An Aussie said she suffered a panic attack after being temporarily taken off a flight before being allowed back on and having to sit with a stranger’s toddler on her lap.
Lily Winward, a 19-year-old from Ulladulla in south-east NSW, left Athens for Australia in September after competing in a European athletics competition, but the trip home turned sour when she was told her plane from Abu Dhabi had been overbooked .
Ms Winward said Etihad staff informed her she would be put up in a hotel near the airport until a new seat could be arranged.
This alarmed the teenager because she traveled in sports leggings and a shirt with no other clothing to leave the airport in the country where traditional, modest clothing is expected for women.
The situation worsened when she felt ‘teased’ by a male passenger who had also been kicked off the flight.
Ms Winward resisted the man’s insistence on sharing a taxi with him and said she suffered a panic attack after Etihad staff reportedly showed little concern for her plight.
‘I was quite upset. I cried and said, ‘I just want to go home; I don’t feel safe going to a hotel, especially with this man harassing me,” Ms Winward said Nine newspapers.
After the panic attack, Ms Winward was told she could get back on her original flight, but would have to take a seat assigned to a toddler.
Lily Winward, 19, made a nightmarish journey back to Australia after competing in a European athletics competition
This meant Ms Winward had to hold the stranger’s child on her lap for much of the flight.
“I just don’t think it’s good enough, for someone who paid $3,000 for flights, it shouldn’t be happening,” she said.
Since the ordeal, Ms Winward said her travel agent had complained to Etihad several times without receiving any substantive response.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Etihad Airways for comment.
The issue has raised uncomfortable questions about the treatment of young female Western travelers by Middle Eastern airlines.
More than a dozen women, including five Australians, were forced off a Qatar Airways plane in Doha and subjected to an invasive search and examination when an abandoned baby was found in the airport bathroom in 2020.
The women were searched and forced to undergo a gynecological examination.
Following complaints from the then Morrison government, Qatar apologized for the incident.
“The incident is considered a violation of Qatar’s laws and values,” Qatar’s then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said, stating that the case had been referred to prosecutors.
In August, a young Australian living in Britain warned travelers heading to Europe to pay an extra fee for their plane seats if they wanted a guaranteed spot due to the widespread practice of overbooking.
Tiah Slattery warned those visiting the continent to pay extra airline fees to avoid ‘chaotic’ disruptions to their travels.
The expat was stranded at Tirana airport after buying a $575 ticket from a budget airline and being bumped off an overbooked flight during the summer season.
When booking her trip, Tiah had refused to pay an optional £25 ($48) fee to secure a seat, leaving her stranded in the sweltering airport.
The Australian was on a waiting list with 11 other people for a flight home and became ‘desperate’ when he heard that the next available flight would not be for another month.