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Airports can be highly emotional environments, with arrivals and departures prompting a lot of touching moments. But in one New Zealand airport, dropping off a loved one makes for a somewhat expedited goodbye. That’s because no prolonged hugging is permitted.
According to CNN, the country’s Dunedin Airport in the town of Momona has posted signage alerting travelers to be mindful of extended embraces in the drop-off area. “Max hug time 3 minutes” reads one sign. “For fonder farewells please use the car park.”
Another sign is even more blunt: “It’s hard to say goodbye so make it quick. 3 minutes max.”
The policy is clearly meant to keep congestion at the drop-off to a minimum. Passengers and their drivers are apparently welcome to be more affectionate in the parking lot, which permits up to 15 minutes of free parking.
The signs have replaced harsher notices in which visitors were told they risked their car being clamped, or rendered immobile, until a $70 fee was paid.
“This area is to allow passengers to be dropped off by their friends, whānau or colleagues at the airport,” Megan Crawford, the airport’s business manager of general development, told Stuff Travel. “To ensure all our customers are able to do this we try to encourage the drop off to be as efficient as possible. The signage is in line with our branding which is to be a little bit quirky and fun in how we deliver a message.”
Not all patrons have interpreted it as quirky and fun. A Facebook post of the sign prompted a deluge of reactions, some expressing outrage that the airport would dare try to govern love. “You can’t put a time limit on hugs!” read one. “Tyranny,” said another.
Others were more sanguine: “This got me thinking…Who are the people I would hug for 3 minutes?”
Obviously, there’s probably little recourse for the airport should anyone be flagrantly flaunting the rules: It’s unlikely a protracted hug will merit a security response, though the airport’s chief executive, Dan De Bono, joked that “hug police” could soon be dispatched.