The best of your tales of airport errors

“In Bangkok airport I was asked by a fellow traveller to take some excess luggage for him. I agreed, then my boyfriend turned to me and asked me what I was thinking”

“I once accidentally left my screwdriver in my hand luggage and then tried to pass through Manchester airport security. That was an unforgettable experience”

“My late grandfather had never flown until 1975, when he had to visit my parents in Stockholm. We dropped him off at Heathrow, then arrived home to a call from my dad asking where grandad was. He was in Copenhagen!”

“When my bag got searched I realised I forgot to take out my washbag containing liquids. But it wasn’t that they were looking for. They seemed more concerned about the sausage-shaped giant cheese!”

“I arrived at Palma late at night to find my rucksack had been padlocked to a total strangers bag by some joker in baggage handling. No key or bold cutters forthcoming, guess whose strap had to be cut off to free the other person’s Gucci bag?”

“I was in a cab to the airport in New York and commented to the driver it was taken a lot longer to get to the airport than it did to get to the hotel. It soon became clear that he was taking me to La Guardia airport and not to JFK.”

“My duty-free shopping came in a paper bag and I slipped my boarding pass into the bag. As we were about to board the plane, I realised I didn’t have my boarding pass. I’d thrown the paper bag away along with my boarding pass! After a fair bit of ‘bin dipping’, I managed to find it – luckily the bins hadn't been emptied”

“Got to the airport with my son and realised I had packed the wrong son’s passport. I had to go all the way back home to pick up the right one”

“On a Sunday morning I rushed to the airport to catch my 6am flight to Athens. I made it to check-in with a minute to go. But it had been closed an hour ago. I forgot to put my clocks forward the night before!”

“I suffer from anxiety when I fly. One time, I mislaid my passport and got in such a state I threw up all over the check-in desk”

“After I broke my wrist I got a bone card to confirm I had metal in my arm. When I kept setting off the metal detector in Doha airport, Qatar, I realised I’d left the card in my check-in luggage. Due to the language barrier, it was difficult to explain why and I had to undress almost naked with security even wanting to take off the cast.”

“On a trip in Morocco my Mum bought a handmade walking stick for my Dad as a gift. We planned to get it through security by pretending it was my mum’s stick, so we didn’t have to pay for extra baggage. Running late, we rushed to security where she put the stick through to be scanned. The security guard gestured at the stick saying ‘no, no!’ We tried to explain that my Mum needed it until he took hold of it and pulled. A sword came out! We had no idea it was hiding in there! We all stood there shocked. Luckily, he saw the funny side of it and although we didn’t get to keep the walking stick, he did kindly hold the plane for us.”