There are certain things you make sure you take with you on a flight, and others you make sure you don’t. ID? Yes. Bottled Water? No. Book? Sure, why not. Crossbow? Leave it at home with the others. But sometimes, as we all know, we forget what exactly we’ve placed where. That’s why there are helpful signs listing the dos and don’ts of modern air travel at airport security. And when even that’s not enough, flight attendants are there to pick up the slack. As a recent flight in Australia shows, however, there are appropriateness limits when it comes to a flight attendant doing you a solid.
This is one of those instances, according to “the man.” On a Jetstar Airways flight in Australia over the weekend a helpful member of the cabin crew took to the inflight P.A. system to issue this announcement to a planeful of passengers, many of which were on their way home from a weekend music festival. (via the Associated Press)
“We have been told there are sniffer dogs and quarantine officers waiting in the domestic terminal,” Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph newspaper on Wednesday quoted the attendant as telling passengers via the Airbus A320’s public address system. “If you need to dispose of anything you shouldn’t have, we suggest you flush it now,” he added. The newspaper said the warning prompted passengers to rush for the toilets. Jetstar spokesman Stephen Moynihan confirmed the newspaper report was accurate. He said the public response to the announcement had been “mixed…” One passenger told the newspaper several passengers suddenly made for the toilets with “things clenched in their hands.”
The airline later apologized—presumably to the passengers on board who weren’t carrying drugs. “The crew member’s words were poorly chosen and are plainly at odds with the professional standards we’d expect from our team,” Jetstar said in a statement. “We apologize to customers offended by the comments.”
