Virgin Blue blames media ban on Australian Federal Police
By David Olsen on Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Virgin Blue has denied banning the media from terminals this morning, instead blaming the Australian Federal Police after the airline’s check in systems crashed again this morning according to the ABC.
Virgin Blue’s check in system crashed again nationwide this morning between 5:10am and 7:00am AEST, just as the airline finished boarding passengers stranded by the failure of Virgin Blue’s Navitaire supplied IT systems on Sunday.
This morning as with Sunday when Virgin Blue’s computer computer systems failed, Virgin had to switch to a manual check-in process that just could not handle the number of passengers travelling around Australia & New Zealand, particularly since the school holidays are now underway in many states.
This morningDJd in manually. Earlier reports had attributed the media ban to Virgin Blue hoping to keep a lid on the chaos in the press, however Virgin Blue have commented
According to the latest information from Virgin Blue, their check in systems are operational again, but there are some limited flight delays attributed to this morning’s system problems.
Businesses travelling with the airline are urged to check the Virgin Blue website for up to the minute information on flight delays.
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Queensland Consumer Watch spokesman Paul Tully described the media ban at Brisbane Airport as as "the most tightly-controlled airport in Australia where the rights of media outlets to report the news to the people of Australia is run like a totalitarian regime".
"This is a national disgrace and the Brisbane Airport Corporation under the day-to-day control of Jim Carden should hang their collective heads in shame over this outrageous action by the AFP.
"Who is running the Brisbane Airport - Jim Carden or the buffoons from the Australian Federal Police.
"The standard practice seems to be to exclude the media from the airport at the first sign of any embarrassing coverage.
"Jim Carden needs to step in and show some real leadership on this issue to avoid any suggestion that the media control at Brisbane Airport ranks as the most-embarrassing in Australia."
