An American airline which told a New Zealand man he couldn't redeem a free plane ticket for his male partner is blaming Air New Zealand for the fiasco. 60-year-old Air New Zealand employee Rob Anders won two Northwest Airlines tickets at a holiday office party, but when he tried to redeem them, he was told that Northwest would only recognise a spouse, another airline employee, or a dependent child as a companion. The US state of California, in which Mr Anders lives, doesn't allow same-sex couples to marry but lets them register as domestic partners – and domestic partners aren't spouses. Northwest has since come under fire from the American Civil Liberties Union as well as angry customers, but they're saying it's not their fault. It's all a misunderstanding based on industry reciprocity agreements, according to a standard reply they've been sending out, and reprinted in US gay magazine The Advocate. Northwest say that Mr Anders prize would have been subject to the terms of an agreement between Air New Zealand and Northwest, in which each company provides the same benefits to each other's employees. Northwest say they recognise domestic partners and spouses, whereas Air New Zealand do not. "When Northwest extended travel privileges to domestic partners, it reached out to all airlines it had interline agreements with and asked them to sign a new interline agreement that granted mutual interline privileges to employees' domestic partners," says the airline in its letter. "In August 2000, Northwest sent Air New Zealand a letter requesting them to sign the new interline agreement. Air New Zealand never responded to Northwest's letter, and since that time neither airline has permitted the other's employees' domestic partners to travel on an interline basis." Perhaps the "misunderstanding" has arisen because in New Zealand there is no such thing as a 'domestic partner' – all spouses here are treated equally, and that is also Air New Zealand's policy. However, Northwest appear to have relented and allowed Mr Anders to claim his prize after all. "Northwest has decided to permit Mr. Anders and his domestic partner to use the pass," the letter concludes. "We apologize to him and his partner and we hope they will understand how and why the incident arose."
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 1st March 2006 - 12:00pm