Military veterans in Australia declined Virgin Australia’s offer of priority boarding.
“It’s a very American thing to do. We’re not quite as loud or noisy as that,” said Mike Carlton, an author of several books on Australia’s military history, as reported by The New York Times. “Australians are a little more subtle.”
Carlton added that most veterans would feel uncomfortable being singled out. “It’s just not in our nature to do stuff like that. Almost any veteran I can think of would be hideously embarrassed by being singled out like that. I’ve interviewed a lot of them for my books: World War II vets, vets from the Burma–Siam railway. They would hate the notoriety of being singled out.”
Neil James, head of the Australian Defence Association, also criticized the recognition as tokenistic. He warned that creating a special queue for veterans raises questions about where the line would be drawn, since other community servants such as police officers and paramedics also provide important service.
James told ABC Radio Melbourne that public recognition can be emotionally difficult for some veterans. “There’s a fine line between embarrassing them and thanking them, and in some cases, where they’re suffering a psychological illness, effusively thanking them in public might not necessarily help them,” he said.
The reaction prompted national carrier Qantas to scrap its own priority seating for veterans. “We’re conscious that we carry a lot of exceptional people every day, including veterans, police, paramedics, nurses, firefighters and others, and so we find it difficult to single out a particular group as part of the boarding process,” Qantas said in a statement.
Virgin Australia responded by saying it would be respectful of veterans’ wishes. “If this process determines that public acknowledgment of their service through optional priority boarding or any announcement is not appropriate, then we will certainly be respectful of that,” the airline said on Twitter.