Odd Airport experiences you've witnesses or been part of.

[Butch]

I'm inspired to throw this topic up as after reading @Lemondropkid 'srecent experiences whereby an Indian guy approached him, I thought it might be an idea to put up any experiences we've had or even advice on how not to get scammed either leaving or being inside the Airport, as they are ripe areas for pickpockets and scammers. All credit for this Topic goes to him! 🙂

I've got a few anecdotal experiences to share. Bombay airport exit area is full of guys looking for new arrivals to scam. Basically they offer to help, get hold of your trolley and won't let you push it, so they then expect a tip or direct you to a friend who has a taxi. Same applies going in, guys will say they're free airport service, grab your trolley and expect a tip for pushing it 20 yards.

Manila airport also has helpers, (NAIA), but these guys actually do help. If the Queue outside the terminal is long, for the rough amount of 300php (£5 or so) depending on the amount of cases you have , they will bypass the queues, put your luggage through the scanner and get you to the other side. Not a scam, more of a premium service option.

Careful in the smaller Airports of the PI though, one trick is for someone to get close to your luggage and hide a bullet in it (live). It gets picked up by the scanner, where the Policeman is part of the scam, and a "settlement" is asked for.

I've been approached twice , once in Singapore (Changi) back in the 90's picking up my luggage. A young guy asked me if I could help him put his case on top of mine on my trolley as he had hurt his back and couldn't push one. I told him that there's plenty of Policemen and security to help him through customs, but I'm not one of them. Second time was at Kuala Lumpur, again in the 90's, a Russian guy asked me if I wanted to change his leftover Ringgits for USD at what was a really favourable price. I just ignored him. notes were probably fake.

My strangest experience was being pulled in for a search at LHR in '91. Guy said he was from the Airline and flashed a HMRC badge!, took me into a room with 2 coppers and asked me to empty my luggage. Nothing was said when I offered all my ID. I knew he was lying so gave him a bit of an attitude, doing my "resisting interrogation" routine but with extra added cuntishness, I started asking awkward questions, making life difficult and generally giving him a headache, making disparaging comments about how the collective IQ of the MET was less than the average farmyard etc etc. After the search, I got no explanation, no apology as I was clean, and just told to f**k off. Still to this day I've no idea why I was pulled in.

Edited December 29, 2023 by Butch

[Nightcrawler]

I have been quite lucky overall but I do recall, many years ago my experience with the one and only time I have flown with Aeroflot to BKk via Moscow  

When we arrived at Moscow, the connecting flight was seriously delayed.  Passengers were giving a meal ticket to be redeemed in some remote part of the airport. 

Eventually we were sat at tables and some very large ugly women arrived with what was supposed to be lunch. They looked sour faced and  miserable as hell

They slapped plates on the table containing a small piece of meat, not sure what it was, some cabbage, a potato and a stale tasteless bit of bread  

I was sitting with a small group of young Danish students who were vegetarians  .

They were trying to explain that they were vegetarians to the poker faced serving women. 

Eventually the message got through and a woman came over and removed the meat from their plates 😁😁😁

I must admit.it it was funny as f"ck although the food itself was inedible to start with  

[bob lt]

Transit through Muscat, Oman on my way to BKK.

The departure lounge had a single toilet also suitable for disabled. A man left and I entered for a pee. After washing my hands I went to the door, the handle was missing, only the spindle showing. Tried to open by hand but unable. Banged on the door and shouted as the plane was boarding by this time. Luckily as a disabled facility the was a pull cord alarm.

Security guy opened the door and I pointed to the door. He asked where is the handle, no idea I said and ran past him to the airbridge.

I still wonder if the previous man stole it or how else did he exit.

[Butch]

2 hours ago, bob lt said:

Transit through Muscat, Oman on my way to BKK.

The departure lounge had a single toilet also suitable for disabled. A man left and I entered for a pee. After washing my hands I went to the door, the handle was missing, only the spindle showing. Tried to open by hand but unable. Banged on the door and shouted as the plane was boarding by this time. Luckily as a disabled facility the was a pull cord alarm.

Security guy opened the door and I pointed to the door. He asked where is the handle, no idea I said and ran past him to the airbridge.

I still wonder if the previous man stole it or how else did he exit.

I spent a lot of time at Seeb during the 70's / 80's and 90's , most of it unpleasant. At least you made the flight, I remember flying on the GF L1011 Tristars which, when the "No smoking" light went off, you passively smoked 400 Bensons all the way to LHR...

[Lemondropkid]

7 hours ago, Butch said:

I'm inspired to throw this topic up as after reading @Lemondropkid 'srecent experiences whereby an Indian guy approached him, I thought it might be an idea to put up any experiences we've had or even advice on how not to get scammed either leaving or being inside the Airport, as they are ripe areas for pickpockets and scammers. All credit for this Topic goes to him! 🙂

I've got a few anecdotal experiences to share. Bombay airport exit area is full of guys looking for new arrivals to scam. Basically they offer to help, get hold of your trolley and won't let you push it, so they then expect a tip or direct you to a friend who has a taxi. Same applies going in, guys will say they're free airport service, grab your trolley and expect a tip for pushing it 20 yards.

Manila airport also has helpers, (NAIA), but these guys actually do help. If the Queue outside the terminal is long, for the rough amount of 300php (£5 or so) depending on the amount of cases you have , they will bypass the queues, put your luggage through the scanner and get you to the other side. Not a scam, more of a premium service option.

Careful in the smaller Airports of the PI though, one trick is for someone to get close to your luggage and hide a bullet in it (live). It gets picked up by the scanner, where the Policeman is part of the scam, and a "settlement" is asked for.

I've been approached twice , once in Singapore (Changi) back in the 90's picking up my luggage. A young guy asked me if I could help him put his case on top of mine on my trolley as he had hurt his back and couldn't push one. I told him that there's plenty of Policemen and security to help him through customs, but I'm not one of them. Second time was at Kuala Lumpur, again in the 90's, a Russian guy asked me if I wanted to change his leftover Ringgits for USD at what was a really favourable price. I just ignored him. notes were probably fake.

My strangest experience was being pulled in for a search at LHR in '91. Guy said he was from the Airline and flashed a HMRC badge!, took me into a room with 2 coppers and asked me to empty my luggage. Nothing was said when I offered all my ID. I knew he was lying so gave him a bit of an attitude, doing my "resisting interrogation" routine but with extra added cuntishness, I started asking awkward questions, making life difficult and generally giving him a headache, making disparaging comments about how the collective IQ of the MET was less than the average farmyard etc etc. After the search, I got no explanation, no apology as I was clean, and just told to f**k off. Still to this day I've no idea why I was pulled in.

Had 2 weird airport experiences yesterday, the second one more worrying.

I had my boarding pass for Bangkok Airways on my phone.

At the bag drop I was given card one didn't even look at it. Went down the gate and for the first time I can recall at BKK airport there was no passport check before you entered the gate.

As I was getting up to board I noticed my seat number had changed from 20C to 24D. Didn't think too much of it, odd but maybe they had a large group to sit together.

I'm then sat on the plane, and there a passenger announcement of my name!

Identify myself and a security lady appears, and ask for my boarding pass. She looks it at it, and then asks me why am I carrying another passagers boarding pass!!!

I looked at it, the surname was mine but a different first and forename, I was stunned 😯

She wasn't happy, luckily I had my phone, and was able to show my "real" boarding pass.

However she was then grilling me on my baggage tag, that also wasn't in my name!!

After a couple of minutes of the walkie talkie, she nodded and walked off. Didn't tell me things were ok, I was just relieved I wasn't hauled off the flight.

Luckily on landing there was no boarding pass check, or I'd have been screwed with immigration.

Thankfully my bag was there on the carousel.

I took photos later of the real, and wrong boarding pass. I privately shared them with a fellow BM, in a did that really just happen moment.

To top the day I then got a taxi to the wrong hotel.

Somehow I never suspected that since I was last in PP, my hotel had opened a second branch.

Can't make it up😛

[Yesitisdakid]

1997 while waiting for my flight home got a blowjob at the Old airport at the barbershop / salon across from the coffee shop on the second floor. It was then that I realized this country is great 

[coxyhog]

I spent all my working life around airports.

Probably my worst experience was at Dhahran,after arriving from Bangkok half pissed & queuing for an age at passport control I was next in line & the desk closed.Had to go to the back of another queue.Then of course after that  there was Saudi customs who were a right royal pain in the arse.

[Horizondave]

Back in 1980 a passenger came up to my desk in Terminal Two and asked me to endorse his ticket to travel on Swissair to Zurich. He was early to the airport and decided that he could catch the earlier Swissair flight instead of his later BA flight.

I informed him that he could not go earlier as his ticket was an APEX type, which did not allow changes. He remonstrated with me but got no where. He then decided to show his displeasure by ripping the ticket to shreds.

He then goes to terminal one to check in but got refused due to the ticket being defaced (legal term for ripped up ticket). He then came back to me, thinking I could help as I had seen his ticket. Well the answer was no, so he ended up having to buy a completely new ticket one way (more than his APEX ticket return) at the Swissair desk. He was not a happy man.

Few more stories to tell later. 

[Butch]

4 hours ago, Horizondave said:

Back in 1980 a passenger came up to my desk in Terminal Two and asked me to endorse his ticket to travel on Swissair to Zurich. He was early to the airport and decided that he could catch the earlier Swissair flight instead of his later BA flight.

I informed him that he could not go earlier as his ticket was an APEX type, which did not allow changes. He remonstrated with me but got no where. He then decided to show his displeasure by ripping the ticket to shreds.

He then goes to terminal one to check in but got refused due to the ticket being defaced (legal term for ripped up ticket). He then came back to me, thinking I could help as I had seen his ticket. Well the answer was no, so he ended up having to buy a completely new ticket one way (more than his APEX ticket return) at the Swissair desk. He was not a happy man.

Few more stories to tell later. 

I've seen a few people really lose their biscuits at Check in. I a always polite and engage in a bit of small talk with the Staff, it can be the difference between being let off being 3kg over or stumping up $25 per kg penalty.

I've seen an African woman going ballistic because she was refused an upgrade at the desk, calling the lady a racist and pulling every reason out of the bag, the lady at the counter simply sat there, smiling until the African woman got the message. Better still, once on board it seemed her seat had been allocated right at the rear of the Aircraft near the toilets. No idea how that may have happened...

Few years ago in LHR T2 a couple were having an argument. The wife threw all the tickets and passports in the air and stormed off. Hubby just shook his head, picked everything up and went straight to the Bar!.

Edited December 30, 2023 by Butch

[Lantern]

First trip was 16 days on Phuket, with a friend.

Second trip I landed in BKK, solo. When I get to immigration the girl on the desk starts flipping backwards and forwards through my passport with an increasing sense of urgency.

"Trouble" I enquired, after a minute or two, to which she says "Yes big trouble" and then calls over some dude with masses of scrambled egg on his shoulder and on the peak of his cap, who was also thumbing through my passport. I sensed he was looking for something that wasn't there and that's when I realised that Phuket had not stamped my exit the previous year. 

I think they were thinking I had been in Thailand for the whole year.

For a minute there I felt they were going to put me back on the plane that I had just got off.

Then I happened to find the boarding pass for the previous year. 

Now whether it was a face saving thing or something else entirely, I was waved through with plenty of smiles all round.

Close call or what?

 

[tommy dee]

end of first gulf conflict, flew into bahrain and was picked up, to travel to SA via the causeway.  in the middle was an island affair with customs.  demanded to know why a brit had US Army ID, then took all bags from the boot and dropped them from a great height before going to make a phone call.  told later that was their trick, to see if any bottles smashed .. and nick you, as SA is almost a dry country ( minus local brew sadiki of course)

 

UK leaving on Eva, cops pulled me over, and asked questions I was kinda rude, they then stopped me and threatened to prevent me boarding.  meanwhile bloke cam back and had everything on me, told me I might have a problem renewing my shotgun licence next time.. cnut..  told he could keep it  ( I Was moving over here soon ).  needless to say, I made the flight

[forqalso]

My employer used to send me to Alaska several times a year. It was always a two day trip to get there and get home. We’d fly from Sacramento to Anchorage and spend the night before continuing on north the next day. ConocoPhillips had their own check-in counter at the airport just like Delta or American. They flew us up in a 737 to Dead Horse and we’d take the last leg in a little puddle jumper. So, I would go through security twice going up. 
On the way back, I go through security in Dead Horse, get to Anchorage to be treated to a nice steak dinner thanks to Dresser Rand.  The next morning, at security, my laptop bag goes through X-ray once, then again. I was asked to stand aside because they needed to do a hand search of the bag.
I’m just standing there waiting when the TSA agent announces, “I found it” while pulling her hand out of my bag holding a 7.62 rifle cartridge. I was fairly shocked. They told me to stand by and the police would be there soon.
I told the cops; when they got there, that I had bought a 1,000 round case of ammo and stored all I could in an ammo can and put the rest in a bag in one of the cabinets in my travel trailer. Once, while moving the trailer to a new location, the cabinet opened and spilled the contents of the bag onto the floor.  The laptop bag was directly beneath the cabinets and one round must have made it into its pocket.
Luckily, the cop was cool and let me go in time to catch my flight. I don’t know if me making it through airport security three times before they found it played into his decision or not.
 
 

 

 

[Smiler]

Not at an airport but it happpened while I was waiting to go through Immigration coming into Thailand at the bridge in Nong Khai. Was a Friday afternoon and the place was absolutely rammed. I was playing backgammon on my phone, not really paying too much attention to what was going on around me when suddenly all hell breaks loose at the desk about 3 or 4 meters in front. Immigration officers running about, shouting but above all the sound of a women screaming.

A white woman, I am guessing from Russia(??) was refused entry and went into meltdown, then she started tearing her clothes off. Not something you see every day at immigration, nice pair of tits by the way....