I want your views on this then. BA are branding all men the same but will have to change their policy if he wins this case.

 

A businessman is suing British Airways over a policy that bans male passengers from sitting next to children they don't know - even if the child's parents are on the same flight.

 

Mirko Fischer has accused the airline of branding all men as potential sex offenders and says innocent travellers are being publicly humiliated.

 

In line with the policy, BA cabin crew patrol the aisles before take-off checking that youngsters travelling on their own or in a different row from their parents are not next to a male stranger.

 

If they find a man next to a child or teenager they will ask him to move to a different seat. The aircraft will not take off unless the passenger obeys.

 

Mr Fischer, a 33-year-old hedge fund manager, became aware of the policy while he was flying from Gatwick with his wife Stephanie, 30.

 

His wife, who was six months pregnant, had booked a window seat which she thought would be more spacious. Mr Fischer was in the middle seat between her and a 12-year-old boy.

 

Shortly after all passengers had sat down, having stowed their bags in the overhead lockers, a male steward asked Mr Fischer to change his seat.

 

Mr Fischer refused, explaining that his wife was pregnant, at which point the steward raised his voice, causing several passengers to turn round in alarm. He warned that the aircraft could not take off unless Mr Fischer obeyed.

 

Mr Fischer eventually moved seats but felt so humiliated by his treatment that he is taking the airline to court on the grounds of sex discrimination-He is paying all his own legal

 

If he wins at the hearing next month at Slough County Court, BA will have to change its policy.

 

He has promised to donate any compensation to the NSPCC.

 

Mr Fischer, who lives in Luxembourg with his wife and their daughter Sophia, said: 'This policy is branding all men as perverts for no reason. The policy and the treatment of male passengers is absolutely outrageous.

 

'A plane is a public place - cabin crew regularly walk down the aisles and passengers are sat so close to each other. The risk of any abuse is virtually zero.

 

'Furthermore statistically children are far more likely to be abused by a member of their family. Does that mean that BA are going to ban children sitting next to their own parents?'

 

'I was made to feel like a criminal in front of other passengers. It was totally humiliating. Neither myself or my wife dared to speak to the boy in case the cabin crew forced us from our seats. The poor child must have thought we were extremely rude and unfriendly.'

 

Claude Knights, of the children's charity Kidscape said: 'The airline should have procedures in place to avoid this sort of situation.

 

'If the airline is that concerned they should sit unaccompanied children with cabin crew who have no doubt been thoroughly vetted.'

 

A BA spokesman said: 'As this is case is subject to court proceedings, it would be inappropriate for us to comment at this time.'

 

I think he has a good case. There are female paedophiles too so why the men have to move and not the women?

Well, there's as much logic in this as checking Muslim airline passangers exclusively. Almost all sex offenders are men, so, according to the anti-PC brigade, it's only logical to discriminate against them in this way. Right, BA Baracus / Mushymanrob / Thisispop?

Edited January 16, 201015 yr by Danny

Not the same thing but when I flew to the Philippines with BA in 1991 I was asked to move as a Muslim woman said she wasn't allowed under Islamic law to sit next to me, a man who wasn't her husband!! I agreed but was annoyed. As the stewardess told her, it was fine but she should have told them that when she booked! :rolleyes:

Edited January 16, 201015 yr by Victor Meldrew

Qantas rather unsurprisingly have the same policy [bA and Qantas are both in the One World alliance and BA own a big chunk of Qantas]

 

I don't see the harm, sure it's overly PC but statistically Danny is correct, there are more Male pervs than female. Depending on the child's age and sex, it could be as simple as they feel safer/better sitting next to a female rather than a male. I understand the reasoning behind it. Sure it's an inconvenience, but he could have swapped seats with his wife very quietly without fuss.

 

I wouldn't take offence to it. It's just one of the things they are obliged to do by company policy to ensure that all passengers have a safe and relaxing flight. There are some policies at work i think are retarded, but i understand why we have them and i follow them to the letter.

Well I for one hope he wins and that BA have to reverse their policy. Tarring all men with the same brush is not on.

Its paranoia taken to extremes, I don't recall ever reading a case of child abuse on a plane in all the time I have been reading newspapers and websites so it is just political correctness gone mad, hope he wins

Its paranoia taken to extremes, I don't recall ever reading a case of child abuse on a plane in all the time I have been reading newspapers and websites so it is just political correctness gone mad, hope he wins

What's it got to do with political correctness? It's paranoia pure and simple. Paranoia fuelled by the press - including the Daily Mail. If anything, it's the very opposite of political correctness in the sense that it is discriminating against a particular group of people. It's the sort of ridiculous policy the Mail would probably have supported if there ever had been a case of a child being abused by a stranger on a plane.

As this story is only in the "Daily Heil" I will treat it for now with the contempt it deserves for being dubious right wing "PC gone mad" propaganda.

 

Until it is picked up by the wider news media like BBC's News website & the AP (the Associated Press) as a fact I will ignore it.

 

But in a way it is part of a wider issue that is damaging UK society in general starting with Primary School education:

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/31019...ry-schools.html

 

 

As this story is only in the "Daily Heil" I will treat it for now with the contempt it deserves for being dubious right wing "PC gone mad" propaganda.

 

Until it is picked up by the wider news media like BBC's News website & the AP (the Associated Press) as a fact I will ignore it.

 

But in a way it is part of a wider issue that is damaging UK society in general starting with Primary School education:

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/31019...ry-schools.html

I have read similar stories to this before so it could well be (at least partly) true this time.

 

The problem with male teachers in primary schools has been with us for a long time. I was a governor of a primary school about 15 years ago and there were no male teachers at the school. Even then I suspected that men were reluctant to apply to work in primary school because they were afraid that some people would question their motives.

 

Shortly after I moved to Bournemouth - about 12 years ago - I saw a young boy (probably about ten) on the beach looking distressed. It looked pretty clear that he couldn't find his family. I didn't want to approach him myself because i) he might react badly having been told not to speak to strange men and ii) even if he didn't react badly, someone who saw me approach him might. Fortunately I was able to ask a woman standing near me to approach him and take him to someone who could help.

 

So, this isn't a new problem but I think it's getting steadily worse as the hysteria / paranoia increases.

ridiculous.

 

he should have stayed put next to his wife and make the kid move....

 

but im happy not to have a brat next to me on a flight! :)

 

danny.... women ARE sex offenders, myra hyndley, rose west, mary bell, that nursery nurse recently plus her accomplices plus more.... so the comparison between singling out only men and muslim searches is bollox.... because terorists who blow planes up ARE all muslims.

I would sue aswell :)

I literally LOL'ed! BA are are talking as if women are incapable of "touching" children... If I was him, I'd be asking why the child isn't sat by his parents and why it wasn't possible for him to be sat with at least one of his parents. It's utterly disgusting for regular men to be branded as potential paedophiles and I hope his wins his case. The rule should not be that men can't sit next to children they don't know, but that children should sit next to someone they DO know...

I agree with Craig, this is paranoia.... But it IS the same thing as tarring all Muslims with the same brush, which is why I say that any changes to airport security apply to all... The vast majority of paedos are male, but this is irrelevant, people shouldn't just be making blind assumptions based upon no real evidence of a person's actual guilt....

 

If BA are that paranoid about it, maybe they should have "Family Only" flights....?

I agree with Craig, this is paranoia.... But it IS the same thing as tarring all Muslims with the same brush, which is why I say that any changes to airport security apply to all... The vast majority of paedos are male, but this is irrelevant, people shouldn't just be making blind assumptions based upon no real evidence of a person's actual guilt....

 

If BA are that paranoid about it, maybe they should have "Family Only" flights....?

 

no it aint the same ... all attacks on planes in the last 20 plus years have been by muslims.... not all paedos are male ... when was the last time a p**** committed an offence on a crowded airoplane?... never?..

As i said above, it's not JUST British Airways that do this.

 

Australia's Qantas do it as well, and i wouldn't be surprised if many other airlines do.

 

In November 2005, it was revealed that Qantas has a policy of not seating adult male passengers next to unaccompanied children. This led to accusations that the airline considers all men to be potential paedophiles. The policy came to light following an incident in 2004 when Mark Wolsay, who was seated next to a young boy on a Qantas flight in New Zealand, was asked to change seats with a female passenger. A steward informed him that "it was the airline's policy that only women were allowed to sit next to unaccompanied children".

 

Cameron Murphy of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties president criticised the policy and stated that "there was no basis for the ban". He said it was wrong to assume that all adult males posed a danger to children. The policy has also been criticised for failing to take female abusers into consideration.

It's from wikipedia, but i've read about it in Aus.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_sex_d...mination_policy

 

an extract from the Air New Zeeland part of the above

Some have defended the policy however, with NSW Commissioner for Children and Young People Gillian Calvert stating that there were more male sex offenders than female and thus "in the absence of any other test, it's one way in which the airline can reduce the risk of children travelling alone". She believes that the likelihood of an attack was rare but not impossible claiming "it's only a few men who do this sort of stuff, but when they do it they diminish all men". Air New Zealand spokesman David Jamieson said the company had no intention of reviewing the policy and admitted that it had been in place for many years.

I'm assuming there were three seats so Mr & Mrs Fischer made up 2/3 of the seating ... why didn't they move the kid?

 

Having said that ... I don't know any adult in their right mind who would want to sit next to a kid on a flight! One of the reasons I hate long-haul flights is because I can't stand kids ... well ... kids aren't so bad I suppose ... but for a long time ... in a confined space ... I think I'd rather sit next to a loony.

 

Norma

Edited March 31, 201015 yr by Norma_Snockers

I'm with you, i'd hate to be sat next to a screaming little $h!t on a flight. Even a Short Haul flight.

 

I'd murder the little f***er on a 13hour flight.

I'm with you, i'd hate to be sat next to a screaming little $h!t on a flight. Even a Short Haul flight.

 

I'd murder the little f***er on a 13hour flight.

 

 

Assume you don't have kids of your own then?

Assume you don't have kids of your own then?

No, i'm a 20year old student. My mother would kill me, literally.