Police Advise ‘Don’t Be Daft’: This Week’s Worst Flyers

Every Friday, FlyerTalk looks back at the week’s most charming individuals. While there are always plenty of contenders for our Worst Passenger of the Week award, only one lucky flyer can take home the glory. Here are this week’s winners.

Third Place: Yeah! It’s a Party in the USA!

The Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) took the seemingly unnecessary step of reminding Fourth of July holiday travelers that fireworks of all sorts are not permitted on passenger planes. The agency matter-of-factly announced, “Fireworks and firecrackers are explosive and flammable, so in an effort to keep the skies safe, fireworks are prohibited from being transported in both carry-on and checked bags.” While the TSA media campaign seemed at first like an exercise in stating the obvious, apparently not everyone understood the simple message.

The TSA showed off an impressive haul of fireworks seized from a passenger’s carry-on bag at Piedmont Triad International Airport (GSO) in North Carolina. The stash of backyard fireworks included everything from sparklers to packages marked “Rowdy TNT.”

Of course the recreational explosives weren’t the only contraband the TSA reported finding in the days before the United States celebrated its independence. Screeners discovered 63 firearms at security checkpoints across the country. Of the weapons seized, 54 were loaded. Agents also found passengers carrying inert grenades at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) and Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU.)

The Runner-up: Mama’s Precious Spittle Darling

It’s almost better to grin and bear it than to get into a debate about parenting philosophy with the parent or guardian of a child who is kicking, screaming or generally running amok. Even in the confined space of a passenger plane, a child’s tantrum is almost always more bearable than the resulting tantrum of a supposedly responsible adult.

When a toddler on a Ryan Air flight from Barcelona–El Prat Airport (BCN) to Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LPL) was reportedly making sport of spitting at other passengers, however, it became clear that someone would have to approach the child’s mother about providing a little adult supervision. According to eyewitnesses, the mother didn’t exactly take the suggestion constructively.

“At the baggage carousel, passengers were telling us how a boy had been spitting at people in the Barcelona departure lounge, they’d asked the parents to intervene, and the mum took exception to that,” passengers on the flight told reporters. ”This behavior carried on when on the plane, threats were made by her, and there was aggression towards the Ryanair stewards. It was all pretty surreal.”

Ryan Air put a permanent end to the laissez-faire parenting debate soon after the plane landed. Airline officials announced, “The woman has been banned from traveling with us again.”

The Winner: Cool Phone Case, Bro

Carrying a phone case designed to resemble a handgun is a very bad idea in almost any scenario. Carrying a phone case designed to resemble a handgun is an even worse idea if it happens to be at a major international airport. The police at London Stansted Airport (STN) who spotted a man cluelessly walking around with what looked to be the handle of a gun sticking out of his back pocket suggested the man was very lucky to have merely been detained.

The airport police took to Twitter to show an image of the poorly conceived gun-shaped cover and a few words about the dangers presented by the novelty phone accessory. “You have a split second decision to make,” police wrote, adding the hashtags, #WhatWouldYouDo and #joblikenotother. The Essex Airport Police later issued a snarky second tweet reading, “Bringing this to an airport makes it much less likely you’ll catch your plane. #dontbedaft.”

Oddly enough, this isn’t even the first time a cellphone made to look like a gun caused problems for police. Last year, police officers armed with rifles surrounded a 34-year-old man in Winnipeg, Manitoba after mistaking his gun-shaped phone cover for a real weapon. “Cell phone case shaped like a gun = terrible idea,” Royal Canadian Mounted Police simply stated following the 2015 incident.

Police at STN say that while the passenger in this case was fortunate to have not been shot as a terrorist, he could still face consequences for his poor judgment. Police suggested that charges including “Sec 5 Public Order and possibly Sec 19 Possession of Imitation Firearm in a Public Place” could be filed as a result of the ordeal.

[Photo: ESSEX POLICE]