There are the most unusual items passengers have tried to smuggle onto their flight
I’m sure you’re a pretty seasoned traveller. You know the ropes. Despite airlines having differing baggage allowances, I’m sure you’re sensible enough to know that you’re not allowed huge vats of liquid, sharp implements, explosives, and so on. It’s just common sense, right?
Well, some people either think the rules don’t apply to them, are willing to take the risk of trying to transport something bizarre, or simply have very little common sense. Here’s our list of unusual items that people have tried to get on board their flight.
A frozen turkey
Staff at Cardiff airport stopped a passenger casually strolling through security with a 4.5 kg (10 lb) frozen turkey under his arm. When told he wasn’t allowed to take perishable foodstuffs on board without special permission, he replied “Why are you making a fuss? Will it thaw out at 30,000 feet?”
Things that look like guns
#TSA found this inert grenade @lseairport checkpoint Sunday morning. This is the second one found there in the last three weeks. If it looks like an explosive, please don’t bring it to an airport. pic.twitter.com/oh3OrYQQRf
— TSAmedia_Carrie (@TSAmedia_Carrie) September 10, 2018
Police were called to Stansted airport when a suspicious object was x-rayed… It turned out to be an iPhone holder in the shape of a gun. See also: a belt buckle shaped like a pistol confiscated on a flight out of Los Angeles. Oh, and you wouldn’t believe the amount of souvenir replica grenades people like to buy. Souvenir. Grenades. Including, I might add, salt and pepper shakers that were confiscated from one traveller’s luggage because they were — that’s right — made from grenades.
A turtle in a bun
A Mr Li tried to board a flight to Beijing with a burger in a box that he claimed he’d bought in the airport. Not a problem, you’d think… except security discovered some “strange bulges”. Turns out Mr Li was trying to transport his pet turtle in the hamburger. When questioned, he replied: “No, it’s not a turtle. Just a hamburger. There is really nothing to see.”
A chainsaw
One Transportation Security Administration agent in the US tells of a time she stopped a passenger trying to get a chainsaw through security. He seemed bemused as to why this should be a problem, but then reckoned he’d worked it out. “I can take it through if I empty out the gas, right?”
What airport was this? RT @ScottDeYager Who hasn’t accidentally carried a chainsaw on a plane? #MileHighJuggle pic.twitter.com/GptxilvdjL
— Holly Potter (@htpotter) April 24, 2013
“I just stared at him for a very long time,” said the agent.
Snow globes
Not precisely a deadly weapon, but these are among the most commonly confiscated items. The reason? They often exceed the 100 ml of liquid rule.
A lightsaber
Peter Mayhew, the veteran English actor who played Chewbacca in Star Wars, was stopped at Denver airport on his way home from Colorado Springs Comic Con. The seven-foot-three-inch actor uses a very long and unusually heavy walking stick… disguised as a lightsaber. Security had to work out if it constituted a weapon or not; luckily, they allowed that it didn’t.
A dead cow
A couple tried to check in for a flight from JFK to Heathrow with a cow carcass wrapped in bubble wrap and placed on a trolley as if it was the most normal thing in the world. The request was declined.
A bathtub
A South African traveller heading home from the UK to Johannesburg had clearly found her dream bath in one of London’s interior design stores. The only question was: how to get it home? Well, just check it in at the airport and you’re away! Easy, right?! No.
51 tropical fish and 44 geckos
“Flipping noises” alerted security in Singapore to a woman carrying a selection of tropical fish in water-filled pouches attached to an apron she was wearing underneath her dress. In other, similar news, a German man was caught trying to smuggle 44 geckos and skinks out of New Zealand in his trousers. Whatever floats your boat.
17 severed heads
Seventeen severed human heads are discovered by customs agents at Chicago O’Hare https://t.co/hxAGBdHX pic.twitter.com/WZw5d9VJ
— Francis Anderson (@francisanderson) January 16, 2013
It’s actually fine to transport 17 severed heads if you’ve got the right paperwork. Medical research centres need body parts all the time. However, in 2013, Chicago’s O’Hare airport lost a shipment of 17 severed heads, sparking a desperate — ahem — head-hunt to recover them again.
