18 US Orthodox Jewish girls kicked off a Delta flight following a COVID-19 protocols dispute, reports say

Delta Airlines and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines jointly operated the flight. Getty ImagesOn their return to New York, a group of Orthodox Jewish teenagers stopped in Amsterdam.They were warned for not eating the designated meals on their flight to Kyiv.After the dispute over food, 18 people were apparently barred from the Amsterdam-New York flight.Check out more stories from Insider's business page.According to The Jerusalem Post, 18 Orthodox Jewish girls were denied entry to a Delta-KLM flight between Amsterdam and New York Friday due to a dispute over COVID-19 protocols.According to Fox News, the girls were part of a group that included 55 teenagers from Jewish backgrounds who had spent two weeks visiting religious places in Kyiv, Ukraine.The first leg of their journey was Delta-operated, in partnership with KLM from Kyiv, to Amsterdam. Flight attendants disciplined the girls for not following coronavirus safety precautions.The Jerusalem Post reported that passengers broke protocol by taking off their masks to eat outside the mealtimes. According to The Jerusalem Post, the girls were eating kosher food that had been approved by their religious leaders and was provided by a Rabbi on board the flight.Fox News was told by witnesses that KLM security guards "jeered" at some girls and made them cry.The Jerusalem Post reported that Dutch police were called to remove the girls after they refused to put their food away. Fox News stated that an attorney advised the girls not to vacate their seats.Fox News reported that Delta refused to allow 18 girls to board the flight to New York and ordered all passengers to exit the plane.Two hours delay was caused by the flight.The Jerusalem Post reported that the girls had been booked on a flight for later in the day, but they declined to travel. It would have meant they had to return to their homes after Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest that prohibits Jews from traveling by plane or car.Continue the storyTheir rabbi Yisroel Kashan said that instead, the girls were transferred from New York to Antwerp, Belgium and would return home Sunday.Insider was informed by Delta that they had issued a statement saying: "We are sorry to Delta Flight 47 passengers from Amsterdam to New York-JFK. We were delayed and inconvenienced because of a refusal to follow crew instructions." Instructions. Instructions.Business Insider has the original article.