Posted on 11/29/2005 7:35:41 AM PST by Millee
Two airlines "down under" are under fire after acknowledging their policy of not allowing an unaccompanied child passenger to sit next to a man.
The policy emerged when a New Zealand man said he was asked by airline staff to move because an unaccompanied minor had been assigned the seat next to him.
Mark Worsley was told to swap seats with a woman sitting nearby, who then moved into the seat next to the boy, about eight years old, for the 80-minute flight.
"I was pretty shocked -- I think most people would be," the 37-year-old shipping manager and father of two said Tuesday.
"I complied straight away and moved seats. But as I sat on the plane during the flight I got more and more angry about it."
Part of the problem, Worsley said, was that the plane was full. When the flight attendant arranged the seat swap, "certainly there was enough disruption that people in the immediate vicinity would have heard what was going on. I felt totally embarrassed."
He had later confronted the airline staff, who confirmed the company policy.
Worsley said someone asked him after the event why he had not simply refused to move. "But these days you can't really do that. With [fears of] terrorism, if you cause any fuss on the plane you're out walking."
"Most males in the world, I'm sure, are perfectly law-abiding, good parents, good fathers, brothers, whatever," he said. "They're basically accusing half the population of the world of being a potential pedophile."
Worsley had been traveling on a flight operated by Qantas, the Australian national carrier. Both Qantas and Air New Zealand have now confirmed that they would not seat a child traveling alone next to an adult male passenger.
Worsley came forward following the recent decision by New Zealand's opposition National Party to name one of its lawmakers, Wayne Mapp, as a spokesman on eradicating "political correctness."
Mapp, whose appointment to the post drew ridicule from the left, has invited New Zealanders to come forward with information about practices they perceive to be "PC," primarily those carried out by the Labor government.
Worsley was one of those who had approached him.
Mapp said the airline policy implied that children were not safe sitting next to men.
He found rare common ground with a left-leaning lawmaker, Keith Locke of the Green Party, who said Tuesday that airlines should recognize that "men are people too."
Decrying what he called "the moral panic about men being a potential threat to children," Locke said it was "prejudicial to presume that men can't be trusted to have contact with children unless they are related to them or are specially trained."
He said the incident clearly is a breach of New Zealand's Human Rights Act -- which prohibits discrimination on the grounds of gender -- and he asked a government human rights commissioner to investigate.
Some of the Green Party's policies occasionally have been labeled "politically correct" by conservative critics.
Locke said he was glad the National Party's "PC eradicator" had come out against the airline policy, but he argued that it was wrong to call it political correctness.
"The anti-PC brigade usually criticize what they see as an overemphasis on equal rights, including between the genders. The Greens are sometimes the target of their attacks, so I'm glad to see them supporting equal rights in this case," he said.
'Distrust'
The airlines did win support from one quarter. Children's Commissioner Cindy Kiro, a government appointee, commended Qantas and Air New Zealand for their efforts to keep child passengers safe.
Kiro said she doubted the policy was meant as a slur against men.
But her intervention drew a strong response from the Men's Coalition, whose spokesman Kerry Bevin said Tuesday the commissioner was not fit for her post and should resign.
"Kiro is telling our children that men are dangerous to children," Bevin charged. He also called for the airlines to make a public apology.
For Worsley, the incident was part of a far broader problem, which seemed to affect Western countries in general, he said.
"Men are being demonized in the media for a long time now. I think probably this is just society's reaction -- they think, 'We'd better start tightening up on everything.' It's getting to the stage when all men are viewed with distrust," he said.
"They've already chased men out of the teaching profession, especially for young children. I wouldn't want to be a Scoutmaster now. I wouldn't want to be a Catholic priest ..."
One will bring the kid up to the departure gate, have a flight attendant look after the child during the flight and the other will pick the child up at the destination gate.
Another great aspect of our divorce-happy culture.
This touches on one of my personal phobias; I hate it on the bus, when there are plenty of empty seats, when another man sits next to me, particularly one who's a big sloppy lunk. I'd much rather sit next to a woman - any woman - than to a man. I thought this kind of phobia - perhaps as exemplified by George Costanza - would be a good story line for a "Seinfeld" episode.
(the recent decision by New Zealand's opposition National Party to name one of its lawmakers, Wayne Mapp, as a spokesman on eradicating "political correctness.")
Great idea! This will help showcase stories like this in the media and create the long overdue backlash.
Whaddarthey, afraid he might explain tax policy to the kid???!?
Sheesh.
Lawsuit time. Embarrassment, sex discrimination... I wish they'd do this to me, I'd like to travel free for the rest of my life.
acceptable prudence on the part of the airline, IMO.
But the seat assignment should have been considered and issued in compliance with said prudence PRIOR to boarding, to avoid the (awkward and embarrasing) situation that occurred.
Men are considered to be nothing more than piggy banks and potential sexual predators these days.
If I'm sitting next to some kid and he says I "touched" him, who is going to be believed, and who is going to jail?
Would they have done this if he was black?
"Most males in the world, I'm sure, are perfectly law-abiding, good parents, good fathers, brothers, whatever,"
That's perfectly true. But it's also true that, while there are female pedophiles, the vast majority of pedophiles who act on their desires are men. It's too bad that a tiny minority make all of us look bad, but that's the way it is.
I recall a MAD Magazine comic where a freaky looking guy is walking down the aisle of a bus while a young woman has "Please God don't let him sit next to me" in a thought bubble. The guy sits next to her and says "God told me to sit next to you".
Think it can't happen? You'd be surprised.
I would have requested to move to another seat if they put me next to an unaccompanied child. I wouldn't have the patience to put up with it for the duration of the flight.
Statistically, most predatory child abusers are males. And many security experts now tell children who are lost or separated from their parents to find a woman to assist them in lieu of a policeman or fireman.
Actually, as a parent, I think this is a good move by the airline. There's no way a flight attendant is going to be able to watch a child closely for an entire flight.
They did the right thing to err on the side of caution.
I am the youngest of five children. My siblings are scattered all over the eastern seaboard. One sibling in upstate New York, two in Virginia, one in North Carolina, and I live in Georgia.
On a couple occasions, I flew from our home in Virginia to visit my brother in NY, and once to visit my sister in NC. Now that I live in Georgia, some of my nieces and nephews sometimes fly to visit me.
The first time I flew alone, I was twelve. I had to make a connection in Pittsburgh LOL.
But does the airline believe that a pedophile is going to try to pull something [no pun intended] on a crowded airplane?
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