Cocaine can set off the metal detector? The comptroller for Salina, N.Y., was caught carrying a vial of cocaine while passing through security at Syracuse Airport, according to NewsDay.com. The man was charged with misdemeanor seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, according to a TSA spokesman. The drug was found hidden in his lower waist area after the man triggered an alarm. Undestandably, his office had no comment.
You said put everything through the X-ray machine. It was only a matter of time before this happened. A woman going through security at LAX Airport put her month-old grandson into a plastic bin intended for carry-on items and then put him through the X-ray machine, according to a story in the L.A. Times. A screener watching the monitor immediately noticed the outline of a baby and pulled the bin backward on the conveyor belt. The infant was taken to Centinela Hospital, where doctors determined that he did not receive a dangerous dose of radiation.
You can now sacrifice animals online. Remember the post I did in the last issue of "Strange" where a ramp supervisor for Turkish Airlines was fired after he allowed his workers to sacrifice a camel on the tarmac of Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport? Well, now animal sacrifice is going to the Internet, according to a Reuters article. Now Muslims unable to perform the ritual can buy an animal over the Internet and watch it being slaughtered before its meat is given away. "It is not easy for them to buy animals and carry out the sacrifice according to our religious rites in those countries," said Sohail Ahmed, an official at the Al-Khidmat trust Islamic welfare organization, in the article.
Ex-cons don't have to go through security. Passengers are questioning security effforts at RDU Airport after an ex-convict was found on a Delta Air Lines jet by cleaning crews, according to a story at ABC11tv.com. Gregory Scott Wester apparently climbed a barbed-wire fence, got on a hydraulic lift, and boosted himself into the 737. A cleaning crew found the bleeding man on the plane around 2:45 a.m. RDU spokeswoman, Mindy Hamlin insists passengers weren't in any danger. "It is important to point out that at no time was the gentlemen an apparent threat to any person or any aircraft."
Forget "snakes on a plane" -- this one's called "rats on a plane". Passengers on a Saudi Airlines flight got quite a fright after rats started running across the floor while the aircraft was cruising at 25,000 feet, according to an article in Arab News. After landing, it was discovered that a passenger had kept 80 of the rodents in a leather bag. The passenger said he had no idea how the rats escaped. He was apprehended by security, which will investigate.
You mean they arrested the (U.K.) Lord?? Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, who was the top law officer in Scotland, was charged with disorderly conduct on an aircraft that landed at Dundee Airport, according to a story on the BBC. He was on a flight from London that had been delayed because of fog and was accused of being "disruptive" on the flight.
Make sure you get to the airport early -- but not too early. I love this. Airlines have been telling us for the past few years to get to the airport early and to leave enough time to get through security. But now British Airways is warning travelers not to arrive at the airport "too early," according to a story by the BBC. Too early is considered more than two hours before short-haul flights and three hours before long-hauls, the airline said. BA said there were "too many people milling about" near the concourse before check-in opens.
Who let the dog out? A 75-pount Great Dane escaped from his crate in a Northwest Airlines' cargo area and ran across the runway at Memphis International Airport, according to a story at NewsChannel5.com. The search is on for Bailey, who security thinks is wandering on airport property. Posters of the dog have been hung, and there's a $250 reward for his return.
Please don't take it -- this whiskey is from Scotland!! You've read my post about the confusion that still abounds about the carriage of duty-free liquors around the world. Well, Scotland's senior member of the European Parliament said the EU's liquids restrictions could cause "chaos and misery" for international travellers arriving in the EU this Christmas, according to The Sunday Herald. David Martin noted that those flying into an EU airport from outside the EU with a connecting EU flight would lose any liquid duty free products they were carrying. He noted that Amsterdam's Schipol Airport is confiscating around 1,200 bottles of whiskey a day.
Drunk fighting soccer fans? I'm shocked, I tell you -- shocked!! An easyJet flight from Milan to Athens had to make an emergency landing in Brindisi after 30 Greek soccer fans got into a fight, according to a story in the International Herald Tribune. No big surprise here, but the fans appeared to be drunk. They were removed from the flight and questioned by police.
And I'll end the final 2006 edition of "Strange, But True" with something that reflects the spririt of the season. One of my favorite movies is "Love Actually," directed by Richard Curtis in 2003. I won't go into the intertwined plots, but the beginning and the end of the movie are montages of people greeting their loved ones arriving at London Heathrow Airport. I'm one of those geeky people who listen to the director's commentary on the DVD (I did major in film & video production for 2 semesters in college). In it, Curtis noted that he set up a camera in the arrivals hall for a week and let it record the greetings and used it in the film. I am just a sucker for stuff like this, especially when it involves airports. I've always liked to watch as people waited for loved ones at the airport. Atlanta was a way station for U.S. troops returning home and it always brought tears to my eyes to see them reunited with their families after taking the long escalator off the train to baggage claim.
But I digress. It looks like MasterCard U.K. has taken a similar concept for its ubiquitous "Priceless" campaign. A post at Duncan's TV Ad Land says the credit card company has launched "Come Home: commercials that catch the emotions of real people -- not actors -- as they meet their loved ones at the arrivals halls of Heathrow and Gatwick airports. "Ticket from Toronto £299, Ticket from New York £228, Ticket from Cape Town £449, Ticket from Sydney £595." The advert finishes with the tagline: "Spending Christmas together: Priceless," with two helium-filled balloons morphing into the MasterCard logo.
I wish you the happiest of holiday seasons.
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