Remember Remember the 5th of November

This is a common rhyme in Britain to describe the events surrounding the Guy Fawkes plot to blow up the houses of Parliament.

So I thought I would relate the cautionary tale of a flight I took recently to Australia on Qantas.

My fellow blogger Tim Hughes has been quite critical of QF’s inflight service and product. I have found them OK – and in general better than their partner BA in service. So I was quite surprised to find out that QF and the Australian Federal Police think that I may be a threat to the security of the airline and its passengers.

I am an airplane nerd. I love taking pictures particularly out of the window because it gives an interesting view. On this flight there was a phenomenon of a rainbow as can be seen in these pictures. So I happened to take a lot of them. I was also seated near but not next to the emergency exit. Someone – presumably a QF employee regarded this as a security threat. The Aussie Fed Police launched an investigation. And voila – I am now probably now on a watchlist somewhere. If they could only see my passport – they would see that I have a squillion visas from such strange places as Saudi Arabia, Russia, China and India as well as other weird places such as Brazil and Australia. Clearly I represent a threat!

So remember this Guy Fawkes day – be careful what you take pictures of. They might get you in trouble

Cheers