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November 29, 2005
So now we're dangerous. . .
This story is getting a bit of press today.
For those that don't like clicking on links, the story tells how Quantas and Air New Zealand now have a policy that forbids seaing an unaccompanied child next to. . . wait for it. . . . a man.
I'll bet you thought I'd say something like . . . a clown, or maybe an Arab between the ages of 17 and 35, or maybe a priest. Alas, no, the new Quantas and ANZ policy just keeps it simple. No unaccompanied kids next to men, period.
The big guy linked to Dr. Helen (isn't that his wife?) about it, and about an hour earlier, I caught mention of the policy on Neil Boortz's radio show. I kept waiting to hear Quantas and ANZ's reasoning for the policy, but that seems to be noticably absent, they confirm the policy, but so far no one seems to know why or how this policy came about.
I myself travelled many times on airliners as an "unaccompanied child" when I spent the summers in sunny California with my grandparents. The experience was always pleasant, even with loud, obnoxious and fat passengers next to me (regardless of their sex) and many times I got bumped up to first class (usually surrounded by MALE business flyers) and I even got quite a few cockpit tours (with the pilots and radio operator being male), even getting to flip a few switches and talk to a tower once.
Now I understand why they don't give kids cockpit tours anymore in this age of Islamofascist terrorism, and I can even understand why they don't give out "wings" (little plastic pilot's wings) to kids. After all, I'm sure some kid was at some time poked himself with the pin and then of course those parents probably sued the airline. (I on the other hand, would poke other people with the pin, usually while standing in the crush of people at the baggage carosel. Hey, I needed to. . . in order to get in close enough to spot and grab my hard sided green suitcase that was bigger than me.) But that's all well and good.
However, I also enjoyed meeting people on the plane. They usually went on and on about how I was such a "brave little boy" for travelling alone (nevermind that I was put into the sealed metal tube of a plane by my Mom and had my brave little hand held by a flight attendant until my Grandparents verified with the airline that they were the party to pick me up, bravery had nothing to do with it). I also met my first TV/Movie star on a plane (forget who it was no, he was on some soap opera and all his movies flopped) and I think I even drummed up a bit of business for my Grandfater (who was in the Ad-Spec biz, which I thought was particularly neat because of all the logo'd cool pens and flashlights and golf-balls) by talking with a male passenger seated next to me on the plane once.
Of course there were times I'd rather have not been seated next to the person the airline tagged me up with. Once there was a very overweight woman who was deathly afraid of flying. That was a fun (NOT!) trip because not only was she digging her fingernails into my arm with each bump, hiss and every time that damn "fasten seat belt" DING sounded, but we landed in New Orleans in the middle of a thunderstorm. I had bruises for a week from this woman grabbing my arm in fear and screaching "Oh my God! Oh my God!" at the top of her lungs for the 25 minute descent into Moisant (now Louis Armstrong) Airport.
This policy, of simply banning male passengers from sitting next to unaccompanied children is RIDICULOUS, in fact, it's actually offensive. Is Quantas and ANZ trying to say that all men are some sort of threat to children? Are we now so politically correct that all men must be hidden and kept away from children because we might infect them with a love of football, construction equipment and all the neato features of today's jumbo jets. Has the politically correct crowd finally convinced our friends down under that all males are a threat?
It really doesn't make any sense to me other than Qantas and ANZ must be sucking up to some activist group like "Women who think Men are Evil!" or some such.
So does anyone have any info on this policy? How or Why it was started or whatever?
Kinda makes me want to book flights on Qantas, get shuffled around the plane a bit and then sue for "gender profiling".
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at November 29, 2005 1:29 PM
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Comments
Good story! Shame on Quantas and ANZ.
Posted by: Shosh at December 2, 2005 4:20 PM
