19 Apr Security breach hits flights at Sydney Airport

Status
Not open for further replies.
As for airport workers. Aren't they subject to security vetting?

Worked for 5 years at an airport in Europe and we didn't have to pass security to get from parking lot on to an aircraft. After I left there was a big TV investigation and they installed security for staff.
 
Dimwits. A whole 7 pax missed the xray machine. So what?
We used to xray/screen no-one and nothing ever happened then.
Rather than acceptable risk, they run by absolute rules.

This has cost a lost of money, for zero gain, and someone needs to loose their job for
'cover thy cough' decision making, especially as airport workers are NOT screened.

What if one of those 7 pax had actually caused a problem to sneak something on?

Whilst I am the first to think security often gets it wrong, the decision to clear the terminal and re-screen was the right one.

No, we're not a hot bed of international terrorism, but we have had a few nutbags in the past try to hi-jack planes (one was post sept 11, that nutbag from memory was lucky to leave the plane alive after the pax got him)

All that said, I wish I could say I can't believe the curfew wasn't lifted for this obviously unusual and unforseeable event, but I know how ridged they treat that thing... :evil:
 
Elevate your business spending to first-class rewards! Sign up today with code AFF10 and process over $10,000 in business expenses within your first 30 days to unlock 10,000 Bonus PayRewards Points.
Join 30,000+ savvy business owners who:

✅ Pay suppliers who don’t accept Amex
✅ Max out credit card rewards—even on government payments
✅ Earn & transfer PayRewards Points to 10+ airline & hotel partners

Start earning today!
- Pay suppliers who don’t take Amex
- Max out credit card rewards—even on government payments
- Earn & Transfer PayRewards Points to 8+ top airline & hotel partners

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

Worked for 5 years at an airport in Europe and we didn't have to pass security to get from parking lot on to an aircraft. After I left there was a big TV investigation and they installed security for staff.

A couple of years ago I did some work at SYD, if you went down certain corridors you'd have to go through security, however go down others there was no security between landside \ airside (of course you'd need a swipe card to get the door open)... So of course we'd only go down the security corridors if there was an actual reason for doing so...
 
Worked for 5 years at an airport in Europe and we didn't have to pass security to get from parking lot on to an aircraft. After I left there was a big TV investigation and they installed security for staff.

But you had to get a security clearance or background check before they gave you a pass? Background check is what I mean by security vetting, not being xrayed each day. Sorry for being unclear.

Edit: this is what I mean. You need other/extra checks in order to get the swipe card.

(of course you'd need a swipe card to get the door open)...
 
No Australia certainly isn't a hotbed of international terrorism... how many millions fly each year and how many incidents do you hear of apart from drunken idiots?

Some guy tried to get to the passenger coughpit a few years ago stabbing some fork into the head of some QF male flight attendant and causign a kerfuffle, i think he was a bit nutso rather than having any real hope of making it to the coughpit...

But short of someone having a bomb on them (which i can't control), if any passenger got up near me with some razor or box cutters or cutlery of whatever and started causing trouble i'm going to smack the ^%$^ out of them, won't have to wait for the FAs.. i'd like to think in a post 9/11 world you'd have the backing of half the cabin to take care of the trouble maker, but many people can be cowards... so no matter i would be more than happy to deal with them rather than cower in my seat...

So again, i'd be happy to let the 7 people on my flight just to save all the "empty the terminal" cough knowing the risk was absolutely near zero... the proviso is if they caused any trouble they'd be in for it... but if it was a problem with the machine the screeners would no it was no subterfuge on the part of passengers trying to slip through and only the operators own incompetence that let them through....
 
Not sure if anyone else heard Allan Kessing on ABC Conversations on 4th April 2011 (available online). He had very strong views on the success of airport screenings- enough to say he would have thought yesterdays rescreenings & delays were a waste of time.
Has anyone tracked a concise account of how the people actually avoided screening yesterday? All I have seen is that there was an electric failure
 
No Australia certainly isn't a hotbed of international terrorism... how many millions fly each year and how many incidents do you hear of apart from drunken idiots?

There was of course, the Mr Brown extortion incident in 1971. Which would be perfect for a situation where security screening didn't occur. Anyway, in this day and age it is not acceptable risk mitigation to say "she'll be right" the passengers will deal with any problem. Stand up in court and defend your duty of care obligations on that one.

BTW the TV this morning said it was 16 unscreened passengers. Also 16 in the Australian.
 
Has anyone tracked a concise account of how the people actually avoided screening yesterday? All I have seen is that there was an electric failure

My assumption is that power to a walk through metal detector failed and no one noticed for a while. Says a lot about the QC of security staff.
 
My assumption is that power to a walk through metal detector failed and no one noticed for a while. Says a lot about the QC of security staff.

Normally when I walk through a machine I look up and see a light on the machine, didn’t anyone notice nothing was flashing… well we know they must not have, until about 16 pax went through.
 
Normally when I walk through a machine I look up and see a light on the machine, didn’t anyone notice nothing was flashing… well we know they must not have, until about 16 pax went through.

It is only my assumption but if that really happened with all the flashing lights, or not noticing the lack thereof, the quality control of security must be appalling. A big reason I would accept the comments of Allan kessing at face value.
 
I suppose a more sophisticated band of terrorists may try to bypass security by organising the power to be killed. Hence supposedly forcing everyone out to be sure and rescreened could've been necessitated.

I doubt that Sydney Airport or the electricity company would be able to use that "hypothetical" defence, though!

Now needless to say how they made sure everyone who was airside was taken out of airside back to landside (e.g. and not disappeared into another area, or decided to hide in the loos / a garbage bin) is different, and although I don't know if they were thorough in checking I have my doubts as to whether security staff earnestly checked this properly.
 
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but every time I have ever gone through a checkpoint, there is a guard watching me walk thru the metal detector, they look up to see the green light once I've walked thru. Surely if no light came on as the guard looked up, he would raise an alarm?

Or, have a small battery that starts a siren when the metal detector's power is cut. But thats bringing out the IT guy in me.
 
Liam - same here.

Still, I can think of days where half of the staff are laughing with one another and talking about weekend. Last time I was in Sydney one of the female guards was telling a male one he should not be working at the airport but be a model instead. Now I am not disagreeing with her sentiment (I am sure he was very aesthetically pleasing in that 'Look at me. I am pouting. I am shirtless holding a saxophone. Shop at the Gap" kind of way) but it all seemed too jovial. Don't get me wrong - I hate when people at my workplace do the same around the cubicles Work is for work. Especially when you are front of house. Especially when airline/airport security is involved. Whether real or public-perceived - there are dangers and a thorough security check, whilst annoying as hell gives us a sense of ... well... security.

I have no problems with airports rescreening and ensuring safety. Sounds lame, but there is a tiny (admittedly very tiny) possibility that the screen was shut off for the sole reason of getting people through. It would not be unheard of to hear of such news. For those people who are manly enough to take the risk to allow whomever onto an aeroplane, and step up themselves if the need arose - congratulations on your balls of steel. I am not like you. I fly a lot (no where near any of you good people) and I am a nervous flyer each time. The last thing I want is to think that there was minimal security to get on board. I would be the man who the stewards had to slap across the face, rather than the hero who saved the day. *Cue music: Believe it or not I'm walking on air...*"

Had airport security been lax(er) (as some people suggest it should/could) and they found a gentleman/woman with explosives in their shoes, or a nut-job with a knife (or tweezers apparently!) who wanted to cause in-flight havok, or perhaps a religious zealot who wanted to fly their plane to their homeland of Twinkleland (wherever) we would all be up in arms about how the airport/airlines don't do enough to protect public safety. I would rather travel on a system that annoys me and my fellow pax, but gives us the luxury of complacency and thinking that we aren't a hotbed of terrorism.

Remember, it's not terrorists only - it's wankers too. The guy who threw his child off the Westgate Bridge, or people who throw bricks off of motorpasses are not doing so in the name of Allah, Jehovah, Jesus, Buddah, Vishnu or even Rumplestiltskin - but coz they are ###### in the head - we need to keep some sort of vigilance in our society. It for the very least - to help me sleep of an evening ;)

And well, my rant is over. Who can tell I haven't slept tonight?

Nice.
 
Liam - me too

TV has just said someone walked passed and accidentally kicked out the power cord. This was noticed until 2 armed police walked through and didn't set off the detector.
 
Sydney Airport is brain dead. Personal accountability is dead.

I stand corrected - the count went up to 16 passengers.
And there is nearly confirmation that workers can trot from the carpark to the plane unsearched. Sure you need some vetting, but many have/had minor criminal histories such as on 'roids and substance abuse. And even if they have fixed this hole, the practically of what moves in and out means a degree of risk.

The PR spun by Sydney Airport said 'Sydney Airport' had decided to re-screen pax.
Sorry - chunks of concrete and glass do not make decisions, and saying a spokeman/woman/person are just as insulting. Kicking the powerpoint story - call me skeptical - I don't buy it.

Stop right here - people make decisions. Who was it, was their job title?
I want to know if they had discretion. Did Sydney Airport stand to PROFIT from this decision? You bet.

Casanovawa is correct - boils down to Risk Vs Efficiency. There are security layers,
so a slight fault in one(screening) should not have been an issue.You name and profile has already been electronically risk matched.16 people divided by (number in T2 over 30 years) divide number of domestic events - I think we are in negligible territory.

And to all the 'security wowsers' watch this YouTube - 6 Year Old Girl Groped By TSA 6 year old girl searched.
When you make stupid hard and fast 'rules - everyone hates and disrespects the process. Same for the Curfew - its not supposed to be absolute.

That the papers won't print names and faces to decisions . This needs to change.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Become an AFF member!

Join Australian Frequent Flyer (AFF) for free and unlock insider tips, exclusive deals, and global meetups with 65,000+ frequent flyers.

AFF members can also access our Frequent Flyer Training courses, and upgrade to Fast-track your way to expert traveller status and unlock even more exclusive discounts!

AFF forum abbreviations

Wondering about Y, J or any of the other abbreviations used on our forum?

Check out our guide to common AFF acronyms & abbreviations.
Back
Top