Prince Harry's claim that his wife Meghan bought a first-class ticket from Mexico to the UK for her dad Thomas Markle so he could better avoid press intrusion has prompted a mocking response from the airline involved. In his memoir Spare, the Duke of Sussex said the Duchess purchased a ticket for her father through Air New Zealand, adding that it was 'first class, booked and paid for by Meg'.
Detailing the incident, Prince Harry recalled: "We told him, leave Mexico right now: A whole new level of harassment is about to rain down on you, so come to Britain. Now."
But the Mirror reports that Air New Zealand has denied that Thomas could have flown first from Mexico to the UK through their airline, claiming that such a flight doesn't exist. Speaking with the New Zealand Herald, Air New Zealand gave the following statement: "We've never had flights between Mexico and the UK. And we only have Business Premier."
The airline then made a dig at Harry and Meghan via its Twitter account, with a tweet reading: "Introducing #SussexClass. Apparently coming soon."
Responses to the tweet were mixed. While some declared they 'loved' the dig, making numerous puns about 'spare' seats, others regarded it as simply 'petty'.
One person responded: "Wow, I had a really good impression of Air New Zealand until seeing this. Surprisingly petty. Gross." Another commented: "How unprofessional."
Another report in Stuff NZ came out in defence of Prince Harry's version of events, remarking that, up until the coronavirus pandemic, Air New Zealand used to run flights between Los Angeles and London.
As reported by this publication, the Duchess of Sussex could well have booked tickets through Air New Zealand from Mexico to London, with United Airlines (Air New Zealand’s Star Alliance partner) taking Thomas from Mexico to LA, where Air New Zealand would have then taken him onwards to Britain.
Therefore, this journey could have been booked through Air New Zealand, while appearing to be the same airline throughout. When it comes to the confusion over the 'first class' part of the booking, Stuff NZ noted that Meghan may well have booked the 'Business Premier' option, which sounds like a premium version of Business, or something comparable to first class.
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