Travel News
Icarus Award: Depardewww, Billy Goat Gruff & Stinky Security
Gerard Depardieu 2010 - Credit: Georges Biard via Wikipedia.org
The votes are in…Ryanair’s penny-pinching heart attack sandwich incident is our most recent Icarus winner!
Former U.S. ski team member Robert Vietzche came in such a close second, he even had a celebrity copy-cat this week.
Though the family affected is denying the incident occurred, he has since been dismissed from the ski team’s development squad.
An In-Continental Situation
French actor and Golden Globe winner, Gérard Depardieu had another golden incident on Tuesday night. On a CityJet flight from Paris to Dublin, the air crew told him the thespian that he would have to wait until take-off to use the restroom. The pampered celebrity instead decided to urinate in the cabin in front of his fellow passengers. The airline released a statement confirming the incident and then took to their Twitter account for some more light-hearted musings, tweeting out: “As you may have seen on the news, we are busy mopping the floor of one of our planes this morning,” and “We’d also like to remind all passengers that our planes are fully equipped with toilet facilities.” The flight was delayed for two hours for cleaning. It was not clear whether any action would be taken against Depardieu. Though Depardieu has been in numerous films, his number one role this year just might be in late-night comedians’ monologues.
Flying the Too Friendly Skies
On Monday Ramesh Advani, 64, was sentenced to a year in prison by the U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J. Advani plead guilty to charges of abusive sexual conduct after an incident where he fondled a sleeping woman on a 15 hour Continental Flight from Newark to Hong Kong in May 2010. The sleeping woman was unaware of Advani’s attention until two passengers kicked her seat and alerted her to the incident.
Icarus Statue at the Air Force Museum-photo via Dospaz
After release from prison, Advani, 64, a resident of Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, will also have to pay a $10,000 fine and serve five years of supervised release. From a registered sex offender and to Icarus nominee, it’s been a week of dubious achievements.
Billy Goat Gets Gruff
An august hike through Austrian seemed like a pleasant way for Stefan Prill and his wife Anja Buder to enjoy their summer vacation, but one billy goat had a different plan in mind. ORF, the Austrian news network, reported that the couple were harassed for three hours by a persistent billy goat’s attack. In order to stop the goat’s butting, Prill grabbed the beast by the horns and dragged it on a three-hour-journey down the mountain to the Tyrollean village of Ausservillgraten. Every time, Prill let go of the horns the goat attacked again. There were no serious injuries from the goat attack, but, according to ORF, the local police are asking the goat’s owner to pay for Buder’s ripped trousers.
The Smutty Small Screen
Australian airline Qantas is getting attention for their questionably pornographic title on-demand movie selection. The airline’s “The Edge” channel is offering a film called “The Female Orgasm Explained” that has excerpts from old porn flicks as well as explicit graphics and sound effects. The film does have a warning that it is intended only for mature audiences, but it is available to all passengers. Attendants are able to block the channel from showing at individual seats, but parents must be aware of the film in order to block it. Despite or perhaps because of the attention, Qantas has said that the documentary is the most popular program on The Edge channel and will be included in programming until November.
Security Stinks
A new $6 million dollar trial security machine installed in Sydney and Melbourne might not pass the sniff test. After an airline passenger passed through the full body scans in a recent experiment, the alarm inaccurately sounded three times. The machine, which has advanced software programmed to detect miniscule differences in radio-wave radiation, was thought to be set off by the passenger’s armpits. Throughout Europe, the machine has been criticized for not functioning properly. Sweaty pit incidents aside, Australia will make a final decision about the new technology after another trial in Melbourne next month.
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By Lily J. Kosner for PeterGreenberg.com. Depardieu photo via Georges Baird. Icarus Statue photo via Flickr user Dospaz.
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