Terror Plot or Terror Prank?

Aug 24, 2006 — -- Joking about terrorism in an airport is a crime pretty much anywhere you go these days.

But is a prank exposing the failures of the security system still funny?

People in Australia seem to think so.

Last week one of the country's top satire television shows, The Chaser, managed to confuse ground staff and cause a stir at Sydney's Kingsford-Smith airport.

The show's organizers purchased online plane tickets for fictious passengers named "Al Kyder" and "Terry Wrist," and then used self-service check-in machines, which do not require ID, to reserve their seats on the plane.

The pranksters then filmed as the two "passengers" failed to turn up for boarding, forcing Virgin Blue Airlines ground staff to announce the names over the airport public address system.

(You can watch the prank at www.chaser.com.au).

And even the airline took the prank in good humor.

"They obviously have Bart Simpson as a consultant," said Amanda Bolger, Public and Media Relations manager for Virgin Blue.

"We are happy to take the $282 taxpayer dollars they spent on the bookings," she said, "[but] we don't think in the current climate, their childish humor is appreciated by anyone."

The stunt comes after a wave of protest by the Australian news media about lax security in the country's airports.

Prominent editorial writers and newspapers complain about holes in the system, which they claim place passengers at risk.

Australian authorities are also on high alert following the foiled terrorist plot in Britain, which threatened to explode planes by using liquids and rudimentary detonating devices.

But Julian Morrow, one of the program's chief satirists, explained that the prank highlighted some of the weaknesses in domestic security checks without endangering anyone.

"The security scares in London were a big story here," Morrow said, "we wanted to make the point without causing alarm."

"The ultra security conscious climate can be overdone sometimes," he said, "I find it funny that people can be so conscious about some things and not others."