Look past the lame service and Qantas is still one of the safest airlines in the world, so last week’s news about a scare over the Philippines isn’t that big of a deal.

Of course, I’m assuming that Geoff “must save money, we’re going bankrupt!” Dixon and his management aren’t to blame for, I don’t know, maybe running a plane that was in poor condition. After all, that’s the best explanation for part of its skin ripping off. And thus it is that the Australian news reports were asking questions about maintenance, interviewing union officials, that kind of thing.

But I actually saw the story first in the San Francisco Chronicle, and barely a few sentences into their AP article: “An official at the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, who spoke on condition of anonymity … said initial reports show it was not related to terrorism.”