Two women claim they were thrown off an Air New Zealand flight for being too large, but it sounds to me like they were thrown off for being snarky with a flight attendant who had thin skin.
Flight Attendant Kicks Off Pair Of Large Women On Air Zealand Flight, But Perhaps Not For Girth, But For Lip…
The seats are quite tight when traveling from Hawke’s Bay Airport in Napier (NPE) on New Zealand’s North Island to Aukland (AKL), operated by a ATR 72 turboprop. The 2-2 configuration has a seat pitch of 30 inches and seats are also narrow.
Two “passengers of size” boarded the flight and managed to sit down, but had a lot of trouble putting the armest down.
Prior to takeoff, one of the flight attendants onboard walked down the aisle pushing armrests down. This flight attendant attempted to force down the armrest in one of the women’s seats. As the passenger later recalled:
“I was kind of was in shock, and I moved forward, and she started yelling to me that the pilot can’t take off unless all the arm rests were down, and she was quite aggressive to me. She was speaking to me in an aggressive manner. I just couldn’t believe what was happening to me.”
The flight attendant stopped and perhaps that would have been the end of it, but the other large woman said, “Don’t you think you should be seated if the plane is in motion?
The flight attendant then turned to them and said, “I can get you both kicked off this flight.”
And she did. She walked to the front of the aircraft, called the flight deck, and the aircraft suddenly turned around and headed back to the gate. Over the PA, the flight attendant announced all passengers would need to exit the aircraft due to an “inconvenience.”
She then proceeded back to the two women and said, “You two should have booked four seats, you two should have bought two seats each.”
Back on the ground, the women were first told they would need to purchase two seats each for the next available flight, which was not until the next day.
The women told the staff member they could not afford to purchase two tickets each and had no whānau in the area. Air New Zealand responded by offering them accommodation and meals for the two, plus not charging them for extra seats the following day. They were even granted complimentary access to the Koru Lounge.
(whānau is the Māori language word for the basic extended family group)
They ended up flying to Auckland the same day after some seats opened and made it home without further incident.
Air New Zealand has apologized for the treatment of the woman:
“We are committed to treating all customers with respect and dignity and we apologise that these customers received an inconsistent experience. We will continue to work with the customer directly to address their concerns.”
The women are now demanding more compensation.
CONCLUSION
Two women claim they were thrown off an Air New Zealand domestic flight for being too large, but I tend to think it was more of a power-tripping situation for daring to question a flight attendant.
My only question: do armrests really have to be down or is that a made-up rule?
image: Aero Icarus
Aisle armrests must be down for taxi, takeoff, and landing. And I gotta love a passenger thinking these’re above the crew “shouldn’t you be seated if the plane is moving?” No sweet cheeks, they’re trained professionals and you’re a clueless passenger.
Tell me if you’ve heard this one: Two fatass Maoris walk onto a plane…
You just can’t help yourself, can you.
It is funny that in coach, armrests have to be down which means you can have your arms on it. However, in business they need to be stowed which means you can’t have your arms on it. Go figure.
Depending on seat design and certification, arm rests may have to be down as part of the crash protection of the seat (to limit lateral movement in the seat belt).
New Zealand strikes me as being a rather intolerant country. No, I haven’t been there but I’ve read quite a few news stories regarding their government’s (and thus their society’s) efforts to strictly regulate (or outright ban) behavior that they don’t like – even things that are legal pretty much elsewhere. It’s not a place where I would expect the obese to be greeted warmly. Now, you can say I’m wrong and these are stereotypical jabs made by someone who doesn’t know better – but that is the vibe that’s NZ has been giving off. So, a story like this does make you wonder. Though I am sure that neither side was without fault here.
I used to have to visit NZ for work quite frequently, I would never want to go again for any other reason. One of my colleagues used to say that when god made NZ, he made a place with stunning scenery, excellent farm land and a gentle climate to make things grow with rich, turquoise waters surrounding it and then he realised he’d created something perfect but that had not been his intention so he created the NZ people, the most miserable, small minded, self important and self centred people you are ever likely to meet….
My experience was pretty much that.
Maybe you should visit to see if it’s as intolerant (or not) as you think it is?
I’ve been to NZ a number of times and loved the country and the people. They’re among the friendliest I’ve ever met. But you wouldn’t want to meet them on a rugby patch. They’d kick your ass.
They’re the best sailors in the world too.
The metal detectors on security check should be of a certain width. If you can’t pass through, you can’t fly
Fat people always complain because they don’t get “special” treatment because of their chosen inability to put the fork down…
Fat people just want to be treated like they’re normal.
Because they are.
No they’re not normal, they’re fat — due to gluttony and a lack of self control. You can’t gain an ounce that you don’t consume.
There is a problem of obesity on the Tongan islands near New Zealand.
If you buy two seats how will the arm rests be down??? ANZ has always been stupid about this, as well as many other “rules”. I’ve flown with the aisle armrest up on many airlines and I lived to tell the tale! but I’ve been scolded multiple times on ANZ about the armrest between seats being down.