When "Bomb" was found written on the toilet wall with an arrow pointing to a waste receptacle on QF2, QF staff were told by head office to wipe the word of the wall. QF2 from Bangkok was about 90 minutes from SYD when a passenger told a Flight attendent of the threat. The Flight crew then contacted QF Security over the radio and were told to rub the word off the wall. On arrival at SYD the flight was meet by three female ground crew instead of Security and the Federal Police. After 30 minutes of waiting the passengers were allowed to disembark after it was obvious that security was not going to come.

Headline Qantas Wipes Off 'Bomb'
Date September 8th, 2004
Source The Australian - Steve Creedy



Qantas Wipes Off 'Bomb'



WHEN the word "bomb" was found written in an aircraft toilet with an arrow pointing to a waste receptacle, Qantas officials told attendants on the Sydney -bound flight to try to remove the word. The Qantas approach contrasted with United Airlines' decision to backtrack almost 1000km and evacuate passengers because of worries that "BOB" could stand for "bomb on board" rather than the more likely "best on board", a joke often shared among flight attendants about the best-looking passenger on the flight.

On August 28, QF2 from Bangkok was about 90 minutes from Sydney when a passenger raised the alarm.

"They contacted Qantas security over the VHF radio and what they were directed to do was rub off the word `bomb'," an airline source said.

The crew expected Qantas security and the Australian Federal Police to meet the aircraft on arrival but instead were met by three female ground staff who had no knowledge of the bomb threat. The passengers, only some of them aware of the threat, were allowed to disembark.

Pilots and cabin crew waited 30 minutes for security to arrive, making several phone calls, before disembarking when it became obvious nobody was coming.


SOURCE: ozflight.com.au