A New Zealand airport is running out of patience for your long goodbye hugs.
Dunedin Airport on New Zealand’s South Island now institutes a three-minute “max hug time” at its drop-off area.
The move is meant to stop flyers and their loved ones from overstaying their welcome in the drop-off area and causing traffic.
The airport told the Associated Press it instituted the rule in September to “keep things moving smoothly” after unveiling a re-designed drop-off area.
If you want to have a longer goodbye, Dunedin Airport asks that you go to the parking lot.
The move caused some backlash, which airport CEO Dan De Bono brushed off. “We were accused of breaching basic human rights and how dare we limit how long someone can have a hug for,” he said.
De Bono believes three minutes is plenty of time to pull over, say goodbye, and get on your way.
He said the maximum hug limit signs and some of their cheeky messages — one says, “It’s hard to say goodbye so make it quick” — are part of Dunedin Airport’s “quirky” approach to hopefully improving traffic. He also says any hug more than 20 seconds is just “really awkward.”
The airport does not have “hug police” to punish those who break the three-minute rule, De Bono said, but if you are lingering too long in the drop-off area, you might be asked to move to the parking lot.