Air New Zealand and Qantas Airways confirmed have
barred men from sitting next to unaccompanied children on
flights. The
policy came to light after a man seated next to a child was asked to
change seats with a woman in another row and was told by a Qantas
flight attendant that the airline’s policy stipulated that only women
should sit next to unaccompanied children. The man asked to
move, Mark
Worsley, 37, was later told by the airline that Qantas wanted to err on
the side of caution. “I felt that it was totally
discriminatory,”
Worsley told The New Zealand Herald. A Qantas spokesman
confirmed the
policy and said the airline believed customers wanted the
policy.