Kristina Antoniades, a family lawyer, blasted Qantas airline earlier this week on Facebook for “blatant homophobic” behaviour.
“We had just as much right to be seated together as the married couple”
The woman, who was travelling business class with her female partner Merrin Hicks and their daughter, was asked to switch places with a married couple not once, but twice.
Ms Antoniades had booked three seats for the flight from Brisbane to Melbourne online, on the same row, separated by an aisle.
Ms Hicks, however, was paged to customer service during boarding time, only to be told she was being moved to a different row.
She refused and the company reissued the initial boarding pass. Once they were in the air, they were again approached by another member of the staff.
“I thought that would be the end of it but once the plane took off the flight manager asked why Merrin was seated next to the man and his wife seated behind them,” Antoniades wrote.
“I again advised the flight manager that we were a family and wanted to be seated together. She asked me why I had taken it upon myself to move the wife away from her husband.
“I advised her that we were in our designated seats, equally as entitled to sit together.”
The cabin manager asked to see their boarding passes, she wrote, and questioned why they hadn’t allowed the other couple, aged in their 70s, to sit next to each other.
“I have never experienced such blatant discrimination,” the woman continued.
A Qantas spokesman said staff had contacted the passengers to explain there were two requests from other passengers, stating that the airline which “celebrates diversity of staff and passengers was disappointed to read of the experience”.
“We completely understand that it can be frustrating to be asked to change seats when you have already chosen where to sit,” he said.
“In this case, Kristina, her partner and their daughter travelled in the seats originally assigned to them while the other couple were sat separately.”
Meanwhile, in a gesture of goodwill, the customer service manager contacted Ms Antoniades offering her extra frequent flyer points.
Source: ABC, Herald Sun