Black Eyed Peas QF BNE to SYD incident

[Melburnian1]

'Black Eyed Peas' was once a QF dish but it is also a name for a group:

Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am accuses Qantas flight attendant of racism

Rapper will.i.am has been met by police at Sydney Airport after clashing with a Qantas flight attendant he says was "racist" and "beyond rude".

www.sbs.com.au

I am obviously missing something, but could AFFers please explain the Peter Ford tweet included within the above article? I can't understand what he is saying. Is he defending the female QFd flight attendant?

Were any AFF members aboard this flight?

 

[drron]

I felt he was trying to find a witness of the incident.
But he didn't follow a crew direction as he had noise cancelling head phones on.The tassie news followed with a repeat of the Veronica's incident.All very precious people.

 

[Forg]

Don’t they know who he am?!

 

[samas112]

The tassie news followed with a repeat of the Veronica's incident.All very precious people.

It does seem a bit odd that Qantas is the thing in common with both of these events. Does this sort of thing happen on other airlines?

 

[RooFlyer]

Does this sort of thing happen on other airlines?

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)

 

[Melburnian1]

I felt he was trying to find a witness of the incident....

drron, you may have misunderstood me.

In the article, there's a tweet featured not from the gent who alleges 'racism' but from one Peter Ford (who from memory may be some entertainment reporter.)

The latter's tweet seemed to me to be in 'double Dutch.' That's the bit about which I was wanting an explanation.

 

[RooFlyer]

The latter's tweet seemed to me to be in 'double Dutch.' That's the bt about which I was wanting an explanation.

Honestly, a 'Tweet' from anyone, at anytime isn't worth worrying about. But that one was either posted in the wrong thread (is that what they are called), or a reproof to the OT(weeter). Who cares?

 

[Melburnian1]

It does seem a bit odd that Qantas is the thing in common with both of these events. Does this sort of thing happen on other airlines?

If it does, it rarely if ever appears to be publicised.

This may indicate (a) celebrities only travel on QFd/ QGFi - unlikely

(b) QFd staff can be aggressive and confrontational, or passive aggressive, instead of polite - possible

(c) the media only considers incidents on QFd/QFi newsworthy so these ones get blown up - possible.

 

[drron]

Peter Ford tweeted to Will i am that he was trying to get the seat number of a person who should have had a direct view of the incident was how i interpreted the tweet.

 

[zenyattamondatta]

If it does, it rarely if ever appears to be publicised.

This may indicate (a) celebrities only travel on QFd/ QGFi - unlikely

(b) QFd staff can be aggressive and confrontational, or passive aggressive, instead of polite - possible

(c) the media only considers incidents on QFd/QFi newsworthy so these ones get blown up - possible.

(d) you give further oxygen to a non-story

For someone so repetitively critical of crappy media coverage, you seem to spend a lot of time propagating crappy media coverage.

Or as the Black Eyed Peas put it:

And when you hate then you're bound to get irate, yeah
Madness is what you demonstrate
And that's exactly how anger works and operates

 

[DC3]

I’m somehow being reminded of two sisters called Veronica(s).

 

[juddles]

If it does, it rarely if ever appears to be publicised.

This may indicate (a) celebrities only travel on QFd/ QGFi - unlikely

(b) QFd staff can be aggressive and confrontational, or passive aggressive, instead of polite - possible

(c) the media only considers incidents on QFd/QFi newsworthy so these ones get blown up - possible.

"If it does, it rarely if ever appears to be publicised" : You mean publicised in the Australian media? In a small country with only one real airline, this is perhaps to be expected. What do you think the reader-interest would be here if the story was about a Bolivian band flying Fenca Air? Of course it would be zero.

As far as your alternatives, let me see....

(a) I think that within Australia celebrities choose Qantas always as first choice. Because it is Australia's only real airline. And any decent celebrity has "minders" - professionals who try to keep the little darling stars out of too much trouble. In a country with only one real airline, and a small backup, it is obvious that any decent minder would send their fickle charges on QF first. Because if they misbehave there is always the option of quietly moving them on Virgin, where they know they will keep their heads down in shame. If they sent them on VA first, they know that any incident will prevent them from flying the real airline too.

(b) I love this scenario you put forward - and again it reaffirms my point about Qantas being our only real airline. YES! EXACTLY! Qantas staff have the proverbial "balls" to use these specific tools to deal with the "W from WP"s. Good on them! As a non-celebrity, I live for the day I am on a plane where there are celebrity idiots aboard when the QF staff get very aggressive and confrontational with them. I am certain that all the other pax want exactly this!

(c) as per the start, australian media is obviously QF focussed - they know in advance that exactly the same story about anything aviation will get 10 times as much interest if it relates to QF rather than the sideshow of VA. These days VA has to pull off something absolutely spectacular to get noticed. A minor crack in a QF airframe is equivalent to an uncontained engine explosion on VA. That is just how it is....

 

[Maca44]

will.i.am just doesn't fit the 'Bill'

 

[Melburnian1]

...(a) I think that within Australia celebrities choose Qantas always as first choice. Because it is Australia's only real airline....

(b) I love this scenario you put forward - and again it reaffirms my point about Qantas being our only real airline. YES! EXACTLY! Qantas staff have the proverbial "balls" to use these specific tools to deal with the "W from WP"s...

When I've travelled with it, VA has been a 'real' not a 'virtual' airline. I've got from A to B. If VA ceases to exist because of not just its own mistakes but because you or others won't support it even when it offers a competitive alternative, everyone in Oz who travels by air will pay higher fares.

Unfortunately some - not 'all' - QF staff are also passive-aggressive to other (non celebrity) travellers, sometimes when it's not warranted. Read Google or other online reviews...

 

[Melburnian1]

...For someone so repetitively critical of crappy media coverage, you seem to spend a lot of time propagating crappy media coverage...

In this case, it's emerged that other passengers (unconnected to this group) apparently claim that the behaviour of QFd cabin crew was not great.

If true, it may not be just another media beat-up.

 

[drron]

Except that the celeb himself admitted he was wearing noise cancelling headphones and didn't hear the FA.Common decency would suggest you removed them if someone was talking to you.

 

[DC3]

It does seem a bit odd that Qantas is the thing in common with both of these events. Does this sort of thing happen on other airlines?

Odd, meaning ...?

Edit: The only thing odd is probably these “stars/celebs”

 

[jb747]

I carried many celebs over the years. The vast majority were quite pleasant people. As a general rule, the more important they were, the nicer they were. The absolute worst were either sportsmen (never women) and people from the music industry.

Minders were on another level of precious entirely.

 

[Melburnian1]

... The absolute worst... people from the music industry...

Looking at online reports, this in particular seems to be a repeated theme.

 

[DC3]

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.