Qantas admits Arab 'terror' blunder
 

News.com

Qantas admits Arab 'terror' blunder
September 29, 2003

QANTAS admitted Monday that its cabin staff delayed a flight because they thought four Arabs travelling as guests of Australia's national air force might be terrorists.

Flight attendants on a domestic flight from Sydney to Perth raised the alarm after seeing three of the men sit in business class and a fourth in economy, an airline spokeswoman said.

Four flight attendants were concerned the passengers might be a security threat, and refused to allow the aircraft to take off. The airline was forced to replace the cabin crew and the plane left 69 minutes late.

Airline chief executive Geoff Dixon was furious and wanted the attendants dismissed, the Australian Financial Review reported. However, the Qantas spokeswoman said they still had their jobs.

The four men were from the United Arab Emirates. They apparently attracted suspicion because of their looks and the fact they were speaking a foreign language. The incident occurred earlier this month.

A Department of Defence spokeswoman said the four men were air force personnel who were in Australia to discuss air force to air force cooperation. They were travelling with an Australian military official at the time.

"They were here on an official visit at the invitation of the chief of the air force," the spokeswoman said.

Agence France-Presse

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I would have been suspicious also. QF should have informed the crew beforehand they were air force personnel and this misunderstanding would not have happened.

Quite bloody right Qantarse everyone speaking anything but english should be made to walk! Except for the Irish they maybe IRA (and its no really english is it).:}

Probabaly trying to see what all the fuss was with the comparison between Qantas and Emirates.

At least Emirates don't worry too much about carrying Ozmates.

halas

Considering the standard of service on Qantas and what the UAE boys would have been used to flying Emirates, maybe they would have been happy to have been offloaded :E

I understand that the guys were wearing inappropriate shirts which made reference to "pilot training" and "jihad". Apparently there were communications "problems".

Everyone makes their own decision, but in this case the FA's decided to walk. No mention has been made of the replacement crew, or the Tech crew. Wonder what happened there?

I don't know anything about the incident so I am not making any presumptions but this is at least partly caused by the ridiculous media coverage of terrorism and all the beat-up associated with it. Because of their way in reporting and sensationalism the average westerner is starting to associate any arabs with terrorists or the like. Unfortunately thats what you get with a completely biased media here in Australia especially commercial networks, its a brainwashing of its citizens subvertly. This is just my general opinion, its not speciafically at this incident, although these sorts of things are a result.

Maybe the security training that QF flight attendants receive is inappropriate?

Wonder what the skipper had to say about it at the time?

Tshirts that made reference to "Pilot taining AND jihad"?Where do you get them? :confused:

halas

Where do you get the Tshirts?

Is it too cynical to suggest RAAF?,USAF?,RAF?

AoA Spot on:ok:

The state of the western world at the beginning of the millenium "Hypnotised & Hysterical"

It does my heart good to hear that this is the sort of quality opposition EK faces in the Oz market.

"They apparently attracted suspicion because of their looks and the fact they were speaking a foreign language."

Fancy that on an international airline! Geez what will we see next. Soon there will be Vietnemese food in Cabramatta and Italians dining out on pasta in Lygon street. It wont be long and the F/A union will be asking George W for a couple of tactical strikes to put all these suspicious foreigners in their place.

I hope they get the same treatment here, should QF ever gather the courage to compete with us over the same routes!

Oh and by the way, it sounds a little bit suspicious that these guys would be wearing evocative motifs on their T-shirts if they were travelling on Military business and accompanied by an Oz airforce official.

If GD can't, or wont, discipline these F/A's then it is a sad indication of where QF is headed.

Cop U Later

The Rev

Well,stereotyping individuals with looks and appearances seems to be the order of the day these 'terrorised' days just like u can spot an OZ dancing barefooted in a London upmarket club

It's good though that the QF flight attendant group are privy to identifying any member associated with the (In a forboding voice) "Axis of Evil" !!!!

These sus blokes had obviously sampled QF service before, and maybe the flight attendants didn't get it, as these punters were deliberately hamming it up by being foreign and speaking funny:}

halas

Qantas - Airline Action
 

"Crew Replaced for refusing to fly Arabs"

Sydney (Reuters) Australian airline Qantas replaced four crew who refused to fly because they were suspicious of four Arab passengers who turned out to be VIP guests of the country's air force.
Qantas airways has admitted the incident - which media said enraged chief executive Geoff Dixon - but only said the crew was now being "counselled". Dixon has not commented on the incident publicly.
The goof up happened early this month when four Gulf Citizens boarded a flight from Sydney to Perth - three in business class and one in economy.
"They were in Australia on an official visit at the invitation of chief of the air force," a spokeswoman for the Australian defence department said. Despite being accompanied by a Royal Australian Air Force officer, the delegation alarmed the four crew members.
The plane finally departed more than an hour behind schedule after a new crew was called up, an Australian newspaper said.

Given that every successful act of terrorism seems to have been committed by a male or males of middle eastern appearance and in the 30 to 40 yr age group, going back as far as PanAm , Lockerbie, and that airport security targets little old ladies and any one not of male, 30/40 yr middle eastern appearance, I don't see any problem with the F/A's being concerned with having a group of them on their flight.

Wasn't this the scenario on Sept 11 ?

Personally, I would have had serious concerns and would have eliminated my personal risk factor by opting out of that flight for a later one.

In this life we all make our own calls, and I have no problem with that of the crew on this flight.

perhaps the gentlemen concerned may have been a bit more sensitive to the image and fears that their neighbours have engendered over the years.

I'm quite sure that El Al management may have been more supportive of the intuition of their cabin staff.

Perhaps the gentlemen may have dressed as Air Force officers instead of emulating the classic terrorist profile and avoided the concern they caused.

I'm not from Sydney or Melbourne, just live in an Anglo Saxon part of Australia, and perhaps that influences me a little as well.

The public knowlwdge of this incident is:

4 pax, 3 business, 1 ecomony of the dreadedME appearance
They know one another
Tshirts with nasty things on them

Good reason for questions which shows initially

They are accompaned by a RAAF Officer

Next it is established, (and assume very quickly) who they are and who paid for the tickets

But the trolly dollys know best and behave as normally thinkings that the real checks don't mean anything. and they can be even more offensive

Baltic Exchange...
Canary Wharf...
Warrington...
Omagh...
Sundry incidents in the Basque country..

Yeah, loads of Arabs involved in those....

And don't forget that very "Arabic" Timothy McVey!!

Sounds like the Qantas mistake was in not backing up the pilot.

Mainframe are you serious? Sure we make our own calls in life, and the crew did just that. They decided that being cabin crew for a national carrier was not for them.. Qantas advertises all around the world for people to visit Oz and fly on their crap airline. It is not good enough for crew to then decide not to fly with them. Be security aware indeed, voice your concerns, have the checks done then get on with it. I they can't handle that then open a coffee shop in Paddo.