An Australian woman said she had a panic attack after being temporarily kicked off a flight before being allowed back on and having to sit with a stranger’s toddler on her lap.
Lily Winward, a 19-year-old from Ulladulla, southeastern New South Wales, set sail for Australia from Athens in September after competing in a European athletics competition, but the journey home turned sour when she was told she his plane from Abu Dhabi was overbooked.
Winward said she was informed by Etihad staff that she would be put up in a hotel near the airport until a new seat could be arranged.
This distressed the teenager because she was traveling in sports leggings and a T-shirt without a change of clothes to leave the airport in the country where women are expected to wear traditional and modest clothing.
The situation deteriorated when she felt “harassed” by a passenger who had also been kicked off the flight.
Winward resisted the man’s insistence on sharing a taxi with him and said he suffered a panic attack after Etihad staff reportedly showed little interest in his plight.
“I was pretty upset. I was crying and I said, ‘I just want to get home; I don’t feel safe going to a hotel, especially with this guy bothering me,” Winward said. nine newspapers.
After the panic attack, Ms Winward was told she could return to her original flight but would have to take a seat allocated to a young child.
Lily Winward, 19, had a nightmare journey back to Australia after competing in a European athletics competition.
This meant that Winward was forced to hold the stranger’s child on her lap for much of the flight.
“I just think it’s not good enough, for someone who has paid $3,000 for flights, it shouldn’t happen,” he said.
Since the ordeal, Winward said his travel agent has complained to Etihad several times without receiving any substantive response.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Etihad Airways for comment.
The issue has raised uncomfortable questions about Middle Eastern airlines’ treatment of young Western female travelers.
More than a dozen women, including five Australians, were forced off a Qatar Airways plane in Doha and subjected to an invasive search and examination when an abandoned baby was found in an airport bathroom in 2020.
The women were searched naked and forced to undergo gynecological examinations.
Following complaints made by the then Morrison government, Qatar apologized for the incident.
“The incident is considered a violation of Qatar’s laws and values,” Qatar’s then-deputy prime minister and foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said, stating that the matter had been referred to prosecutors.
In August, a young Australian living in Britain warned travelers heading to Europe to pay an extra fee for their plane seats if they wanted a guaranteed spot due to the rampant practice of overbooking.
Tiah Slattery has warned those visiting the continent to pay extra airfare to avoid “chaotic” disruptions to their travels.
The expat was stranded at Tirana airport after purchasing a $575 ticket on a low-cost airline and being kicked off an overbooked flight during the summer travel season.
When booking her trip, Tiah had refused to pay an optional £25 ($48) fee to secure a seat, leaving her stranded in the sweltering airport.
The Australian was on a waiting list with 11 other people for a flight and became “despaired” after learning the next available flight wouldn’t leave for another month.