Qantas business class passenger accuses airline of ‘blatant homophobia’

[theblank]

No, discrimination is precisely the issue.
The crew clearly acted on the assumption that two women and a child were not a "real" family whereas a straight couple without children were.

its a fair enough assumption to make. Discrimination means to 'differentiate' it does not necessary mean it was offensive.

They didn't make it by looking at the persons, they didn't make the assumption because they were gay. They would have just looked at the passenger manifest. Seeing different surnames of adjacent passengers would naturally indicate they are the best persons to ask if they could move to accommodate someone elses request.

And, they were only asked
And, due to a mix-up, they were asked again.

 

[TheRealTMA]

I don't know what 'asymmetric power relationship' means, full stop.

Should I be vaccinated against it?

Yes! At least one bottle of 2007 Bin 389 before the encounter!

 

[Isochronous]

Re: Qantas business class passenger accuses airline of ‘blatant homophobi

AJ ....Alan Joyce CEO Qantas Airways .... Also well known to be orientated as gay. He would be typically Anti ( anti homophobic) so would not typically condone such action by his crew!

Not to mention that chances are there was at least one homosexual member of crew on the flight!

This is one of those things that the passenger has interpreted as discrimination, but it is next to impossible for anyone else to know for sure - e.g. if surnames aren't the same on the manifest or there are separate PNRs it would not have been obvious that they were traveling together.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Qantas business class passenger accuses airline of ‘blatant homophobi

This is one of those things that the passenger has interpreted as discrimination, but it is next to impossible for anyone else to know for sure - e.g. if surnames aren't the same on the manifest or there are separate PNRs it would not have been obvious that they were traveling together.

yeah - but that's part of the point isn't it? Gay people can't get married. They can't just take the surname of their partner, even if they wanted to.

The gate agent and crew both made assumptions. Which could have easily been avoided by asking.

The passengers? Well, there comes a time when you defer to your seniors. If an 'elderly' couple want to sit together, it would probably have been considerate to let them do so.

 

[incumbent]

Re: Qantas business class passenger accuses airline of ‘blatant homophobi

I also find it difficult to imagine from the writing style of the social media post that the people in question were absolute delights on board. Behaviour of crew generally feeds off the behaviour of passengers.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Qantas business class passenger accuses airline of ‘blatant homophobi

Behaviour of crew generally feeds off the behaviour of passengers.

I would tend to agree - except on Qantas. They can be having a bad day all on their own. Plenty of examples to back that up.

 

[incumbent]

Re: Qantas business class passenger accuses airline of ‘blatant homophobi

I would tend to agree - except on Qantas. They can be having a bad day all on their own. Plenty of examples to back that up.

I guess. Having flown on maybe 40 airlines I tend to find QF pretty consistently OK. I've probably flown QF more often than anyone else, and haven't been left thinking they're worse than anyone else.

Not meaning to damn with faint praise or anything.

 

[farstar]

Re: Qantas business class passenger accuses airline of ‘blatant homophobi

yeah - but that's part of the point isn't it? Gay people can't get married. They can't just take the surname of their partner, even if they wanted to.

Even married couples don't always take the others surname. You can change your name if you want whether you are married or not.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Qantas business class passenger accuses airline of ‘blatant homophobi

Even married couples don't always take the others surname. You can change your name if you want whether you are married or not.

Agreed. But for heterosexual couples, it's their choice whether to adopt the name or not. For same sex couples, it's not even an option, and to change by deed poll is not quite the same.

 

[amaroo]

Did anyone think to ask the husband to move back to row 2 to sit with his wife?

He probably also replied ... no.

 

[samh004]

Re: Qantas business class passenger accuses airline of ‘blatant homophobi

I also find it difficult to imagine from the writing style of the social media post that the people in question were absolute delights on board. Behaviour of crew generally feeds off the behaviour of passengers.

I would tend to agree - except on Qantas. They can be having a bad day all on their own. Plenty of examples to back that up.

I've had at least one experience recently where the CSM didn't offer great service, yet I acted just the same as I usually do, polite and etc. but I try not to dwell as the majority of crew are splendid.

 

[seanpodge]

Re: Qantas business class passenger accuses airline of ‘blatant homophobi

Pretty poor from the FA. As to those complaining that the same sex couple are making too much of it, how do you change bad practices without pointing it out or complaining about it? Just sucking it up and waiting for major companies to magically become perfect isn't usually a winning strategy.

Does seem like a beatup. Yes they were sitting across the aside from each other. And it seems they were so self- obsessed that being polite and giving up your seat so a 70 yo couple could sit together was such an outrageous suggestion that they have created a major incident. Sheesh. After all it was such a long flight.

Why is it polite for a FA to accuse you of splitting up a couple because you selected seats days ago so that you could sit with you partner and child?

And why is "posting on the Qantas Facebook page" creating a major incident? Or are customers only allowed to post hagiographies on the precious QF Facebook page? The article itself seems to contain no evidence that News Ltd contacted the couple before publishing the story, which I'd have thought was dubious media ethics in itself (although one has learnt not to expect any better from News).

She knows she didn't have a case against Qantas because they state they can change ones seat at anytime for operational reasons. How many times did she throw the discrimination word in though - sheesh!

Honestly, 2hr 30 min in the air. Let the lovely 70yo couple sit together and harden up!

Why does one couple get preference over another? The two women PLUS CHILD were first in, therefore best dressed. Firstly, there's the issue that the FA's attitude was clearly discriminatory in that it viewed her relationship with her partner as less worthy than that of the other, straight couple. If there is a genuine, "operational reason" for the FA to split up the same sex couple over the dual sex couple beyond "because I feel like it", then I'd be interested to hear it.

But furthermore, there are already plenty of wasted electrons of threads both here and on the rest of the internet complaining (almost in a childish way, ironically enough) about children on airplanes. How is separating a parent from their child (even if the other one is still there) going to help keep the 2 year old child calm, well behaved and quiet for the comfort of the child and its parents along with the rest of the cabin? I'd have thought that was much more of a valid "operational reason" than "they're a bit old".

 

[dajop]

Did anyone think to ask the husband to move back to row 2 to sit with his wife?

Good point. In my experience it's always the person with the best seat that wants their companion to sit beside them, not the one with the worst seat.

I remember once on MH in J I had allocated a bulkhead on the A330 (more leg room) and the FA asked me to swap with lady sitting four rows back so she could sit next to her friend. I refused. But did agree to swap to empty window bulkhead on other side of aisle. What annoyed me the seat where the person swapped from and the seat beside it remained empty, could they not have simply moved the lady seated beside me back to the empty seat? Two weeks later my partner, travelling on QF had similar situation - bulkhead J seat, and was asked to swap with lady in row behind so she could sit next to her husband, could they not ask the person sitting next to her to swap?

 

[footy99]

Storm in a teacup. 2 requests to sit together in the same spot. Hers ultimately prevailed over the elderly couple. And she still got her whinge out of it and plenty of sympathy from the usuals. And some FF points to boot. Win-win-win for her in the end.

 

[amaroo]

Storm in a teacup. 2 requests to sit together in the same spot. Hers ultimately prevailed over the elderly couple. And she still got her whinge out of it and plenty of sympathy from the usuals. And some FF points to boot. Win-win-win for her in the end.

+1 quite pathetic, really!

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

Re: Qantas business class passenger accuses airline of ‘blatant homophobi

Agreed. But for heterosexual couples, it's their choice whether to adopt the name or not. For same sex couples, it's not even an option, and to change by deed poll is not quite the same.

We all have the equal opportunity to put all pax on the one booking, or to phone and have the bookings linked.

I don't think they check your sexuality when you book online, or call up, but YMMV.

From the crew's perspective, it means nothing whether people are married or not, nor what their surname is. My partner and I have different surnames, are not married, yet magically we are seated together when booked on the same PNR or two PNRs that are linked.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Qantas business class passenger accuses airline of ‘blatant homophobi

...yet magically we are seated together when booked on the same PNR or two PNRs that are linked.

...as did these passengers, until repeated requests for them to move because no one stopped to consider they might be a family.

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

Re: Qantas business class passenger accuses airline of ‘blatant homophobi

...as did these passengers, until repeated requests for them to move because no one stopped to consider they might be a family.

You are putting a lot of credibility in a Facebook rant. They were probably asked once, and because of their heightened sensibilities perhaps there was some confected outrage.

While some QF staff are sub-par, I doubt a CSM would act in such a manner, as they would not have a job.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Qantas business class passenger accuses airline of ‘blatant homophobi

I doubt a CSM would act in such a manner, as they would not have a job.

Based on personal experience and observation, I have no doubt.

There is also no reason to discount a report on facebook. Sure there might be some hyperbole, but I don't think it didn't happen. Where else are they supposed to get their point across? Social media is probably a good forum to get change initiated quickly.

 

[incumbent]

Re: Qantas business class passenger accuses airline of ‘blatant homophobi

There is also no reason to discount a report on facebook.

Plenty of reason to run it through a BS filter, though, which is all many of us are doing.