All passengers on a Qantas flight from Sydney on Wednesday evening were escorted off the plane by police to the unscreened area of Melbourne airport, after one passenger managing to bypass screening.
A Qantas spokesperson said “a passenger on a Sydney to Melbourne service (QF487) boarded the flight after inadvertently passing from an ‘unscreened’ to a ‘screened’ part of the airport in Sydney.”
“As a precaution, all passengers on QF487 were escorted from the aircraft when it landed in Melbourne and taken through the screened part of the airport into the unscreened area,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said this procedure avoided “compromising the secure section of the Melbourne terminal, which would have required all passengers who had already been through security to be rescreened.”
“We will investigate to understand how this incident occurred and we apologise for any inconvenience to passengers on the flight,” the spokesperson said.
Just got off Qantas flight QF487, Sydney to Melbourne. Held up on arrival, apparently we were on a “unscreened aircraft”. All passengers and crew to be screened; AFP here as well. 😐 #Qantas pic.twitter.com/T0uXxan8lp
— Derek Wells (@DerekWells427) September 7, 2022
Derek Wells, a passenger on the flight, said all passengers and crew were held up for 15-20 minutes onboard and at the gate lounge before being escorted by Australian federal police to the arrivals hall.
Patrick Durkin, who was also on the flight, said more than 200 passengers were escorted by a combination of the Australian federal police, Victoria police and airport security.
Stuck on QF 481, at the gate. Not allowed off until QF487 are cleared from terminal apparently 🤦♀️ #melbourneairport #qantas #qantasmelbourne https://t.co/g3yeyhF7gY
— Mary-Lou O'Brien 🗯️ (@mlobrien1) September 7, 2022
Durkin said there was no opportunity for any passengers to leave their escorts to use the restroom or otherwise.
Durkin said the flight attendant he spoke with said they had never had a similar incident occur in more than 20 years’ experience.
Durkin said the plane was delayed initially and upon landing the captain announced there was an unscreened passenger on the flight.
Sydney airport was contacted for comment.
