Qantas ejection of Sikh youth makes pre-flight security pointless

The ejection of a turban-wearing Indian from a Qantas flight out of Queenstown for security reasons is more than just an affront to the man and his fellow Sikhs.
It’s a big fat vote of no confidence by Qantas in Queenstown Airport’s pre-flight security checks.
Harminder Singh Mavi, the 20-year-old Sikh who was three weeks into his first job at Queenstown’s Copthorne Hotel, went through exactly the same pre-flight checks as the rest of the passengers.
The only difference, it seems, was he used the aircraft loo before the flight took off.
He says he was in there five minutes maximum. Another passenger, who prefers to remain anonymous, agrees with that time and says the front door of the plane was still open.
Glenorchy Air’s chief pilot Robert Rutherford – another passenger – estimates it was more like seven or eight minutes but says he’d have done the same as Qantas: kicked Mavi off.
Rutherford argues his decision would have had nothing to do with race, but the fact he felt the weather was closing in and the plane needed to leave sooner rather than later.
Irrespective of all this quibble over how long Mavi spent in the can taking a leak and adjusting his turban, Qantas says it kicked Mavi off for behaviour that “concerned our staff”.
Mavi himself says passengers were talking about how “uncomfortable” they felt with him on board.
So what’s the point of spending all the money on security technology and putting passengers through the rigmarole of security procedures and removing pocket knives, knitting needles and bottles of perfume when obviously no one trusts the process anyway – not the passengers, the airline staff, nor the captain.
If they did trust Queenstown Airport security procedures, there would have been no reason to kick Mavi off the plane.
22/03/07 Ryan Keen/Scene

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Categories: Foreign Mar 2007, Safety Mar 2007