Travel News

Icarus Award: Baggy Pants, Biting Passengers, and Bad Behavior

Icarus sculpture by Charles Umlauf on the campus of the University of Kansas

Locations in this article:  Anchorage, AK Bangkok, Thailand Madison, WI Phoenix, AZ Seattle, WA Tacoma, WA

Seven snakes in your pants earns you one Icarus Award in your hand. Last week’s animal smuggler has become an Icarus winner, but he won’t hold the title for too long. We have five new nominees for this week’s most egregious travel failure.

Biting Words
On a recent Alaska Airlines flight from Anchorage to Seattle, an unidentified 39-year-old Alaska Airlines passenger allegedly rushed the cockpit and bit a crew member on the arm. The incident occurred after the plane had landed at Seattle-Tacoma Airport, and the passenger was apparently anxious to de-board the plane. According to an airport spokesman, the crew were able to subdue the man who was first taken to a local hospital for a mental health evaluation before being brought to King County Jail, where he will be booked on investigation of felony assault.

Continental Confusion
Continental Connection passengers were returning to Sulphur, Louisiana on Wednesday night, only to find themselves 18 miles away at the Lake Charles Regional airport. This is the third time in 15 years that pilots have made this error, and it now is standard for displaced passengers to share a limo ride to the appropriate airport. According to the Southland Field manager, the airport confusion occurs because the two airports are on the same latitude. Because runways are oriented according to prevailing winds, the two neighboring airports can look similar from the air, he tells KPLC.

Billy Joe Armstrong, Green Day

Billy Joe Armstrong in concert at Madison Square Garden. Credit: Naomi Lir, via flickr

American Idiot or Icarus Idiot?
You may think punk music and baggy clothes go hand in hand, but you better hike your pants up a notch when you’re trying to fly Southwest. Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong learned this lesson the hard way this week when he was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland to Burbank after he refused a flight attendant’s request to raise his plants. Armstrong took to Twitter, saying, “Just got kicked off a Southwest flight because my pants sagged too low! What the f(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)? No joke!”Southwest released a statement that Armstrong was allowed onto the next flight and had informed a customer relations agent that he had no further complaints. The statement read, “as soon as we became aware of what had happened, we reached out to apologize for this customer’s experience… [we] understand from the customer that the situation was resolved to his satisfaction.” Perhaps, Armstrong bought a belt as he was waiting for the next flight?

Cellular Rage
A Southwest passenger unable to wait to use his cellphone now finds himself scrounging for quarters for a jailhouse call. Local El Paso, Texas, police arrested the passenger, who was flying in from Phoenix, after he refused to turn off his cell phone. According to an airline spokesperson, the passenger turned his cell phone on as the flight was landing in El Paso on Monday. As the plane pulled up the gate, the passenger was repeatedly asked to turn his phone off, but he refused. Authorities met the aircraft and arrested the passenger.

City Mouse, Flying Mouse
A small mouse has grounded a Nepal Airlines plane indefinitely. After flight attendants spotted the critter on the Boeing 757, the airline choose to cancel the flight bound for Bangkok, returning all the passengers to the gate and towing the jet into the hanger. It was thought that the mouse entered the plane through a food catering truck, but then scampered toward the back of the plane where it was eventually spotted by flight attendants. The crew hunted for the mouse to no avail, thus eventually canceling the Bangkok flight. According to a spokesman, the plane remains out of order until the stow-away rodent is found.

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By Lily J. Kosner for PeterGreenberg.com

Related links:USA Today, MSNBC, MSNBC, Huffington PostHuffington Post

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