German police are looking into an allegation that a woman got free flights to the south of France by pretending to be a relative of one of 150 people killed in the Germanwings crash.
Germanwings, the budget airline in the Lufthansa group, provided free flights for mourners visiting the French Alps scene of the March 24 crash, which French and German prosecutors believe was deliberately caused by the plane's co-pilot.
The freeloader claimed to be a cousin of a female teacher who died, reported the Halterner Zeitung, a newspaper in Haltern, Germany, quoting the teacher's father. Haltern's high school lost 16 schoolchildren and two teachers in the disaster.
An airline spokesman told DPA, "The incident is known to Lufthansa," but would not discuss details, except to say Lufthansa lawyers were examining if they could sue her.
A fraud inquiry had begun in Hoexter, another town in North Rhine Westphalia state, police there told DPA. They said they were acting on a complaint from Lufthansa.
The father said the phantom cousin, who was neither a kinswoman nor friend of his daughter, flew twice to the Alps and back, taking three other unidentified persons with her, according to the newspaper.
She even received the counselling that was offered free to the rest of the mourners.
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