3. Newark Airport, for the most devious way to get you to rent a
luggage cart -- twice. Citing security concerns, the airport
(unlike dozens of other airports), does not allow rental
luggage carts to pass through X-ray machines. Instead, cart
renters are told to abandon heir carts which they just rented
about four minutes earlier and put their luggage on the
examination belt. You'll never guess what's on the other side
of the X-ray machine. More carts for rent.
2. A Russian cargo plane, for dropping cows in midair, plus a
special "and you thought
the-dog-ate-the-homework-excuse-was-lame" award to the crew of
a trawler that sank in the middle of the sea of Japan. When
rescuers picked them up, the sailors all told the same story.
They said the reason their ship went down was that a cow had
fallen on it, bashing a huge hole in the hull below the
waterline. No one believed the crew, and they were
imprisoned. Several weeks later, the crew was released when
the true story emerged from Russia. Yes, a cow had indeed
sunk their ship. It seems a crew of a Russian cargo plane
admitted they had stolen several cows they had discovered
grazing near an airfield on Sakhalin island, and had loaded
them onto the aircraft for the flight home. But a small
problem erupted en route. The terrified cows panicked and
started a small stampede inside the plane. The crew was
unable to restrain them, and ultimately claimed they had no
choice but to don oxygen masks, lower the cargo ramp and push
them out at 30,000 feet.
1. American Airlines gets the "No money? No ID? No problem"
statuette. A 12-year-old runaway dressed in a T-shirt and
cut-offs simply hopped aboard a bus to the Miami Airport.
When he got there, he found a line and stood in it. Within
minutes, he was sitting in a first-class seat on an American
Airlines jet to Jamaica. He had lunch. He ordered a Sprite.
He landed in Jamaica. It was only when he attempted to check
in at a posh resort that it was discovered that he wasn't
exactly where he should be, and he was flown home. And no, he
didn't get mileage. American Airlines insists it had great
security. Now, if the kid were only wearing smelly shoes...