Point0Five
10th Jan 2006, 21:35
Qantas boss frisked as suspect
From:
January 11, 2006
Suspect ... Margaret Jackson was carrying aircraft schematics. Picture: Drew Fitzgibbon (File) QANTAS chairman Margaret Jackson was suspected of being a terrorist and frisked during a visit to the US last year.
The airport security guard who checked her was reluctant to believe that a woman could be the head of an airline.
Mrs Jackson said yesterday her briefcase was searched after she went through a security check at Los Angeles airport.
Among her documents were detailed plans of new aircraft, including cross-section diagrams showing seat layouts.
"The guy said 'Why have you got all of this?'," she told the Herald Sun.
"And I said, 'I'm the chairman of an airline. I'm the chairman of Qantas'. And this black guy, who was, like, eight foot tall, said, 'But you're a woman'."
Mrs Jackson revealed the incident yesterday in Beijing during a media conference to promote Qantas' new direct flights between Australia and Beijing. She raised it after a Chinese journalist complained that airport security at Australian airports was the most strict after the US.
Mrs Jackson, who was travelling with her husband, said her LA experience took about an hour.
After proving her identity, Mrs Jackson produced paper with her letterhead on it and wrote a note to the guard, whose name was Bill.
"And I wrote, 'Dear Bill, this is from the chairman of Qantas, who is a woman'."
Qantas will resume flights to Beijing after pulling out of the market in the late 1990s because of low bookings.
But tourism and business links with China are booming and more than two million Chinese are expected to visit Australia annually by 2025.
Qantas is operating three flights a week between Beijing and Sydney, but this is expected to increase to daily within two years.
Direct services from Melbourne will be considered later depending on demand.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17789670-2,00.html
From:
January 11, 2006
Suspect ... Margaret Jackson was carrying aircraft schematics. Picture: Drew Fitzgibbon (File) QANTAS chairman Margaret Jackson was suspected of being a terrorist and frisked during a visit to the US last year.
The airport security guard who checked her was reluctant to believe that a woman could be the head of an airline.
Mrs Jackson said yesterday her briefcase was searched after she went through a security check at Los Angeles airport.
Among her documents were detailed plans of new aircraft, including cross-section diagrams showing seat layouts.
"The guy said 'Why have you got all of this?'," she told the Herald Sun.
"And I said, 'I'm the chairman of an airline. I'm the chairman of Qantas'. And this black guy, who was, like, eight foot tall, said, 'But you're a woman'."
Mrs Jackson revealed the incident yesterday in Beijing during a media conference to promote Qantas' new direct flights between Australia and Beijing. She raised it after a Chinese journalist complained that airport security at Australian airports was the most strict after the US.
Mrs Jackson, who was travelling with her husband, said her LA experience took about an hour.
After proving her identity, Mrs Jackson produced paper with her letterhead on it and wrote a note to the guard, whose name was Bill.
"And I wrote, 'Dear Bill, this is from the chairman of Qantas, who is a woman'."
Qantas will resume flights to Beijing after pulling out of the market in the late 1990s because of low bookings.
But tourism and business links with China are booming and more than two million Chinese are expected to visit Australia annually by 2025.
Qantas is operating three flights a week between Beijing and Sydney, but this is expected to increase to daily within two years.
Direct services from Melbourne will be considered later depending on demand.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17789670-2,00.html