British Airways' discriminatory ban on unattended minors sitting next to men strikes again

[FLAprogressive]

http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/2010/06/25/man_airplane_child/index.html

While on a British Airways flight, Mirko Fischer made the ultimate air travel sacrifice: He switched seats with his wife so that she could enjoy the window seat. The flight crew wasn't having any of it, though, and promptly ordered him to move back to his original seat. Why in earth's atmosphere would someone punish such a display of seatly selflessness, you might ask? The swap landed him next to a boy flying by himself, and Fischer is a man. The airline strictly bans men from sitting next to unaccompanied minors -- because men are dangerous.

*snip*

If the airline policy were to accurately rely on sex-abuse stats, they would ban kids from sitting next to their own parents, relatives, family friends and casual acquaintances. Too often, we take child protection measures that ignore actual facts -- maybe because the facts are too unpleasant to face.

[marybourg]

1. As an elderly granny-type, I'm often seated next to unaccompanied minors;

much more often than chance would allow. But as a parent and grandparent, I understand and am sympathetic.

[izquierdista]

2. As a large man with a strange look in his eye,

I often get an entire row to myself. :evilgrin:

[Warpy]

3. The seating arrangement is silly

but flight attendants need to know who the unattended kiddies are so the one squirrel in ten thousand or so decent men doesn't take him or her to the bathroom.

There isn't a hell of a lot that can happen in the typical airline seat.

[HipChick]

4. Exactly..which makes this policy weird...

[CurtEastPoint]

5. Like he would do something to a kid while sitting next to his WIFE? wtf?

[Journeyman]

6. I think I would have offered the young boy the window seat, my wife next to him. . .

and me next to the aisle. That way, the child would be best entertained, my wife could lean over and see out the window when she wanted, and I could stretch my legs a bit.

But that's just me. I try to be sensible, which doesn't seem the guiding principle in the air anymore.