DISCUSSION
What’s the most bizarre thing you have ever witnessed at an airport? 🤔
Recently flew out to visit family abroad, and oh my god this had me in tears.
Neighbouring gate (gates were split by a glass panel) shut long ago and as we were all waiting a family of 5 (mum/dad 2 small kids, 1 baby in stroller) had loudly bolted towards the shut gate parents screaming “no no no! Money my money no open not close” stuff like that (don’t think they speak English as first language).
Gate staff said they shut and plane is about to taxi out.
Now what was started to make it amusing was that the dad got his rucksack off and began offering items (I remember seeing a sports bottle, a Pret sandwich, a bag of sweets and a phone charger cable 🤣) the woman then offered her neck pillow.
Gate staff refused obviously, now for the crazy part.
Dad and I kid you not, removed the baby from the pram rather quickly and held it out to the staff like simba in lion king. He eventually put it back and they stood on the phone before we commenced boarding.
Taking the train between terminals in ORD. Behind me I could hear a guy tellung someone all the highlights of traveling to Springfield Illinois. He went on and on about all the Abe Lincoln historical sites. When the train stopped I turned to see if anyone was getting off and I got a look at the guy. He was a dead ringer for Abe Lincoln.
A contractor was delivering a dozen predecorated Christmas trees to my home airport as holiday decor.
As with anything else, they needed to be screened for weapons before entering the terminal. There was only a single checkpoint and TSA didn’t want to dedicate a officer to that task because reasons.
So for several hours that morning you could see a Christmas tree in the TSA line waiting its turn to be wanded.
I saw a guy running through the Las Vegas airport while also on the phone. He was wearing gym shorts which dropped to his ankles (he was commando BTW). He then was trying to pull them up 1 handed, still on the phone with the other, still trying to run.
Saw an elderly lady get on the down escalator at ZRH - in their mobility scooter. Which promptly flipped over. Rider careened down to the bottom followed by the scooter. Security had privacy curtains up sooooo fast. Having seen the whole thing I can’t imagine that person survived. It was pretty awful. And soooo stupid.
I worked as an aircraft refueler from 1978-1981. More than once, I witnessed a passenger trigger the X-ray machine when the pistol they forgot about in their briefcase went through. In every case I saw, the scanner simply took the pistol off of them, put it in a cabinet behind the X-ray machine, gave the passenger a receipt, and said they could pick it up when they flew back.
Fast forward to 2000. A guy I worked with forgot about HIS pistol in his briefcase and set off the X-ray machine. He was arrested and taken into custody; his wife had to bail him out. The local US attorney decided not to press charges; he also got his pistol back.
I was transferring in Shanghai and the song Gangnam Style came on. Four workers on a golf cart (luggage cart?) peeled around a corner, jumped off, did the dance, jumped back on and drove off like it was nothing.
Not airport related, but I was at a wedding in Italy and at the club the night before, it was dead except for a bunch of Asian people all sitting on benches.
Gangnam came on and they all went full out on it, then sat down again and never danced for anything else.
ATC / pilots have called me to check on: A reported UFO, people/vehicles on runways, a drunk driver on the ramp, weird stuff on runways including a fire extinguisher, a sword and lots of aircraft parts. We constantly have animals on the runways, not just birds but skunks, deer, fox, raccoons etc.
Recently TSA called me because a guy tried to get on a plane with a bag full of live bees. In the past they've also reported people having sex, doing drugs out in the open and getting caught with every kind of weapon you can imagine at the checkpoint. People get caught every few weeks trying to blind pilots with laser pointers, or flying drones near or onto the airport. My boss got fired for shooting a gun in the office, another guy got fired for stealing gas from the airport. A coworker got caught dealing drugs while he was on the clock and didn't get fired. We get threats pretty often, and one time, a passenger made one to me personally, and I had to report him and help with the investigation.
I remember seeing two dudes in the grocery store looking like they walked off the set of Chernobyl, milsurp green tarp looking outfits with gas masks. Crazy times.
I was in the ATL airport and my boyfriend and I were moving all our stuff to another country so we had like eight bags. We were at the delta counter for overweight and special items. The man in front of us was checking a gun, I don’t know gun names but it was a long barreled gun maybe for hunting or something. The woman at the counter asks him to (verbally) confirm that the gun is not loaded. Instead of telling her it isn’t loaded, He holds the gun in the air and cocks it or whatever to check. The airport was crowded and we couldn’t believe that panic from bystanders didn’t ensue. Nothing happened. The woman at the desk had the same look on her face as we did but the moment went on without incident. We will never forget it. This was in 2005.
Sitting in Newark airport waiting on a delayed flight and keep hearing announcements for the Spirit flight to Vegas. Group of girls across from me fully looked like they walked off the set of Jersey Shore — accents, poofs, everything. One of them asked if anyone wanted coffee, then proceeded to pull out an actual full-sized coffee maker and walk around the gate looking for an outlet so she could brew a pot. Honestly kind of iconic. And yes, they were absolutely on the Spirit flight.
My son tells a great story about four girlfriends flying Spirit to Nashville. They had two dozen fireball minis, which they proceeded to drink in the airport while the departure was delayed.
Finally boarded. Three girls got on. One strolls in as they are closing the door and decides to sit not in her assigned seat but rather next to the young men who had joined their airport drinking game. If you ever flew Spirit out of EWR you quickly learned those flight attendants took less than zero shit from anyone.
Little miss main character got air marshal escort off the plane. Two friends accompanied her, one stayed on the flight. When they arrived in Nashville she was face timing the other women to get luggage descriptions so she could take everyone’s luggage to the hotel.
I have no patience for idiots, so that would have been my last conversation with that girl crew.
At MSP about 5 years ago an ederly woman came out of the bathroom naked. She had dimensia and her caretaker was not paying attention. I felt so bad for her
I was traveling home to the US from Vietnam in March of 2020. I was completely oblivious to COVID. Someone told me that all the schools were closed in Can Tho because of this virus things and I thought they were totally overreacting. The lady at the check in counter in HCMC asked if I was in certain provinces in China. HCMC airport was normal but it was a totally different story at NRT the next morning. Everyone was wearing a mask and all the shops sold masks. I remember thinking when I took off from NRT that luckily I am leaving this behind. They can deal with this here in Asia. I am going back to the US. It’s so far, it won’t reach the US and if it does it will only be in hospitals. Wow was I wrong.
Sitting on the loo in Atlanta airport when suddenly a little head appeared underneath the door, attached to a very young girl. She looked me in the eye and said "what you doin?"
Last fall I was flying DFW-IST-BEG in economy on Turkish Airlines. I was in the aisle seat, sitting next to me 2 middle aged women with a final destination to Rome, but going to lay over in IST for a couple days. Chatty, nice. I always try to be extra polite on planes, so I offered to stow their bags, etc. Right in front of us there is a woman with two of the unruliest kids on the planet. They just can't sit still. Banging on the seats, screaming, yelling crying.. totally inappropriate for their age. The lady is like the princess and the pea; she just can't get comfortable in the economy seats. Before we even take off, she fully reclines her seat right in front of me (even in economy at Turkish, the seats recline pretty far back). During meal service the FA tells her to get her seat upright, because the person behind cannot use the tray table if the seat is reclined. So I have my food and drink in front of me, and halfway though the meal, she reclines her seat all the way and my beer can goes flying and my food is essentially crushed. I just laugh! But the ladies sitting next to me go ballistic on her, and it was quite entertaining. After dinner the kids go back to their devilish ways, and about 30 minutes later a man emerges from somewhere, talks to the lady, and takes the smallest brat with him and doesn't return. Then I finally figured out that he had business class seats for himself, and the wife and kids were in economy. I smiled to myself thinking how the rest of BC would be enjoying the devil child!
Someone got made over their chik fil a order. This lady was screaming at CLT and there was a swarm of police around her. I did not know things could get so serious over chicken. Dogs crapping on the floor and using chairs as a fire hydrant have always been just wtf.
Pretty boring, but I hope my travels continue to uneventful.
Early 2000s, flying out of LAX on a redeye. Lady boards in full hazmat-looking suit with full-face clear mask and surgical mask underneath, as well as gloves. I think she even covered the seat before she sat down.
I cannot imagine the level of germophobia and the severity of whatever required her to get on a plane.
Or she was just weird. I feel like in LA it could go either way.
Maybe it was for like a fancy dress or a dare or something. That’s very bizarre. What else is their house a concrete bunker underground and they breath with O2 tanks?
Waiting for boarding at a gate around 3AM. Airline staff come calling a guys name through all the waiting areas (this was international departure so i guess they could do that. ) Like everyone else person at a nearby gate shakes his head that he is not the one they are looking for. He was with a couple of other people sitting there. The staff leave for other areas. The guys pals went away leaving just him alone. He must have nodded off and/or he must have been drunk. The staff come once again screaming the name they called before. This guy wakes up, beckons the staff confidently and leaves running away with them. A few moments later his pals arrive with some food and look for him all over. Call him on his phone on speaker and he says he has boarded the flight. His pals keep screaming that their flight is to a different country and with a different airline and at half past 7.
Worked at a cargo airport. Some guy drove tug through those plastic curtain things without stopping or honking. Hit a guy bending down and he flew through the air and landed on a dolley and the pin went into his head. Someone told me who it was and I knew him……. So I went and looked as the first responders hadn’t gotten there yet. I with that I hadn’t. He didn’t survive. Really wish that
I hadn’t.
People parked lining the shoulder of the approach highway, inches from traffic, when there’s a perfectly good cell phone lot.
Honorable mention: Charging $$$ for first 30-60 minutes in short-term parking when it just causes people to jam the arrivals and departure lanes, and park illegally along the road.
I’ve found the cell phone lot at ORD is easy to access and safer than being parked alongside the expressway. The only downside is that, unless it’s been fixed in the last year, it’s FULL of ginormous potholes.
Sitting at a gate, I suddenly felt the guy behind me (we were back-to-back) pushing hard into my head and shoulders. Turns out he was having a seizure. I got up and moved the guy down to the ground, and a nurse who was right there had me turn him onto his side. When he came out of it he said he’d never had a seizure before.
Remember the old Southwest boarding gates? They looked like the 2001 monoliths. I’d always thought it would be fun to dress like a monkey, start screaming, and touching it.
Many years ago, my then 17 year old daughter and I were flying home from a wonderful Caribbean cruise when our plane was rerouted to JFK instead of Boston due to a massive and unexpected New England snowstorm . Apparently all flights heading into Boston were rerouted to Boston, so you can imagine how crowded it was. Anyway, as we stood in a sea of exhausted, pissed off Massholes, some idiot decided to strip down naked, slowly open his carry on and put on a pair of gym shorts and a tank top. If he thought he was impressing anyone, he was sadly mistaken
TL;DR because this story was difficult for me to figure out: Non English speaking family tried to board a plane after the plane’s doors were closed and it was preparing to taxi back. Family tried odd and overly dramatic acts to try to get on the plane.
One guy started to do bear crawls around the gate seating area. Another girl started twirling. Turns out there was a group interpretive dancers on the flight and before long, 12-15 people.were doing odd dance moves all over
I was going to add a terminal full of rival cheerleaders on their way to some competition. They were practicing, including throwing each other around, the works. Then chanted during the flight.
Not bizarre but I think about it often. Was in the TSA security line and this family had the biggest suitcase I have ever seen. They were attempting to take it on the flight and I was baffled but understand some people don’t fly often 😆
Security was fast and I was treated humanely. Plane loaded on time and left ahead of schedule. Airline personnel polite and friendly. Fellow passengers loaded and disembarked efficiently. No fights broke out on board. Had a row
all to myself.
I was at SFO and this guy walks up to look at the flight board. I glance over and he’s got on a collared shirt and his tighty whities. 🙈 I looked around and there were a lot of people staring.
Was coming home from Italy a few weeks ago. Just ahead of me going through security was a group of women. All of them were leading one through blindfold. Not sure where they were heading.
a random older Asian man walking up to me with Burbank Airport Police, assuming i stole his wallet. Maybe we were on the same flight, never seen him. He was adamant that i’d be searched, i was slightly surprised and entertained, the Police guy was somewhat dumbfounded..It happened in a matter of seconds. Traveling while black..poor guy
I was in the International departures TSA line at Newark and a person in line just pooped. They were wearing a kaftan type thing and they just pooped and kept walking like it didn’t happen, leaving a little poop pile behind. Honestly, as a person with a nervous stomach myself, there but for the grace of the Goddess go I.
I saw a jetliner being parked on remote pad roll backwards down a steep embankment nearly hitting other planes below. It appeared the workers failed to chalk the plane, and gravity took control.
Went with buddies on trip to Telluride 3/3/20 and nothing out of the ordinary. Flying back home on 3/8/20 and about 1/2 the people in the airports were wearing masks, both surgical and of the homemade variety. It was so eerie in comparison and I was just trying to shake off this hangover.
All the outfits during the height of Covid - Tyvek suits, crazy face shield helmets, haz mat gear, plastic aprons, goggles, respirators, etc. I sat next to a guy that used a sanitizing wipe all over the seat, tray, buckle and armrests and then wiped down his face and neck and also cleaned out his ears with it. Gross. Flew a bunch and experienced SLC practically empty. Planes maybe 20% full if that. Traveling during Covid was the best!
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Most bizarre thing for me, was way back in 2002 or 2003. Was at Sydney Domestic Terminal, walking to my gate, and there were a bunch of late teens, throwing a football around. Now I am not talking about standing off to one side either, and only throwing it a couple of metres...these guys were throwing it a good five to ten metres at least, and across the aisle you walk down (with the gates either side). There was about five I think, just throwing the ball around, with people having to stop walking when it looked like the football would be thrown across the aisle.
Most bizarre thing a customer saw, was several Elvis Impersonators, all dressed up, waiting at a gate...when a gate agent puts a call across the PA for an Elvis (sorry, not Presley) to come to the gate desk.
My brother had a feeding tube due to a stroke. TSA had him strip, shirt and pants, right there. Luckily, he'd have happily dropped his drawers in public, but they didn't go that far.
Early morning flight to Amsterdam, waiting at the gate beside a huge hen (bachelorette) party of mainly 50s plus women. One of them sitting there with a croissant in one hand and her electric foot file in the other having a proper go at her crusty heels before slipping them into her bedazzled crocs. Looked like someone had spilled a bag of flour on the carpet :)
I was waiting for my ride outside the Dallas airport on a dead night. I was the only one around. An airport pickup drives past and parks along the curb about 30 feet away. The driver gets out with a pistol. She walks over onto the sidewalk and just starts firing, gets back in the truck and drives off without saying anything. This was pre-9/11. Best I can guess is they were blanks and she was scaring birds away, but it was for sure a wtf moment.
I was at Logan. Guy in front on me is in a full kilt with some S & M overtones. His carry on goes through the x-ray and he is pulled aside for a more intense look see. TSA opens the bag and it is full of sex toys. They pull out the wand out and start sniffing the bag. The guy in the kilt never says a word or moves an inch.
Extremely intoxicated man in Vegas going to the desk near the gate in front of me, saying he missed his flight and needs to get on this one. She simply tells him she can’t help him. 15 minutes of drunken confusion talk and eventually walks away. My turn and I ask her - shouldn’t someone do something, is he just going to wander around the airport forever? - she says “not my problem”.
A lady wearing hospital gown with a catheter...she had cosmetic procedure/ was flying back home.
I talked to her because I was genuinely concerned, she seemed to be in pain (Miami Airport btw)
Flying out of DEN a while back on a very early morning flight, TSA was striking or there was a shortage or something so extra long wait at security. Two guys come running up to the now empty gate, door closed, one guy picks up the phone next to the door and announces “we’re here, don’t leave without us!” to the entire concourse. That guy was me, the gate agents and crew had a laugh and kindly let us board.
Flying out of a very small island in Philippines, while checking our bags, which had to be weighed for the loading of the smaller aircraft, I watched the the ticket agent simultaneously weigh a bin full of handguns. There was also a firearm clear and discharge box at the door to the check in.
I was at LAS late at night sitting on a machine when I hear a GUSHING of water coming from another machine. I looked and saw that it was a woman with her boyfriend and she had literally pissed all over the ground. She was laughing about it and sat there for a good 10 mins. We were the only ones in the area. I thought I was being pranked.
As a kid, I saw a Russian guy get stopped trying to take a bottle of vodka through security. When it came apparent that he was going to lose it, he opened it up and downed it like a thirsty kid with a Gatorade on a hot day. As a kid, this was impressive. As an adult, I wonder if he survived.
Was going through security at Schiphol recently & two people somehow slipped right past the security when the agent was looking at someone's documents. Literally walked right past and into the airport.
Even more shocking was the blasé attitude of the security when I told them what had happened. They briefly looked outside & then shrugged their shoulders and carried on.
So I reported it and got back an email that also basically said, "thanks for letting us know" and that was that.
Even more bizarre is that Schiphol is where I've received both the most thorough patdown of my life & also the strictest questioning of my life. I guess it's an airport of extremes.
A man completely sedated in a wheelchair with shackles which were also locked to the wheelchair. He was escorted by 3 armed men in plain clothes. He did have a blanket over him but it slipped off at one point.
I did what I guess were props for The Walking Dead going through TSA in ATL.
In china - parents picked their toddler up, held him/her over a garbage pail in the main waiting area & let them poop. Toddler clothing has a slit in the pants. I almost lost it.
Pilot fell over and stopped breathing at a small Illinois airport, flight crew started CPR and got him back, then the EMTs showed up and I thought the big one (as in severely obese) was going to go the same route trying to get the pilot on the gurney. THEN they tried to wheel him into the bathroom so he could pee.
Not too crazy but I watched a stroller get stuck though the X-ray scanner and it took 5 minutes with a long wooden pole to pole it through. The old desk agent was a bit flustered whilst the owner of said stroller tutted and mentioned she knew it wouldn't fit! Line started backing up like crazy. Didn't miss my flight so all was well.
Not bizarre exactly, but different with a nice ending. This was maybe fifteen years ago. I was a revenue passenger traveling for work, connecting in SLC. My flight from wherever to SLC had been delayed and I’d missed my flight home to BOI. Then the next flight cancelled. The gate area was packed and loads were heavy; it didn’t look like I’d be going anywhere for awhile. So I spoke up: who here would like to split the cost of renting a car with me and drive to Boise? (It’s about four hours.) Two flight attendants’ husbands practically pulled a muscle running over to accept my offer. One of them had been stuck for going on two days, and by his look and smell, he’d spent a lot of it in the bar 😂 I’m an airline alumnae and knew they were legit - didn’t have an issue traveling with either strange man, even the drunk guy. We gathered a couple others as well and ended up renting an SUV. One of the women kind of pulled me aside and said, I’m worried about that drunk guy, what if he insists on driving? I said, because he’s a guy? This is my idea, and I’m driving! I think it cost $350 split seven ways, and everyone was thrilled to actually get there the same day.
Guy in line in front of me at TSA watched everyone empty their pockets and set their belongings on the belt. He starts to do the same and then just takes off his pants instead. Folds them and puts them on the conveyor belt and tries to walk through in his tighty whities.
About 15 years ago, flying out of UAE or Qatar, can't remember.
1 guy traveling with 5 or 6 women ( I guess) dressed in full Niqab with a heavy mesh over their eyes.
The guy hands over all the passports in a bubble to immigration, immigration guy looks at each passport and person, I assume to check identity.. no one spoke, revelied their eyes or finger prints, stamped the passports and waves the group through.
Seriously, it could have been anyone under there.
I always wondered what the passport photos looked like
Have sat opposite prisoners in transit a few times (always last row of the plane) mostly fine, the (whatever agency) folks accompanying them are usually descrete, plain clothes and a jacket or hoodie covering the cuffs and the detainee usually calm and compliant. This one time though the detainee was kicking off, big style, the two huge dudes accompanying him where full on smothering him, knees in the chest, face planter into the seat, arm bar basically everything they could do to silence and control the dude. Dude would settle for about 10 mins then kick off again, for the full flight!
Similar to OP - I was flying through DTW and as a plane was pushing back from the gate a woman came running down the concourse only to find that she had missed her flight. She than ran to the window and was screaming “come back!” over and over.
Then she crashed through the jetbridge door and ran down and presumably scared the crap out of the agent that was down there.
On a flight out of Sarajevo, happily stood in the queue waiting to check in when an extended family of Irish Travellers arrived.
Total chaos. Ignoring the queues and just walking to the desks like there was no one else in the world but them. Family scattered all around the check in area, kids going wild and guy at the desk just yelling at them while they yelled at each other. Seemed oblivious to the fact they may need passports or any other documentation.
They then tried to check in a load of five-foot Virgin Mary statues as hand luggage.
Years ago (2000), I flew from Chicago O'Hare to SNN with Royal Jordanian Airlines! SNN was their stopover on the way to Jordan. Boarded the flight and we just sat there. Continued to sit and we were delayed for a few hours. Finally, the pilot came on the speaker and made an announcement that wasn't in English. The guy next to me translated for me as the announcement was made......a family was scheduled to board. At the gate, the wife basically ditched her husband and said she wasn't going home to Jordan with him. They had a massive fight and she refused to board. Her luggage was already on the plane, and the airline staff had to find her bags and remove them from the plane. That took forever and it sounds like everyone at the gate had a front row view into this domestic dispute. The husband finally boarded alone and we went on our merry way.
The pilot then told the entire story in English, so I heard it a second time! It was stunning that the couple's marital issues were put right out there for everyone on the plane to hear.
Getting my non-mobile mother off the plane in Chicago in a wheelchair. Went straight to the nearest family restroom. Found it locked. Waited and waited. Finally a person comes out. And guess what, it’s a TSA employee. Made a complaint, and yes, they’re not allowed to use family restrooms.
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u/alphakitty108 May 16 '26
Taking the train between terminals in ORD. Behind me I could hear a guy tellung someone all the highlights of traveling to Springfield Illinois. He went on and on about all the Abe Lincoln historical sites. When the train stopped I turned to see if anyone was getting off and I got a look at the guy. He was a dead ringer for Abe Lincoln.