Qantas criticised for handling of man taking unwanted photos of youth

Sarah criticized the lack of a clear process in a case involving the welfare of a minor.

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An Australian Federal Police spokesman confirmed they had responded to Qantas’ request for assistance “regarding an alleged incident on board an aircraft departing from Perth”.

“No crime was identified and the matter was considered final,” AFP said in a statement.

Qantas stands by its crew, saying it is well trained in dealing with disruptive passengers and did what was necessary given the situation.

The flight attendant invited Sarah to talk to the man, who reportedly knew he was “an old man” and shouldn’t be taking pictures of young people.

Sarah later wrote to Qantas: “The man’s excuse for taking pictures of my son should not have been accepted without question by Qantas staff.”

At this point Sarah was asked to decide whether to delete the photos.

Qantas disputes Sarah’s description of the crew’s response. Qantas cabin crew general manager Daniel Dihen said: “We take privacy concerns very seriously and understand how distressing this situation is for the family concerned.”

Dihen said the “crew took immediate action to ensure the safety and comfort of the young passenger and followed all appropriate protocols, which included relocating the family during the flight, speaking with relevant parties and contacting the AFP at the family’s request.”

Sarah said Qantas did not immediately offer to transport the man or his family. At one point, the man had to position himself in the hallway to block his son’s view. Watching the situation unfold, another passenger offered to switch seats with Sarah.

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Qantas said the flight crew also failed to inform Sarah that they could have prevented the man from exiting the plane during landing. He believes that if he had known about this and the Qantas crew had kept the phone for the duration of the flight, police would have been able to examine the photos.

“The officers had no idea how to act. [the situation]”said Sarah. Since Sarah was initially seated apart from her son and husband (the family had crashed on an earlier flight), Sarah only learned of the incident when her husband waved at her from across the cabin.

After landing, the woman, her son, and his family were told to wait on the plane with the man who had taken his son’s photo, rather than disembarking separately.

There, police met with his son and spoke to the man separately. He said a second passenger also gave a statement to police.

Passengers who photograph staff or other passengers without permission are breaching Qantas’ conditions of carriage, which Qantas updated in 2023 to bring it into line with airline policies elsewhere.

Qantas has tightened the rules following concerns from the Australian Flight Attendants Association, which wants to prevent its members from being filmed by passengers and the footage being shared on social media.

Philip Baum, an adjunct professor of aviation security at Coventry University, said unsolicited photographs of individuals in their private areas in the cabin of an aircraft “loosely fall into the category of ‘unfair passenger incidents'”.

Baum said that although Qantas has one of the most robust crew training programs in the world, “it’s not a good idea to delete photos if they know law enforcement will be called.”

In cases where the police may be called, Baum said: “A conversation needs to be had with the parents to ask what they expect to happen. [following the crew’s intervention].”

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Baum, who chairs the DISPAX World (short for “disruptive passenger”) conference, said the range of possible problems on an aircraft is a concern for even the most well-trained flight crew.

In fact, “crew taking the passenger’s phone can be problematic because this could trigger an unruly passenger incident in which someone might say the crew does not have the right to examine the phone.”

Sarah was told that the AFP was looking for the man in its database and that the man had no history. Sarah said this was “reassuring but not definitive.”

Qantas said responsibility would fall into the hands of the police if the AFP took over in these cases, but the airline “fully supports” the police and continues to co-operate with the AFP.

By the time the conversation with police was over, the Qantas duty manager had left the terminal, Sarah said, and “there was not a Qantas personnel manager in sight”.

“The terminal was completely empty,” Sarah said.

The airline says it will send staff if a passenger requests it at the terminal. Staff are also allocated from shifts based on operational requirements. The airline said the Qantas airport manager went to check on the family after they left the terminal.

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