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Jetstar embarrasses woman with pregnancy question

This article is more than 12 months old

It is the mistake many dread making — asking a woman if she is pregnant only to find out that she is not. 

The BBC reports that Jetstar Airways has apologised to a New Zealand passenger after one of its cabin crew asked that seemingly innocent question.

Grethe Andersen, 24, was wearing a fitted dress on the flight from Wellington to Auckland on Sunday, Oct 25 when a male flight attendant gestured at her stomach and asked: "How many weeks are you?"

Ms Andersen posted about the embarrassing experience on Jetstar's Facebook page saying: "As a woman, it's not a good feeling to be asked if you're pregnant when you're not".

She claimed that there was no immediate apology from the flight attendant or cabin crew leader.

The post has since been taken down.

"I used to be quite heavily overweight and even then was never met by such a rude question and especially no remorse from the flight attendant," she wrote.

A Jetstar spokesman told NZME News Service its customer care team had contacted Ms Andersen to apologise.

A flight voucher of NZ$100 (S$93.49) had also been offered to the passenger as a "goodwill gesture".

"Jetstar sincerely apologises for the distress the passenger experienced," he said.

Many airlines have a policy of requiring women who are more than 28 weeks pregnant to produce a doctor's note certifying they are fit to travel, for safety and liability reasons.

Jetstar staff are trained to ask for a medical certificate if they believe a passenger may be more than 28 weeks pregnant, he said.

It's not the first time a woman has complained on the airlines' lack of tact, reports NZME.

In 2012, a Jetstar attendant demanded a medical certificate from 21-year-old Kelsey Hughes as she was boarding her flight in Wellington.

Hughes was not expecting a baby. She was also surprised because at 70kg, she says there was little to suggest she could have been expecting.

Sources: BBC, NZME

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