Air New Zealand on their seating policies...

We blogged this week about a Qantas and Air Neew Zealand policy that prohibits seating of unaccompanied children next to men. Jeremy Swanson, a father's rights activist in Ottawa, wrote them about their policy and here is their response:

So there is no confusion about our process and policy, we’d like to point out that:

o Unaccompanied children are pre-seated at the time of flight editing
o We endeavour to provide an aisle seat close to the galley and ensure the adjacent seat is empty
o When a flight is full, we endeavour to seat the unaccompanied child next to a female customer
When several unaccompanied children are travelling, we try and seat them together

Our long-standing policy reflects an approach adopted by leading airlines around the world.

Thank you for writing to use to express your concerns. This matter is now the subject of a formal complaint to the Human Rights Commission and Air NZ will be cooperating with the Commission in order to reach a resolution that meets the needs of all concerned parties.

Jeremy wrote back saying:

Thank you for writing back. However I did not write to express my concerns. I wrote to express my unmitigated outrage at the actions and attitude of Air New Zealand. Your explanation-polite and expansive as it is-does nothing to ally our fears or temper our anger. All you have done in trying to explain your policy is reinforce the message-a man-any man- is dangerous to any child. Believe it or not that even applies to you-and any and every man in your family. Even siblings and parents. And by implication a woman-any woman- is therefore not dangerous and a risk. Even women who are sexual deviants, child murderers et al. No I do not accept that it is a "difficult issue" Mr. Jamieson. It is a veritable disgrace and a clear contravention of the United Nations declaration of Human Rights. It is a discriminatory assault on Men and Fathers in particular. It is everything as bad as suggesting that people not sit next to any Muslims because of a link to terrorism. Or blacks because they might steal or assault the passenger next to them. Difficult it is not. Persecutory and discriminatory it must certainly is.

Good for Jeremy for writing - we all should write Qantas and Air New Zealand. Their seating policy is outrageous.