Virgin Australia learning the hard way that drinking the Kool-Aid offered by Scott Morrison on the federal election campaign trail is not a wise decision,,,,,,,,,
Sunday Telegraph, 4 November 2018, p.4:
Australia’s heroes —
Defence Force veterans who have selflessly served the nation — will board
aircraft first and be formally acknowledged before take-off in a bid to further
entrench national respect.
The Digger dedication
plan will take place on all Virgin Australia flights and will be
announced today by Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Taking Mr Morrison’s
plan to provide veterans with a US-style military card that gives discounts on
petrol, food and even weddings a step further, Virgin Australia will
honour former servicemen and women with a priority boarding process, and alert
passengers via a public announcement that heroes are on board.
Both announcements come
as The Sunday Telegraph, News Corp Australia, Foxtel and HarperCollins launched
a joint #thanksforserving campaign to encourage the community to honour those
who served.
Mr Morrison said Virgin chief
executive officer John Borghetti understood why Australians were so proud of
ex-military personnel.
“We acknowledge the
important contribution veterans have made to keeping our country safe and the
role they play in our community,’’ Mr Borghetti said. “Once the veterans have
their cards and lapel pins, they will simply need to present them during the
boarding process.” It will be rolled out when the system of new cards — or
digital ID — starts early next year.
Mr Morrison said the
idea got a “thumbs up” from him.....
AAP Bulletin Wire, 5 November 2018:
The Australia Defence
Association says veterans would prefer Virgin reinstate discount
airfares for ex-service men and women to tokenistic public thanks.
A leading veterans'
group says Virgin's plans to offer ex-service men and women priority
boarding and in-flight thanks "smacks of tokenism".
The US-style idea has
also been derided by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who described it as an
"embarrassing" marketing ploy.
Neil James from the
Australia Defence Association said practical action would be much more welcome
than "tokenistic" public thanks.
"If you really
wanted to thank veterans you'd reinstate the service discount abolished in the
early 1980s," he told AAP.
"Some veterans
would be embarrassed by this - in fact, many would be - and some of them with
psychological conditions, you actually risk making their problem worse."
Mr James said the airline's
idea was a symptom of a deeper problem.
"That is there are
so few Australians now with any understanding of military service and
war," he said.
Virgin Australia, Twitter,
5 November 2018:
We are very mindful of
the response that our announcement about recognising people who have served in
defence has had today. It was a gesture genuinely done to pay respects to those
who have served our country. 1/3
Over the coming months,
we will consult with community groups and our own team members who have served
in defence to determine the best way forward. 2/3
If this process
determines that public acknowledgement of their service through optional
priority boarding or any announcement is not appropriate, then we will
certainly be respectful of that. 3/3
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