New Zealand’s Dunedin Airport has ruled that passengers can only spend three minutes hugging their loved ones before departing with a sign telling people to use the car park instead
An airport in New Zealand has been branded “inhumane” after putting a time limit on people hugging their loved ones goodbye.
Dunedin Arirport in the south-east of the country has raised eyebrows with a new rule which limits hug time to just three minutes. The crackdown on cuddles is in the airport’s drop off area, and is designed to prevent passenger delays.
To show just how serious they are, airport officials have erected a sign, which reads, “Max hug time: 3 minutes.”, and “For fonder farewells please use the car park”. The new rule is being widely shared on social media, where some branded it “inhumane” to be so strict about hug time. They said: “You can’t put a time limit on hugs! That’s inhumane.”
Another said it was a great idea, and even offered some alternative places similar schemes could be rolled out. “OMG school drop off lines need a similar sign (Max hug time 10 sec),” one said. Some wondered who they would spend a full three minutes hugging, saying it would only be “family, and a dear long time friend”.
Daniel De Bono, the chief executive of the airport, doubled down on the decision, saying three minutes was more than enough for a good squeeze, telling Radio New Zealand that a 20-second hug is enough to get a burst of oxytocin. By moving people along quickly, more can get the hugs they need.
People from some parts of the world were stunned to see an airport with a free drop-off area, with one UK commenter saying their policy showed “warmth and compassion”. “(In) my local airport it would be ‘you can’t stop there’ – there’s a £100 fine if you stop and a minimum £5 to drop someone off in the drop-off zone,” they said.
The chief executive said the airport decided to roll out the limit because they had “seen interesting things go on … over the years”.
