Black Eyed Peas QF BNE to SYD incident

[Melburnian1]

Anyway, I was on QF513, a B787, BNE-SYD yesterday morning, seated in the centre of the front J cabin. Nothing of of any event happened in that area during the flight and the FAs were all male up the front.

On arrival into SYD at about 10.40am there was a slight delay in dis-embarking. Police escorted a person of similar description from the plane, ahead of other pax, and into the terminal.

Assuming that it’s the same pax, either he had been seated in the J mini-cabin or was up the back somewhere. Either way, I would not have been able to notice.

Do you think he was being 'escorted' because QFd or the airport wanted to avoid a media circus, or was he being 'arrested' because of his alleged unacceptable behaviour? Mind you, if his behaviour had been 'bad', QFd would have banned him from boarding another flight.

B789 VH-ZND was the aircraft, arriving eight minutes early at its gate at 1032.

 

[DC3]

Do you think he was being 'escorted' because QFd or the airport wanted to avoid a media circus, or was he being 'arrested' because of his alleged unacceptable behaviour? ...

Several police, with a group of Afro-Americans leaving the plane. Then, by-standers taking photos at the gate area. Nothing else.

Is William important enough to have a Police escort as a matter of course when in public?

 

[jb747]

Is William important enough to have a Police escort as a matter of course when in public?

Prince William, yes.

This William, no.

 

[DC3]

I noticed that a tweet by Wm says “... She sent the police after me ...”

Edit: ... and his fans are going crazy on Twitter.

 

[I love to travel]

Veronicas are alleging same FA is involved. Info on this about 3/4 way through tge article. Hmmmm........

Will.i.am accuses Qantas flight attendant of racism

Australian pop duo The Veronicas have weighed in on the drama surrounding Black Eyed Peas star will.i.am, who accused a Qantas flight attendant of racism after a tense incident on a flight from Brisbane to Sydney on Saturday.

www.news.com.au

 

[DC3]

Veronicas are alleging same FA is involved. Info on this about 3/4 way through tge article. Hmmmm........

Oh no. Now the dreaded Vs are getting onto this.

 

[drron]

So the Veronica's undermine Will i ams main complaint that the FA was racist.

 

[Melburnian1]

The gent has 12.8 million (not a mistake) followers on Twitter.

He's somehow found out her surname, then named and apparently photographed the flight attendant, who appears to be a CSM with QFi. One of her skills is allegedly in 'negotiation.'

I can see both sides of her being named, particularly since other passengers have come to the musician's defence and said the QFd's staff member's behaviour was unacceptable. Just where she's 'copping abuse' is not disclosed. Twitter?

Maybe the best way to approach it would have been to smile and politely ask the gent to remove his noise cancelling headphones, not act aggressively towards him after he didn't hear the PA announcement because he wore those.

 

[jb747]

Maybe the best way to approach it would have been to smile and politely ask the gent to remove his noise cancelling headphones.

And you know that she didn't do that?

Cabin crew have no means of calling the police....

 

[get me outta here]

None of this is great for Aus and QF.

 

[Melburnian1]

And you know that she didn't do that?

Cabin crew have no means of calling the police....

Neither of us were there, but at least two other passengers have claimed that this flight attendant didn't behave with decorum. Perhaps the two others have an axe to grind, but they appear to be separate complaints, which may lend credence to what they say.

Happy to be corrected, but if cabin crew give a biased, one sided description of what "occurred" to flight crew, then the latter may decide to call the police yet the "facts" aren't really as reported.

Whatever, given independent witnesses have basically confirmed what the hip hopper alleged, and no one has publicly come out to defend the flight attendant except the company QF PR staff, it's not a good look for QF, especially among a young demographic that follows these musicians.

There's a lot of online reviews suggesting that some QF staff are passive-aggressive, or sometimes just the latter. The staff ought always give their full names if requested, just as (though they don't) call centre staff ought.

One just doesn't see this in reviews of Asian airlines. Quite the reverse: the staff are unfailingly polite, even when passengers are unreasonable. The staff never lose their cool, and many have their full names (not just first) on a badge.

There will be occasions when calling the AFP or state police is warranted. Yet on other occasions, in what are civil matters between a provider of a service and a consumer, why should taxpayer-funded, expensive police resources be used to intimidate passengers who've done nothing wrong, and who in no way are a 'security risk?'

 

[samh004]

Maybe the best way to approach it would have been to smile and politely ask the gent to remove his noise cancelling headphones.

Different time, but recently I was flying QF and sitting in 14D (exit row) when a younger crew member came to provide the spiel to all those in row 13 and row 14 prior to the safety demo. The older gent in front of me was more interested in his reading material than giving up a minute (if that) of his time for the crew member. The crew member waited and then got his attention, to which the older gent took great offence to, exclaiming he could hear perfectly fine. A full and undivided attention talk later and the exit row instructions were done, before he then complained to the younger crew member and later in the flight the CSM. Some people have a chip on their shoulders sometimes. I don't believe he was threatening but in the moment it can get heated fast, over something trivial.

I don't doubt this started over something equally silly. I frequently wear noise cancelling headphones these days, like will.i.am. I have no idea if this FA has an equally sized chip on their shoulder, but it's easy for things to spiral. My only comment on this particular FA would be that if it is the same one that dealt with The Veronicas it would seem they reach for the police too quickly in disputes – notwithstanding the fact as @jb747 mentions that only the pilots can call ahead. Now, it's better to be safe than sorry, but it's not a good look if every time (and yes, there may have only been 2 occurrences) the FA escalates to the top. That's not defusing a situation and gets old fast.

 

[Melburnian1]

...I frequently wear noise cancelling headphones these days, like will.i.am....

Do yours cancel out so much noise that you couldn't hear a PA announcement at all (assuming the plane lacked a visual cue such as a notice interrupting one's IFE monitor viewing?)

 

[TheInsider]

There's a lot of online reviews suggesting that some QF staff are passive-aggressive, or sometimes just the latter. The staff ought always give their full names if requested, just as (though they don't) call centre staff ought.

Why should they? There have been cases where staff have been stalked by passengers that i'm aware of (this is due to a surname being visible on an ASIC (which BTW isn't there for passengers writing down names)).

 

[Franky]

Do yours cancel out so much noise that you couldn't hear a PA announcement at all (assuming the plane lacked a visual cue such as a notice interrupting one's IFE monitor viewing?)

I did see in an early report that he was also on his laptop 'doing a beat", whatever that is, so would not have seen or heard an interruption by a PA.

 

[Melburnian1]

Why should they? There have been cases where staff have been stalked by passengers that i'm aware of (this is due to a surname being visible on an ASIC (which BTW isn't there for passengers writing down names)).

For at least five reasons:

1. Basic (Christian or just commonsense) courtesy. What's good for the goose...

2. Staff (including you) have our full details (including in some cases access to 'sensitive' items such as dates of birth, occupations and email addresses), so why shouldn't we be at least have your first name and surname? If staff are going to behave in a completely unacceptable manner to harmless passengers on any conveyance, why shouldn't they be as accountable as badly behaving passengers are?

3. On some airlines on which I've been, the captain, first officer or other flight crew member making a PA welcome announcement prefaces it with 'good morning, this is First Officer Boris Smith from the flight deck...' or similar, so if they have no objection to giving out their surnames, why do cabin crew or (to use the USA term) 'gate agents' on QF seemingly have such reluctance, or treat it as a 'security issue' when someone asks for their surname?

4. I and many others have always given out our full names to numerous individuals we've dealt with, and in in completely different sectors to aviation, it's led to the very occasional death threat, or more commonly, complaints (some of which are justified, and others frivolous or exaggerated, but that's life.) This hasn't meant refusing to disclose full names, because anyone who really wants to can - eventually - find this out any way, although perhaps not as quickly as the hip hopper did.

5. A failure to disclose these very basic details gives one the impression it's to make complaints harder to pursue, or to allow staff to get away with unacceptable behaviour more easily.

That said, I'm mystified how the hip hopper found out the lady FA's surname so expeditiously.

 

[zenyattamondatta]

Getting into trouble for not obeying crew instructions? Yes!!

TL;dr version: Entitled celebrity thought he was above everyone else and didn't need to obey the rules. Got caught out and whined about it. (Yawn)

tl;dr version of this thread: someone whined about being pulled up for their lack of general awareness and good manners, but many people just can't stop grinding their axes about QF.

 

[DC3]

This thread could end up getting more posts than the big Vs...... and they were Ambassadors.

 

[Forg]

Oh, it’s spelled ‘pea’ not ‘pee’ ... that’s a lot less [their concept of] edgy than I thought they were attempting to be.

 

[samh004]

Do yours cancel out so much noise that you couldn't hear a PA announcement at all (assuming the plane lacked a visual cue such as a notice interrupting one's IFE monitor viewing?)

No, but then it varies. Sometimes using the QF headphones for IFE makes it very hard to hear announcements and taking them off works better. If I notice a PA I usually pause my music to see what it's about. I never have them in my ear for the safety demo, but do so afterwards. I take them out when being served food/drinks.

Etc...