Virgin Australia aborts veteran flight plan

Virgin Australia yesterday ditched plans to allow military veterans to board its flights first, as a popular outcry at American-style “tokenism” appeared to kill the idea before it got off the ground. Politicians, commentators and veterans themselves queued up to denounce Virgin’s gesture as embarrassing, or worse. “I would not dream of walking on to an aircraft ahead of the other passengers as a veteran,” said former member of the Australian Defence Force, Cate McGregor, lampooning the gesture as “faux-American [nonsense]”. “Spend more on suicide prevention and health support,” the East Timor veteran said.