Following on from a previous survey highlighting some of the strangest, most unusual requests its staff have received over the past few years, Virgin Atlantic Airways has once again asked its staff for feedback on its passengers. This time it was the airline’s ground staff that were questioned, and the topic was… What are the strangest items passengers have ever tried to check-in on a Virgin Atlantic flight?
We have all been at the check-in desk and heard the commotion as passengers and agents discuss just what can and cannot be taken onboard or witnessed passengers frantically trying to repack bags to reduce weight. There are even videos of passengers adding layer upon layer of clothes as they had considerably exceeded a low-cost airline’s stringent weight limit.
I have even visited a number of airports, mainly in the Middle East and Africa, where passengers have seemingly packed their entire personal possessions bar the kitchen sink, but never thought that a passenger would actually turn up at an airport with a kitchen sink or even a bath tub and expect to be allowed to take it on an aircraft. But, according to Virgin Atlantic, the latter did actually happen at New York JFK International. The lady passenger had allegedly had her family carry the household product through the terminal and had not even wrapped or packaged the item.
"Virgin Atlantic check-in staff see thousands of passengers on a daily basis but every now and then, a passenger will arrive at check in with something you would never expect - it certainly brightens up their day," said Greg Dawson, Director of Corporate Communications, Virgin Atlantic Airways.
Alongside the bath, a giant wheel of cheese and a car engine, some of the most memorable items to arrive at Virgin’s check-in desks across its global network have included a pet tarantula hidden in a lady's coat at New York JFK; a dead cow wrapped in plastic at the same airport; a bag of cutlery stolen previously from a Virgin Atlantic flight at Delhi and a bag of soil and coconut trees at Grenada.
After last week’s Royal Wedding, we will end this story on a romantic note and the story of a couple who fell in love on the island of Grenada and decided to try and check-in a bag full of sand, sea and water as a memory from the island they met and fell in love on. I just wonder if the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge did the same after their meeting at St Andrews in Scotland!
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