Silly Little Country

Almost makes we want to fly Qantas

People have remarkably different experiences, it seems, with various forms of airport screening. I have never had a major problem, though I have had my various electronic things investigated at times; but then, I am part of no major likely suspect group, being a nerdy, past-middle-aged Norwegian-Canadian, with excellent cover stories for my travel and the array of devices with me (made even more excellent by their being true).
Now what if you are a woman carrying airplane seating plans and the like? And your cover story is that you are the chairman of an airline? Well, it seems that arouses suspicions at LAX. Margaret Jackson, chairman of Qantas, described her experience at a recent press conference in Beijing:

"And I said, 'I'm the chairman of an airline. I'm the chairman of Qantas'. And this black guy, who was, like, eight foot tall, said, 'But you're a woman'."
.......
After proving her identity, Mrs Jackson produced paper with her letterhead on it and wrote a note to the guard, whose name was Bill.

"And I wrote, 'Dear Bill, this is from the chairman of Qantas, who is a woman'."

Well, she has a sense of humour - that is sure great. Bill was working on probabilities, and ran afoul of them.

If you follow that link above, Margaret Jackson could be considered to look vaguely Norwegian, and Bill could have been concerned about the recent Norwegian law requiring all companies in Norway to have very significant representation of women on the board of directors, and worried that she was exporting this notion.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 7:24 PM