sws4420
04-11-2005, 10:13 AM
SYDNEY (April 8) - A baggage handler wearing a camel costume taken from a passenger's luggage has left Qantas Airways red-faced, with Australia's national carrier investigating a potentially embarrassing security lapse.
Passenger David Cox complained after he saw a baggage handler driven across the Sydney airport tarmac on Wednesday wearing the camel costume that had been packed into the baggage he had checked in only minutes earlier.
Cox, a marketing manager, had checked the camel costume and a crocodile suit onto Qantas flight 425 from Sydney to Melbourne in a large bag which had been marked to say it was carrying animal costumes.
He said he was standing near his boarding gate and at first thought nothing when a child said "there's a guy with a moose head." But then he looked up and saw his camel costume.
"I obviously was flabbergasted. My jaw dropped to the ground," Cox told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said on Friday the incident was being investigated. A baggage handler had been identified on closed-circuit television and faced disciplinary action that could include dismissal.
"What has happened is completely unacceptable and is unacceptable to the vast majority of decent, hard-working Qantas employees," Dixon said in a statement.
"We are acutely aware of heightened community concerns around the security of baggage," he said.
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Passenger David Cox complained after he saw a baggage handler driven across the Sydney airport tarmac on Wednesday wearing the camel costume that had been packed into the baggage he had checked in only minutes earlier.
Cox, a marketing manager, had checked the camel costume and a crocodile suit onto Qantas flight 425 from Sydney to Melbourne in a large bag which had been marked to say it was carrying animal costumes.
He said he was standing near his boarding gate and at first thought nothing when a child said "there's a guy with a moose head." But then he looked up and saw his camel costume.
"I obviously was flabbergasted. My jaw dropped to the ground," Cox told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said on Friday the incident was being investigated. A baggage handler had been identified on closed-circuit television and faced disciplinary action that could include dismissal.
"What has happened is completely unacceptable and is unacceptable to the vast majority of decent, hard-working Qantas employees," Dixon said in a statement.
"We are acutely aware of heightened community concerns around the security of baggage," he said.
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