Qantas installs panic button at check-in counters

NEW distress buttons have been placed at Qantas check-in counters in Melbourne in a bid to prevent “ground rage” by disgruntled customers.
Extra security guards have also been hired to protect counter staff in a trial of new safety measures being considered for Qantas operations nationally.
A Qantas spokesman said the guards would be available to respond to distress alarms and other incidents.
The measures follow union pressure on safety issues ahead of upcoming enterprise bargaining negotiations.
The Australian Services Union (ASU), which represents about 10,500 Qantas workers, welcomed the measures, but said they did not go far enough.
ASU national assistant secretary Linda White called for lifetime bans for serious and repeat offenders.
“It’s time to have signs up saying this sort of behaviour won’t be tolerated,” she told AAP.
“And if people are bad, they shouldn’t fly at all. We should be banning them and putting staff first.”
She said boosts to staff safety were all the more important following some “fairly nasty incidents” over the past month which she refused to detail.
However, Qantas said there was no evidence of any increase in safety incidents in recent times.