Halloween is here and hopefully you have a bowl of candy at the ready for the Trick-or-Treaters. Before they start banging on the door, grab some of those mini Snickers bars and read some of the scary travel stories folks sent me for this week’s Well Mannered Traveler column on MSNBC.com.
Gregg Rottler, curator of Flights from Hell Web site, helped me choose the stories to publish, but there were loads we didn’t have room for. And a couple I didn’t quite believe…
Earlier this month, TSA officers scanning luggage at the Tucson International Airport (TUS) discovered a human skull inside a passenger’s suitcase. When pulled off the plane and questioned, the woman told police that the skull wasn’t technically hers (it belonged to her boyfriend), that it had been sitting in her garden for years and that it was scheduled to be a Halloween prop.
According to news reports, police searched the woman’s home, a medical examiner confirmed that the skull was “not fresh” (my words, not his) and the woman was allowed to, ahem, head on north to Philadelphia and complete her trip.
The skull stayed behind.
This is just one of the recent scary travel stories, “ripped from the headlines,” included in my Well-Mannered Traveler column on MSNBC.com this week. With Halloween still a week away, I’m asking MSNBC readers – and you – to send in more spooky travel adventure tales.
The best stories will mysteriously show up in next week’s column. I even have a guest curator lined up.
There’s way too much intriguing, puzzling and just plain bizarre stuff happening at airports this week. So as we head into the weekend, here are some items I’ve filed under “find out more….”
According to this article in the Los Angeles Times, the FAA may make the agency that manages Los Angeles International Airportand several other area airports give back millions of dollars – maybe $40 million – that it may have improperly given to the city’s convention and visitor’s bureau to help promote tourism in the area. Other airports have also undergone this scrutiny.
Airports ARE a city’s front door, so it makes sense that an airport would want to be included in the overall promotion for a city. The federal government gets that and, according to the article, allows airport funds to be used for “advertising, marketing and promotions designed to increase air travel at an airport…” But only “as long as the efforts specifically relate to an airport’s amenities, airlines and advantages for travelers.”
I’m going to find out more.
Meanwhile… where does an alligator wait for its flight?
In Naples, Florida – anywhere it wants to…
Earlier this week, the Naples Municipal Airportwas shut down for a while because an alligator wandered onto the runway, interfering with landings.
According to news reports, two Collier County Sheriff’s Office deputies, with no trapping experience, assisted in capturing the gator. One used the skid of a helicopter to pin the gator down by its tail. The other tied the gator to the helicopter with a rope until a professional trapper arrived.
And in Tucson, Arizona on Wednesday morning, security officers at Tucson International Airport discovered a human skull in a checked piece of luggage. The woman transporting the skull told the TSA that her boyfriend had given her the skull and that she was taking it to Philadelphia for Halloween.
On second thought, I’m not sure I need to find out more…
