Armed sky marshals on Australia-US flights next week

The Australian ^ | May 8th, 2004 | AAP

[KangarooJacqui]

ARMED sky marshals will be on board flights between Australia and the United States from as soon as next week under an agreement to be announced today.

Justice Minister Chris Ellison and the US ambassador to Australia Tom Schieffer will reveal details of the plan at a media conference at Perth Airport at 4pm (AEST).

Sky marshals have been on flights to and from Singapore since Christmas and have been operating on domestic flights since New Year's Eve 2001.

The Federal Government has repeatedly refused to reveal how many marshals travel on each flight, however, it's believed up to six could be on the Australia-US international flights.

A government source said the US-Australia sky marshal program would be paid for under existing funding and would not need extra funding in Tuesday's federal Budget.

The government is continuing negotiations with a number of other countries including Canada, its Asian neighbours and possibly Britain.

The international sky marshal program has been hit with some hurdles relating to jurisdictional disputes about where weapons should be removed.

[KangarooJacqui]

I'm surprised it's taken them this long, quite frankly. Two and a half years since 9/11...?

[boxsmith13]

Some euroweenie airlines wont allow sky marshalls becasue they actually believe sky marshalls make flights less safe

[KangarooJacqui]

Actually I meant between Australia and the US. You wouldn't catch me flying British Airways (to name just one) if you paid me.

Euroweenie is right, though. Still, if they WILL fly those stupid Airbuses... (that'd make armed guards an issue)

[yonif]

All international flights should have them, and they should be people with proper training against terrorists too, and not just some regular policeman. People who can identify a terrorist before he acts.

Nevertheless, Australia should not have made this info public, because this may spur terrorists to try to hijack a plane on that route to show how capable they are.

[KangarooJacqui]

But yonif, everyone knows about El Al's security...

[yonif]

True, but they found out about it not by Israel announcing to the world what their security was when it was introduced. The terrorists found out about their security the hard way.....

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

I've never flown British Airways, why would you not book a flight with them? (I confess total ignorance of BA -- but I have similar feelings about Continental.) I recently found out my frequent flier program will let me book a flight with BA, so I'd like to be informed before doing so.

[yonif]

I was impressed with Continental when I flew with it. They got a lot of new aircraft.

[KangarooJacqui]

I see your point. However, Australia is a tourist destination, and rather a popular one. Its distance from Europe and the US, however, is one deterrent - security fears are yet another deterrent. In this post-9/11 world, unfortunately Australia needs every bit of good publicity it can get. Hence this article.

And if the terrorists want to try us out? The standard Australian response, I think, would be: "'Ava go then, ya mug."

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

They were incredibly rude to me and my family once (made me cry which set my husband off -- I thought he was going to get himself arrested )-- but then, it was San Juan, we had to switch over to them for the final leg of our trip,(which had been filled with mishaps since 5 a.m.) and I had left my paper tickets at home. That was five years ago. They finally ended up making me re purchase six tickets and put us on a pond jumper that had a smoke residue all over the left engine. We arrived at our final destination about 4 hours late and they failed to put some of our luggage on the plane.

[KangarooJacqui]

Okay, I confess I've never flown British Airways. But I have not heard good reports from other Australians who have.

As for Continental, the first and last time I flew with them was in 1985 and I was FAR from impressed. I flew with United last year and was equally disgusted with them.

My pick of airlines: Air New Zealand and American Airlines. (Nope, Qantas fails to make the cut too, but as an Australian, there are times you just can't get around their near-monopoly - at least to the places I actually want to go.)

[yonif]

If Australia thinks they are pretty safe considering their vast oceans, they should look back to 9/11/01 and the fact America, surrounded by vast oceans, was attacked.

Australia should get with the program and learn from the mistakes of others and not wait to learn from its own mistakes, which surely will cost many lives.

[Diddle E. Squat]

They're gonna earn their pay, those are some very, very long flights. Maybe that's why there are so many, so they can be alert in shifts?

But the bonus is they get to layover in Australia, California weather but with normal-sized cities.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

Thanks. We usually use Delta, but are flying American this summer. I haven't flown with them in more than ten years, so we'll see. The tickets were cheaper than Delta. I took one trip on Northwest and was pretty impressed with them.

Don't think I'll ever get over that Continental experience, though. :-/

[KangarooJacqui]

If Australia thinks they are pretty safe considering their vast oceans, they should look back to 9/11/01 and the fact America, surrounded by vast oceans, was attacked.

You're ignoring the fact that it was essentially attacked from WITHIN. Australian domestic airlines have some of the most stringent security standards outside Israel.
And what's this with Australians thinking they're safe? I never said any such thing, nor would I. Remember, mate, I live here. We as a nation saw what happened to the US and then 13 months later, effectively on our doorstep, had pretty much the same thing happen to us (I speak of the Bali, Indonesia terrorist bombings on 12th October 2002.)


Australia should get with the program and learn from the mistakes of others and not wait to learn from its own mistakes, which surely will cost many lives.

Ahem... exactly how much do you know about Australian security anyway? Probably as much as I know about the inner workings of the Israeli Army. Knock it off, pal. We're on the same side here!

[KangarooJacqui]

They're gonna earn their pay, those are some very, very long flights. Maybe that's why there are so many, so they can be alert in shifts? But the bonus is they get to layover in Australia, California weather but with normal-sized cities.

I agree... that Pacific Ocean is one helluva biggun. And to see LA from the air for the first time, not to mention setting down at LAX... *shudder* Not the greatest introduction to "America the Beautiful", by a long shot.

Agreeance on the weather issue, too. After one winter in Connecticut, I will never, EVER complain about the cold in Australia, ever again... *grin*

[yonif]

lol. My remarks are said in good faith. I am glad Australia is taking the initiative to try to protect itself. I hope they do what is necessary without fearing world reaction to how they handle security (like how the world calls Israeli security racist) and I also hope Australia takes security over political correctness.

[yonif]

And about those oceans I was responding to this:

Its distance from Europe and the US, however, is one deterrent

[Diddle E. Squat]

If I ever decide to live overseas, it is between the coast of Chile and along the coast near Sydney. Though I've always been intrigued by Perth, too.

[CWOJackson]

France will probably want to add Sky Marshalls to their flights next. All of them will be named Abdul.