were given toilet paper from the lavatory to use. >be Jewish>fly @ITAAirways business >order kosher meal>get denied service for entire 14h flight >ask why>because water, etc “isn’t kosher”>ask for a napkin for 3yo>stewardess goes in bathroom, rips off some toilet paper, gives it to you while looking the other way Avoid. — Jonah (@jvb_xyz) July 19, 2026 For avoidance of doubt, Unflavored bottled water without additives is kosher. This wasn’t to honor their dietary request. An ordinary paper napkin does not render a kosher meal non-kosher, either. If I were looking to paint this in the best possible light, perhaps it was badly misunderstood kosher meal procedures. The cabin crew might have believed that nothing outside the sealed catered meal could be served. Even water. That would be poor training. The toilet paper as napkins bit cuts against this explanation. Or it could be like my worst first class flight ever, on Lufthansa where service was genuinely hostile, and a flight attendant refused to serve part of the meal or even provide utensils for all of the dishes. It turned out that the flight attendant was dealing with an undisclosed medical issue of some kind. This could have been a breakdown, rather than religious hostility. Italian sentiment generally, though, is very hostile to Israel. 20% support refusing to serve Israelis, 18% support antisemitic graffiti, and 15% consider physical attacks on Jews justifiable. Just as I’ve written about challenges flying while Muslim in the United States, it can be challenging to fly as a Jew in much of the world. There was this last year on Iberia: Jewish passengers on an Iberia flight from Argentina to Spain were served kosher meals labeled with the words “Free Palestine.” Writing “Free Palestine” on a kosher food tray does nothing to help Palestinians, but it sure does intimidate Jewish passengers trapped on your plane… pic.twitter.com/sMPSNOR40v — Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) August 5, 2025 In 2023, there was an ITA Airways incident shared by a rabbi about a Rome – New York flight which alleged that: ITA staff mocked travelers’ peyot as “golden curls” and made “where are the horns?” jokes. Crew reacted badly to passenger prayers. A friend of mine originally from Italy shared a pretty shocking series of events he witnessed on an ITA flight – including staff mocking Chasidic Jews. pic.twitter.com/bkItALDve1 — Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone (@Mottel) September 13, 2023 The year before, Lufthansa banned Jews off of a New York JFK – Frankfurt flight from continued travel for a 24 hour period, after some passengers on board didn’t comply with mask rules and other crewmember instructions. Non-Jews violating mask rules weren’t prevented from taking their connections. And the ban included passengers who could be identified as likely Jewish, even if they hadn’t broken any rules. The German flag carrier scapegoated Jewish passengers and practiced collective guilt. Here’s a Lufthansa representative explaining that it’s Jews that caused problems, so the airline banned all Jews from travel. Passenger: The non-Jewish people on the flight went. Why are only the Jewish people paying for other people’s crimes? Lufthansa: Because it’s Jews coming from JFK. …Passenger: I’m like shocked beyond, never in my adult life. I’ve never heard this. Lufthansa: If you want to do it like this, Jewish people who were the mess, who made the problems. Lufthansa agreed to a $4 million fine for discrimination based on religion and was ordered to cease similar discriminatory practices in the future. Lufthansa argued that their actions were based on safety concerns and compliance with mask regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the DOT determined that Lufthansa’s response was discriminatory, as the airline made no effort to identify the specific individuals responsible for misconduct and instead denied boarding to nearly all passengers visibly associated with the Orthodox Jewish community. Topics on this page