Travel News

Icarus Award: Common Sense Takes a Back Seat

Locations in this article:  Denver, CO Houston, TX Las Vegas, NV

Profiting from celebrity deaths, bathroom bombs, and stolen jewelry. This week’s travel failures have questionable taste and not a lot of common sense. Find out what exactly landed these nominees in the Icarus Awards and vote for the worst offender.

Next Stop, Houston
A mere 48 hours after the tragic incident, the Beverly Hilton Hotel, site of Whitney Houston’s untimely death, has been added as a stop on the macabre “Dearly Departed Tragical History Tour.” This is a route that already features the death sites of Michael Jackson and Janis Joplin, along with the infamous Menendez house. When it’s available, officials also plan to add the recording of the 911 call made the day of her death. Too soon.

Renegade Cat Takes Denver
Give a cat an inch and he’ll take a mile, apparently. Achilles, a cat stuck in the ceiling at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, discovered freedom on Monday and it took days to lure the willful feline back down. His owner let him out to use the litter box, at which point Achilles hopped onto a sink and up into a hole in the ceiling leftover from construction. Official tried to tempt the exotic Bengal cat with food, bells, milk, and even other cats. Finally, he was safely coaxed down by a tuna-laden trap, much to the relief of his owners who were long gone from the airport.

Paging James Bond
A woman flying US Airways to Las Vegas had $160,000 worth of jewelery stolen after letting it slip that her bag was full of valuables. When Rita Lamberg, 69, explained that there was more than $100,000 worth of jewelry in the back and she was uncomfortable checking it, she was allowed to carry it. However, an airline worker then told her there was no more room in the overhead bins and she would have to check her bag or get off the flight. When she reached her destination and claimed her checked luggage, the woman found it in disarray with multiple piece of jewelry missing. She’s offering a $10,000 reward for information that could lead to the items’ return, and admits she could have been more discreet about the valuable contents in her bag.

Who Dropped a Bomb in the Bathroom?
Schiphol Airport is up and running after operations at two terminals came to a screeching halt when authorities set in to investigate a man claiming to have locked himself in the bathroom with a bomb. The military police have not yet confirmed whether the man did, in fact, have a bomb, but the whole incident lead to an evacuation and numerous delayed flights at the airport.

Down the Escape Hatch
A man presumably had enough of the screaming child next to him while sitting on the tarmac, and responded to the mom’s request for help getting off the plane by opening the emergency door. The incident, which took place at Ho Chi Minh City airport, triggered the emergency slide but no one actually evacuated the plane. The man is likely to face hefty fines for his overly zealous attempt to help the harried mom make a quick escape.

By Lauren Herztik for PeterGreenberg.com.
Photo credit: Mira66, via Flickr

No big surprise, Spirit Airlines won the award last week. Check out more winners and losers in our Icarus Awards section.

 

Related Links: Daily MailThe Denver ChannelNew York PostAssociated PressUSA Today