JAL worried black market flight attendant uniforms will pose security risk
Mar 5, 2010, 3:24 pm
#1
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Posts: 208
JAL worried black market flight attendant uniforms will pose security risk
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/fligh...&ak=81931.blog
3/5/2010
Japan Airlines fights to keep uniforms out of Japanese sex clubs
"Since its humiliating bankruptcy in January, Japan Airlines has faced mass layoffs, customer fury and national shame, but its worst nightmare may yet lie ahead: a potentially thriving black market for the uniforms worn by its air stewardesses." That's from The Times of London, one of numerous media outlets reporting that demand from fetishists and sex clubs has forced ailing JAL to work to keep its flight attendant uniforms from falling into the wrong hands.
The problem may be bigger than most would initially think. Scott Mayerowitz of ABC News reports that "in Japan plenty of people are willing to pay top dollar for an experience with a club entertainer clad in an authentic Japan Airlines flight attendant uniform." He adds "people have been known to pay thousands of dollars for the outfits of JAL and rival airline All Nippon Airways, or ANA."
Airlines officials are not only concerned that the issue could tarnish the company's corporate image. ABC's Mayerowitz writes "outside of the fetish factor, JAL worries that in the wrong hands, missing airline uniforms could pose a security risk."
Indeed, an unnamed JAL spokeswoman tells the London Telegraph: "It's a question of security, as anyone wearing a JAL uniform at an airport could quite easily access restricted areas, but we also do not want people misrepresenting the company or damaging our image in any way."
The Telegraph adds JAL has warned its staff not to sell their uniforms, "fearing that laid-off air crew could try to auction their old stewardess outfits on the internet for a profit." How much could the uniforms fetch? Britain's Sky News writes "Asahi Geinō, a weekly tabloid magazine, reports that a rare full set is on sale on Yahoo Japan's auction site for over £2,000 and there are suggestions the latest uniform could fetch even more." In case you're wondering, £2,000 is about $3,010 at today's conversion rate.
To fight the "new flood of uniforms on to the black market," the Telegraph reports JAL is considering sewing tracking computer chips into its uniforms. Fellow Japanese carrier ANA – which faces similar problems – already does that. In the meantime, an unnamed JAL spokesperson tells the Times that the carrier has a series of measures that make it "virtually impossible for an individual to hold on to their uniform after they have left their job."
Still, the spokesperson acknowledges to the Times that at least one uniform belonging to a business-class attendant hit the black market a few years ago after it was reported as stolen. The carrier's solution in that instance? It paid nearly $2,000 to buy it back off the black market.
3/5/2010
Japan Airlines fights to keep uniforms out of Japanese sex clubs
"Since its humiliating bankruptcy in January, Japan Airlines has faced mass layoffs, customer fury and national shame, but its worst nightmare may yet lie ahead: a potentially thriving black market for the uniforms worn by its air stewardesses." That's from The Times of London, one of numerous media outlets reporting that demand from fetishists and sex clubs has forced ailing JAL to work to keep its flight attendant uniforms from falling into the wrong hands.
The problem may be bigger than most would initially think. Scott Mayerowitz of ABC News reports that "in Japan plenty of people are willing to pay top dollar for an experience with a club entertainer clad in an authentic Japan Airlines flight attendant uniform." He adds "people have been known to pay thousands of dollars for the outfits of JAL and rival airline All Nippon Airways, or ANA."
Airlines officials are not only concerned that the issue could tarnish the company's corporate image. ABC's Mayerowitz writes "outside of the fetish factor, JAL worries that in the wrong hands, missing airline uniforms could pose a security risk."
Indeed, an unnamed JAL spokeswoman tells the London Telegraph: "It's a question of security, as anyone wearing a JAL uniform at an airport could quite easily access restricted areas, but we also do not want people misrepresenting the company or damaging our image in any way."
The Telegraph adds JAL has warned its staff not to sell their uniforms, "fearing that laid-off air crew could try to auction their old stewardess outfits on the internet for a profit." How much could the uniforms fetch? Britain's Sky News writes "Asahi Geinō, a weekly tabloid magazine, reports that a rare full set is on sale on Yahoo Japan's auction site for over £2,000 and there are suggestions the latest uniform could fetch even more." In case you're wondering, £2,000 is about $3,010 at today's conversion rate.
To fight the "new flood of uniforms on to the black market," the Telegraph reports JAL is considering sewing tracking computer chips into its uniforms. Fellow Japanese carrier ANA – which faces similar problems – already does that. In the meantime, an unnamed JAL spokesperson tells the Times that the carrier has a series of measures that make it "virtually impossible for an individual to hold on to their uniform after they have left their job."
Still, the spokesperson acknowledges to the Times that at least one uniform belonging to a business-class attendant hit the black market a few years ago after it was reported as stolen. The carrier's solution in that instance? It paid nearly $2,000 to buy it back off the black market.
Mar 5, 2010, 3:39 pm
#3
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Don't the flight attendants own their own uniforms? And if so, once they quit or laid off, what law prevents them from selling their uniforms online for a profit?
Also, you see US military uniforms for sale all the time everywhere!
Also, you see US military uniforms for sale all the time everywhere!
Mar 5, 2010, 5:15 pm
#6
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Mar 6, 2010, 2:14 pm
#7
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No cause for terrorism concern. If I can't even get in a Japanese sex club, no way in a million years are they ever letting anyone of Middle Eastern decent into one.
Security at Japanese sex clubs is WAY more strict than airport security.
Security at Japanese sex clubs is WAY more strict than airport security.
Mar 6, 2010, 2:52 pm
#8
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Not to mention more racist. No gaijin allowed.
Mar 8, 2010, 10:48 am
#11
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It IS easy enough.
Want a FA or pilot uniform that cannot be distinguished from an airline-issued one? Just go to Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, or dozens of other Asian cities with a fist full of cash. They will turn one out for you in a day or less, for the right price.
This is not a "security" concern. It's a stupidity concern. Get over yourself, JAL.
Want a FA or pilot uniform that cannot be distinguished from an airline-issued one? Just go to Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, or dozens of other Asian cities with a fist full of cash. They will turn one out for you in a day or less, for the right price.
This is not a "security" concern. It's a stupidity concern. Get over yourself, JAL.
Mar 8, 2010, 10:55 am
#12
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: London
Posts: 6,265
Their security policies would be pretty lax if their staff allowed someone in a JAL uniform to "tailgate" them into secure areas or other sensitive areas.
People should have learnt years ago that just because someone looks like they should be somewhere doesn't mean they should ... yet time and time again, stupidity does seem to reign.
See for example: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/new...-1225834950462 (2 people dressed in security guard uniforms were handed $A1,000,000 by a bank in Sydney - and only got suspicious after they'd given away the money)
People should have learnt years ago that just because someone looks like they should be somewhere doesn't mean they should ... yet time and time again, stupidity does seem to reign.
See for example: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/new...-1225834950462 (2 people dressed in security guard uniforms were handed $A1,000,000 by a bank in Sydney - and only got suspicious after they'd given away the money)
Mar 8, 2010, 11:39 am
#13
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In a world market where some flight attendants are allegedly "moonlighting" as prostitutes -- in or out of uniform, it doesn't matter -- the airport/airplane security concern about FA uniforms available for resale seems really overblown since even actual airline-employed FAs may be selling who knows what services.