American Airlines has been fined thousands of dollars after failing to serve Kosher meals to orthodox passengers on a number of long-distance flights.

A court in Brazil found that the airline caused 'emotional suffering' to the orthodox passengers, who had to fast for the duration of their journeys. The court found American Airlines responsible and fined the company 16,000 Brazilian reals, equivalent to around £2000.

The two passengers that brought the claims against the airline were flying long-distance from Sao Paulo to New York and Chicago to London and bother went without food for over 9 hours on the journeys.

José Marcos Marrone, the judge in the case, said that beyond reneging on a contractual obligation to provide the meals, American Airlines had inflicted emotional damage on the passengers by serving food to everyone else on the flights.

According to the JTA, Airlines are not legally obligated to provide food of any kind in the United States or Brazil, but can be brought to court over failure to provide services that had been pre-agreed.