An Australian teenager says she was harassed, had a panic attack, and was forced to sit with a stranger’s child on her lap for six hours when she was bumped from an overbooked Etihad flight.
Lily Winward, 19, was returning from the trip of a lifetime after visiting Europe to compete in an Austrian athletics competition. The Ulladulla teenager was flying back to Sydney from Athens in September when she was pulled aside by airline staff during her Abu Dhabi layover and told she wouldn’t be continuing to Australia.
Winward, who was travelling alone, was told by Etihad staff that her flight home was overbooked and that she would be put up in a hotel 40 minutes from the airport for the night. Travelling in activewear tights and a singlet and without a change of clothes, Winward said she became distressed at the prospect of not being able to cover up when leaving the airport.
She said that was when another passenger who had also been bumped from the flight began harassing her and trying to force her into a taxi with him. She told airline staff, who she claims didn’t seem to care about her distress.
“I was quite 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’.”
Her distress turned into a panic attack. Finally, a staff member recognised the state she was in and was able to squeeze her back onto the original flight.
However, Winward was given a seat meant for a woman’s toddler and ended up having to hold the child on her lap for much of the flight.
“I just think it’s not good enough, for someone who has paid $3000 for flights, it shouldn’t happen.”
The incident is again raising questions regarding the treatment of young female travellers by Middle Eastern airlines. In 2020, more than a dozen women were forced off a Qatar Airways plane in Doha and forced to undergo an invasive search and exam when an abandoned baby was found in the airport bathroom.
Overbooking is a common practice with full-service carriers, who often sell more tickets than seats available on flights on the assumption that some travellers won’t show up, University of Sydney aviation professor Dr Rico Merkert said.
When everyone does show up on time for the flight, airline staff select some travellers to be bumped. In long-haul international travel, this often means having to wait until the next day to get on another flight.
“It’s a part of the business model,” Merkert said.
The Australian government allows the airlines to overbook flights. However, its new draft Aviation Charter of Rights proposes that customers would have the right to “prompt and fair remedies” for cancellations and delays.
In Europe, travellers are already entitled to financial compensation if flights are delayed or cancelled or if customers are bumped off an overbooked flight.
In Lily Winward’s case, she wonders why a young, single, vulnerable traveller was chosen to be bumped from the flight in favour of families and couples.
Her travel agent complained to Etihad on Winward’s behalf, and despite following up multiple times in the months since the incident, they haven’t received an explanation or apology.
Etihad was approached for comment but did not provide a statement by deadline.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.