British Airways ban adult male from sitting next to unaccompanied minor

Today’s (first) example of the world having gone totally insane is brought to us by the Telegraph.

Hedge fund manager Mirko Fischer was on a plane from London to Luxembourg, when he swapped seats with his pregnant wife so that she could be by the window. BA staff then stepped in and told him that he couldn’t, as company policy does not allow adult males to sit next to unaccompanied minors.

Thankfully Mr Fischer took great umbrage and decided to take BA to court. While I’m not a fan of people suing because their feelings are hurt, these days the only way to get a company like BA to do anything is to embarass them formally. BA, while not admitting that the policy itself is discriminatory, have admitted sex discrimination in this case, and paid £2,161 in costs and £750. Mr Fischer, who seems a pretty decent sort, has added another £2,250 of his own money and donated it all to childrens’ charities.

As he says, where does the madness stop? Will I be stood at a bus stop one day and ordered to stand a minimum of 5 feet from the nearest child? Or am I to be banned from accidentally brushing past one on the street? It’s absolute lunacy, but it’s sadly endemic.

Having travelled (usually with BA) as an unaccompanied minor countless times myself in the 80s, I can only say that I relished the opportunity to meet varied and interesting people, and always took full advantage of the opportunity, irrespective of whether my neighbour was male or female. I can only assume that I was extremely fortunate that none of them ever tampered with me on the way over.