Travel News

Icarus Award: X Marks the Gender, Dogs on the Runway & a Seat Belt Straitjacket

Icarus & Daedalus Mural in Chicago - photo via Flickr user swanksalot

Locations in this article:  London, England

It doesn’t pay to mistreat a flight attendant, though you may win an Icarus award for doing so. Last week’s flight attendant biting incident beat out Green Day’s Billy Joe Armstrong’s baggy pants for an Icarus win. This week, flight attendants were manhandled and punched all in the course of becoming one of the week’s most egregious travel flubs. Check out this week’s travel failures and register your vote in the poll below:

Pat Goes Down Under
In a progressive move, Australian passports now have three gender options: male, female and indeterminate. Looking to undo discrimination against transgender and intersex people, those who are neither biologically entirely male or female will qualify for the new X-listing. Transgender people, whose physical body does not match their gender identity, can choose to pick male or female, as opposed to x, as long as their choice is supported by a doctor’s note. Prior to the introduction of this new policy, a full sex change was required for a passport change, but now X marks the gender.

Who Let the Dogs Out?
Maybe it was Sarah Palin who released the hound this week in Juneau, Alaska. Regardless of the perpetrator, this past Sunday, two loose dogs made their way onto the airport’s runway delaying the landing of an Alaska Airline flight into Juneu International Airport. Animal control was able to catch one of the black Labradors, though the other is still missing. Local news reports that the dogs’ owner was out of town during the incident and the dogs were being looked after by someone else. However, the dog’s owner will be cited.

Pistol Packing Pilot

After the recent spate of Playboy bunnies and athletes packing heat as they pass through security, you would think a pilot would know better. But now a JetBlue pilot is the latest to face a weapon’s possession charge. After passing through security in New York’s LaGuardia Airport, pilot Robert Paulson was seen traveling with a 40-caliber H&K pistol and bullets. The next leg of this Iowa-based pilot’s journey will be to court on September 19.

Seat Belt Straitjacket

On a recent flight from Majorca to Newcastle, an unknown 22-year-old passenger had to be restrained when he tried to open the plane’s emergency doors after being convinced he was only “on a flight simulator.” The Thomson Airlines flight crew restrained the man but not before he punched his friends who were trying to prevent him from opening the door at 36,000 feet. The passenger was tied down with eight seat belts, and his plane was diverted from Newcastle to Gatwick.

A Not-So-Virgin Flyer

British citizen Katherine Goldberg got a little cheeky as she flew from South Africa to London this past August. Having had a few alcoholic beverages, Goldberg began to feel amorous and literally grabbed the closest male. A Northwest London court alleges that Goldberg sexually assaulted one of the male crew members by demanding to have sex with him and grabbing his penis and crotch area. The UK court is charging her with sexual assault and being drunk on an aircraft, but her lawyer has indicated that he is looking to secure a formal caution to avoid a full prosecution, though there might also be a guilty plea of some sort.

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By Lily J. Kosner for PeterGreenberg.com

Related links: CNN, Huffington Post, Huffington Post, USA Today, Huffington Post

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