The Week in Weird: Flight Scare and Checked Tigers

Contributing Editor Carl Unger believes that every trip is worth taking. He loves an extended trip to Europe as much as he enjoys exploring the towns and landscape near home. Basically, you'll find him wherever there is good food, fresh air, and plenty of stories to bring home.

Carl has been writing for SmarterTravel since 2005. His travel writing has also appeared on USA Today and the About.com Boston travel guide.

The Handy Item I Always Pack: "It's not revolutionary, but a small Moleskine notebook is my one travel must-have. It's great for noting things you want to remember and it takes up hardly any space in your bag."

Ultimate Bucket List Experience: "Japan. I'd love to take a month off and visit the cities, temples, and countryside. I'm fascinated by the country's juxtaposition of ancient traditions and modern ambitions."

Travel Motto: “Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” –Terry Pratchett

Aisle, Window, or Middle Seat: "Window."

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It seems odd air travel stories come in bunches, and the past few days have been no different. With that in mind, I thought I’d round up a couple recent weird and wacky tales. Here goes!

Tiger in the Bag?

A woman flying aboard Thai Airways was caught trying to smuggle a baby tiger in her bag. According to Reuters, “Airport customs in Bangkok found a two-month-old tiger stashed in a bag, filled with stuffed tiger toys, which was checked-in for an international passenger flight.”

The woman carrying the bag denied any knowledge of the tiger inside, and said she was carrying the bag for someone else. The poor tiger cub was heavily sedated and bound for Iran. Tiger populations in Southwest Asia have long struggled against poaching and illegal trade.

DNA tests are being performed to determine if the tiger is wild or was bred in captivity.

False Alarm

A British Airways crew accidentally told a planeful of passengers that the aircraft was about to crash into the North Sea. Well, the crew played an automated message that said the plane was going down, but you get the idea.

“Everyone was panicking,” Passenger Michelle Lord told ABC News.”There [were] people who were crying and shaking. Obviously it’s not the sort of thing that you hear every day so nobody knows how to react. But there was definitely a sense of panic.”

Members of the flight crew immediately realized their mistake and began assuring people the plane was not, in fact, about to make an emergency landing.

This isn’t the first time a plane full of passengers has been scared by a false alarm. Last year, an Aer Lingus crew played the wrong message, in French. Instead of informing passengers of turbulence ahead, the recording told all the French-speaking passengers that the plane was about to crash.

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