Airport sparks debate by introducing time limit on hugs

An airport in New Zealand has sparked debate after travelers were told to limit “hugging time” to “reduce congestion”.

In late September, Dunedin Airport announced that, in an effort to improve safety and improve traffic flow, it would limit time spent in the drop-off area to a maximum of three minutes, and included a photo of the promotional sign.

“Maximum hug time is 3 minutes,” the sign read. “For a more affectionate farewell, please use the car park.”

In a recent interview with Radio New Zealand, Dunedin Airport CEO Daniel De Bono said the introduction of the sign had “caused quite a stir”.

“We’re going to have quite a long conversation,” De Bono said. “They say, ‘Oh, you can’t tell us how long we can hug.’

People online weighed in on the “cuddle time” limit, with some agreeing that a three-minute limit was a reasonable amount of time for an airport send-off, while others questioned whether the limit was even necessary.

“It’s fun. But 3 minutes is enough time for a hug. As they say, go to the parking lot. Lol,” one wrote in a comment on Reddit.

“Should we really limit time for something as meaningful as hugging?” another asked on TikTok.

De Bono told Radio New Zealand that, at the end of the day, the purpose of the “cheerful” message to travelers is crowd control.

“It’s really about making sure others have enough space to cuddle, right? So we don’t have a lot of space in this drop zone,” De Bono said. “Too many people spend too much time saying their fond farewells at the landing zone, leaving no room for others.”

And if some laggards don’t pay attention to the new signs, De Bono said there won’t be too much of a backlash.

“All we can do is politely ask them to go into the parking lot to take some space for others, so that’s it,” De Bono said. “We’re not going to call the hug police. That would be crazy.”