A Victorian woman has accused Qantas staff of “blatant homophobia“, after she and her same-sex partner were asked to move seats on a flight in order to let an elderly married couple sit together.
Kristina Antoniades was travelling from Brisbane to Melbourne when she was asked several times by two Qantas staff members to move away from the business class seats she, her partner Merrin Hicks, and their daughter Lily had reserved, in order to make space for the married couple.
“I have never experienced such blatant discrimination,” she wrote on Facebook. “It was a terrible experience and I am saddened that our daughter had to witness this. I don’t normally post serious status updates but I thought that this needed to be acknowledged for what it was, blatant homophobia and discrimination.”
She posted the entire experience to Facebook, and in the face of it, was a straight-up class act.
A Qantas spokesman said the airline has been in contact with Kristina and Merrin and explained that they “had two requests for two groups of customers to be sat next to another.”
“We completely understand that it can be frustrating to be asked to change seats when you have already chosen where to sit,” the spokesman 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.”
They say the mix-up occurred because the cabin manager was using an older passenger list (one which showed the elderly couple sitting together), and is “very embarrassed” about the whole incident.
Images: Facebook.
