US Orthodox Jewish girls kicked off a Delta-KLM flight following a COVID-19 protocols dispute

A group of Orthodox Jewish teens had a layover in Amsterdam on their way home to New York from Kyiv.

On the flight from Kyiv, they were reprimanded for eating their own food outside of designated mealtimes. 18 were reportedly barred from boarding the Amsterdam-New York flight after the food dispute.

Eighteen Orthodox Jewish girls were barred from boarding a Delta flight from Amsterdam to New York on Thursday because of a dispute on a KLM flight about COVID-19 protocols, according to reports.

The girls were part of a group of about 55 Jewish teenagers who had spent two weeks visiting religious sites in Kyiv, Ukraine, their rabbi told Fox News.

During the first leg of their journey – a KLM-operated from Kyiv to Amsterdam – flight attendants reportedly disciplined the girls for failing to comply with coronavirus safety measures.

The passengers breached the protocols by taking their masks off to eat their own food outside of the designated mealtimes, The Jerusalem Post reported. The girls were eating religiously approved kosher food provided to them by a rabbi that was not available on the flight, the paper added.

Witnesses told Fox News that a KLM security guard “jeered” at the girls and made some of them cry.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Dutch police were then called to remove the girls from the flight after they turned down requests to put their food away, but Fox News said that the girls were advised by an attorney not to vacate their seats.

In response, all passengers were asked to leave the plane and flight attendants refused to allow 18 of the girls to board their Delta flight to New York, Fox News reported.

KLM did not reply to Insider’s request for comment. www.yahoo.com