Catch22
01-07-2004, 02:51 AM
Terror toilet ban requires tact: govt
A US demand for airline passengers to be banned from queuing for the toilet would need to be handled sensibly by Qantas, acting Prime Minister John Anderson said.
Qantas said it began informing passengers on Tuesday night about the toilet queue ban but it was too early yet to gauge customer reaction.
"The US Transport Security Administration are now requiring that passengers on flights to the US are not to congregate in groups in any areas of the aircraft, especially around the lavatories," a Qantas spokeswoman said.
Mr Anderson said the directive seemed a bit hard to handle, but he was sure Qantas would handle it tactfully.
"I guess what the US authorities are looking for is any kind of suspicious congregation of behaviour that might be in some way related to, you know, preparing for something nasty to launch an attack on a plane or something like that," he told Sky News.
"This is going to require a bit of commonsense and a bit of tact.
"I wouldn't want to overreact, but I'd have to say as the reports at the moment I have to say do sound a little bit hard to handle.
"And certainly I think that Qantas will handle it well, to give them their due."
Qantas is advising passengers during the safety instructions and the pilot's first public address of the toilet restrictions.
The airline would monitor the situation and had not yet formulated any additional arrangements for passengers seated a long way from the closest toilet, the spokeswoman said.
The US had not specified the potential threat posed by toilet crowding, she said.
Qantas was also continuing to liaise with the federal government about US demands for armed sky marshals to fly on selected America-bound flights although no start date had been specified, she said.
Australia's aviation security came under question with a report that a 73-year-old woman accidentally carrying a knife in her bag went undetected through Sydney and Brisbane airports before she was picked up at the Queensland regional airport of Rockhampton last week.
Edna Wilson, from Wagga Wagga, NSW, always carried an ivory-handled butter knife in her handbag, her son, Keith Wilson, said.
"Let's just hope all the terrorists are coming through Rocky -- that's all I can say," Mr Wilson said.
Mr Anderson also said he was not concerned by a report that almost one third of foreign cargo ships entered and left Australia without passport checks being carried out by Customs authorities.
He said security procedures were already in place to deal with visiting ships and these would be strengthened when new International Maritime Organisation (IMO) counter-terrorism security standards come into effect on July 1.
A US demand for airline passengers to be banned from queuing for the toilet would need to be handled sensibly by Qantas, acting Prime Minister John Anderson said.
Qantas said it began informing passengers on Tuesday night about the toilet queue ban but it was too early yet to gauge customer reaction.
"The US Transport Security Administration are now requiring that passengers on flights to the US are not to congregate in groups in any areas of the aircraft, especially around the lavatories," a Qantas spokeswoman said.
Mr Anderson said the directive seemed a bit hard to handle, but he was sure Qantas would handle it tactfully.
"I guess what the US authorities are looking for is any kind of suspicious congregation of behaviour that might be in some way related to, you know, preparing for something nasty to launch an attack on a plane or something like that," he told Sky News.
"This is going to require a bit of commonsense and a bit of tact.
"I wouldn't want to overreact, but I'd have to say as the reports at the moment I have to say do sound a little bit hard to handle.
"And certainly I think that Qantas will handle it well, to give them their due."
Qantas is advising passengers during the safety instructions and the pilot's first public address of the toilet restrictions.
The airline would monitor the situation and had not yet formulated any additional arrangements for passengers seated a long way from the closest toilet, the spokeswoman said.
The US had not specified the potential threat posed by toilet crowding, she said.
Qantas was also continuing to liaise with the federal government about US demands for armed sky marshals to fly on selected America-bound flights although no start date had been specified, she said.
Australia's aviation security came under question with a report that a 73-year-old woman accidentally carrying a knife in her bag went undetected through Sydney and Brisbane airports before she was picked up at the Queensland regional airport of Rockhampton last week.
Edna Wilson, from Wagga Wagga, NSW, always carried an ivory-handled butter knife in her handbag, her son, Keith Wilson, said.
"Let's just hope all the terrorists are coming through Rocky -- that's all I can say," Mr Wilson said.
Mr Anderson also said he was not concerned by a report that almost one third of foreign cargo ships entered and left Australia without passport checks being carried out by Customs authorities.
He said security procedures were already in place to deal with visiting ships and these would be strengthened when new International Maritime Organisation (IMO) counter-terrorism security standards come into effect on July 1.