Jetstar Forgets Golden Rule, Asks Woman How Many Weeks Pregnant She Is

Jetstar is learning the hard way as to why you should never break the golden rule of customer service after asking a woman boarding a flight how many weeks pregnant she was.

Turns out, she wasn’t pregnant at all!

New Zealander Grethe Anderson, aged 24, was boarding a flight from Wellington to Auckland last Friday when the incident occurred. The Jetstar employee who made the gaffe was a gentleman (if we can call him that) who gestured to her stomach and bluntly asked  her how many weeks pregnant she was. Shocked she curtly informed him that she wasn’t and stormed from the desk.

Anderson felt “stunned and shocked” after the incident, which was witnessed by a number of other passengers on the flight. Heading off for a girls weekend, she found it difficult to enjoy herself as she wondered what is was that had caused the man to ask her the tactless question.

“I tried to make a joke about it,” she said. “But I was feeling really self conscious.”

After the flight had landed in Auckland Anderson brushed up the courage to bring the issue up with the flight’s cabin leader, but says she is yet to receive an apology from the man himself. After submitting a formal complaint to Jetstar she was offered a $100 voucher and a sincere apology for the distress caused.

Pregnancy Policy

We understand that airlines have a pregnancy policy. Obviously heavily pregnant women and airplanes don’t mix. But we would expect that the airlines would have a little bit more finesse when approaching the topic with women, especially when they aren’t actually pregnant at all.

Jetstar’s own pregnancy policy states that passengers who are 28 weeks or more pregnant have to be carrying a letter from a medical practitioner or midwife when they fly. The letter must be shown at check in, and it should be dated no more than 10 days before the flight is to occur. It also has to include the delivery date. Jetstar staff are trained to ask a passenger about a pregnancy if they believe them to be more than 28 weeks pregnant.

Now think about that for a moment. That’s 28 weeks pregnant, or 7 months if you’re not good at maths. At this point a baby is the size of a large eggplant. Believe me, you can tell if someone if going to be pushing the aforementioned eggplant out in two months.

Sorry, but it’s just not cool that this guy couldn’t tell someone who was 7 months pregnant from your average Jane. Obviously there’s some kind of training missing here. Especially considering how terribly the question was worded, including that crude stomach gesture.

The Golden Rule

If there’s one golden rule of customer service to women it’s this: Never ask a women if she’s pregnant. Hell, don’t ask her how far along she is, how many weeks she is, or when her baby is due. If a woman is pregnant and wants to tell you, she probably will. It’s a happy time of life and most ladies are bursting to share their new experiences. If she’s not, then you’re about to dive into a river full of regret.

Seriously, the only time that you can ask a woman if she’s pregnant is if she’s actively in labour. Even then, she’ll probably slap you in your face.

SOURCE