Three minutes is plenty of time to drop off bags and bid a brief final fond farewell to multiple people.
In September, the airport installed signs advising time limits by describing them via a three-minute restriction for hugs. News outlets around the world have picked it up, and all sorts of reactions have followed.
Airport chief executive Dan De Bono has said the airport even had been accused of breaching basic human rights by daring to limit the length of people’s hugs.
The story took off and travelled far and wide when news agency Associated Press picked it up. Various news outlets wrote their versions.
An item in CNN’s weekly travel newsletter was headed "Catch flights, not feelings". The New York Post promoted the "inhumane" angle. The Times of India said the "quirky rule" had "sparked lively debate online".
NBC News began its story heading with "Cuddle time capped". Its writer said it was unclear whether the idea would take flight.
Dunedin Airport’s uplifting idea certainly did. The story is not weighed down by of the heavy baggage of Middle East or Ukraine reports. Instead, it offered a largely light-hearted substitute.
Dunedin Airport management has already lightened the load a smidgen on potential travel anxiety through humour, as Civis has previously noted. Visitors have been told that toilet hand-dryers spout hot air like the chief executive and that the departure lounge toilets were built by a dunnerstunnerplumber.
Mr De Bono said the hug reference was "really a nicer way of saying, you know, ‘get on with it".
Indeed. Signs about clamping or tickets would have been harsh.
Anyway, the sign promoted another option: parking in the nearby carpark. That’s free for up to 15 minutes.
What’s more, as Mr De Bono said, a 20-second hug alone is enough to release the wellbeing-boosting hormones oxytocin and serotonin.
Anything longer? "Really awkward."
"Kiss and fly" lanes are commonplace, some free and some not. Prices at more than a third of British airports have been raised this year. Charges are up to £7 ($NZ15), and stopping times are commonly 10 or 15 minutes.
Such zones around Europe are often free. Time limits range from one minute up. Most major New Zealand airports find space for free drop-off places.
One kiss-and-fly article said lifts to the airport produced double the harmful emissions of airport parking or public transport, including vehicle congestion as well as the "hidden costs" of time and money spent by the family member or friend. But public transport is not always available or convenient, especially because of luggage. Longer-term parking is expensive.
Mr De Bono took further sting from possible criticism by saying the new time limit would not be strictly enforced beyond telling people to move to the carpark.
"We do not have hug police."
* * * * * *
While we shouldn’t be too touchy-feely or easily upset by attempted humour, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly last week proved he was the loser with his "loser" remarks to a worker at an export business.
He displayed an utter and flabbergasting lack of awareness. While Antipodean male culture might have a place for good-hearted "abuse", this is almost always reserved for good mates.
But a minister of the Crown to a stranger is another matter. Mr Bayly’s total comedy fail is darn right bizarre.
Mr Bayly says he hadn’t been drinking before the interaction. Is it better or worse that he could make his offensive comments stone-cold sober?
