Airport StoriesBack when I was a moody teenager I took a cheap flight that involved changing planes and having to go through security again. My bags were pre-checked so, when I set off the metal detector, I honestly said to the security guy that I had no idea what had set it off.
Until, that is, he searched me and found the metal knife and fork stamped "KLM" I'd nicked off the previous flight.
Tell us your best airport stories.
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chthonic, Fri 3 Mar 2006, 10:09)
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the bass gunI'm a bassist in my spare time, and my first good instrument was one of the Steinberger type with the tiny body. This was while I was living in South Africa; before I moved back to the UK I had to find a strong case to transport it in, and in that part of the world, guns are more common than guitars, so I settled on a strong plastic rifle case.
As some of you may know, the necks of most guitars contain a metal reinforcing bar, called a "truss rod", which is usually round. The bass has one, and also contains electronic components (pickup, wire etc.). Some of you might have guessed where this story is going by now...
I landed at Heathrow and went to get my luggage; the bass/rifle case came through the "oversized" chute, which took me a bit of time to figure out. I went over there, grabbed the case... and three big guys grabbed me. I was frogmarched over to Customs, who started grilling me about the rifle I was BLOODY STUPID enough to put in the hold of a plane, that they had seen on the X-Ray... until I got the case open, and everyone had a laugh. Almost. Just for kicks they went through all my tightly-packed luggage, and gave me another bollocking when they found I was carrying some "biltong" (beef jerky), which they let me keep anyway.
The case did its job very well - I still have it, and the bass, today, 15 years later.
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bnt what, me worry?, Fri 3 Mar 2006, 20:55,
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