ALBAWABA - Dunedin Airport in New Zealand recently sparked controversy across social media after a poster circulated showing that loved ones can only hug each other goodbye for a maximum of three minutes, according to The Guardian.
The poster in question also added that if customers wanted to have a fonder farewell with each other, they should use the car park. This comes in an effort to better safety protocols and improve traffic flow for departing individuals.
Dunedin Airport's sign wrote, "Max hug time 3 minutes. For fonder farewells please use the car park".
New Zealand airport sparks controversy after limiting goodbye hugs
The poster in question sparked outrage both locally and globally across social media with users on Musk's X (formerly known as Twitter) judging the airport for implementing such rules on its premises.
Some called it "inhumane" while others said that it was "Uncalled for".
One user wrote, "Isn't this inhumane? Hugging is a human right and this Newzealand's Dunedin airport is taking a piss".
Dunedin Airport's CEO Dan De Bono told Radio New Zealand that they're "trying to have fun with it" and added that many people were taking too long in the departure's drop-off zone leading to traffic issues. On the other hand, he did point out that drop-off locations are "common locations for farewells".
He then added that the airport in question has no space left for other people and the sign was made to still allow people to have farewell hugs.
Bono added, that the sign isn't necessarily to tell people how long to hug each other, but to move on to leave space for others.
