Absolutely Ridiculous Travel Mistakes You Won't Believe People Made

Monumental travel mistakes

Sometimes travelling doesn’t quite go to plan. We've all made mistakes, missed a flight or got the gate wrong. But these people have taken travel fails one step further. We’ve tracked down some of the most massive travel mistakes and faux pas ever made, from tourists accidentally driving over treasured historic monuments to pilots falling asleep at the wheel.

Couple are flown to France instead of Denmark

A couple blamed carrier Ryanair for flying them to France instead of Denmark during the pre-Christmas rush at Manchester Airport in 2021. The pair claim that they were whisked aboard the incorrect aircraft amid "horrendous" queues and only realised that they had been routed to Beauvais, near Paris, instead of Copenhagen (pictured) when the flight landed. The airline has said that it's the individual responsibility of travellers to board the correct flight. 

Man washes his feet in scorching Yellowstone hot spring

Barricades and boardwalks indicate the safe distance you should maintain from the steaming hot springs that Yellowstone National Park is famous for. But despite the fact that these natural wonders reach scorching temperatures (the most famous, Grand Prismatic Spring, has been known to climb to 87°C (189°F), one traveller decided to wash his feet in the geyser basin. Thankfully, it appears he was relatively unharmed. 

Man accidentally flies to Las Vegas instead of Essex

Essex and Las Vegas are rather different destinations, but in 2017 a British businessman mistakenly flew to the Nevada resort city (pictured) after boarding a flight in Cologne, thinking he was actually going back to Essex in England. The finance broker fell asleep and woke up to see that the plane had travelled over the UK on the in-flight map. He deemed the experience a “major security failing”, saying his boarding pass was checked three times by airline staff before getting on the plane.

GPS sends man 270 miles away from destination

Noel Santillan, a 28-year-old American tourist in Iceland, made a serious mistake when using his GPS on arriving at the airport. Aiming for Reykjavík's main street, he typed 'Laugarvegur' instead of 'Laugavegur' into his satnav and ended up 270 miles (435km) away in the remote fishing village of Siglufjörður (pictured). The story has a happy ending, though: he became something of a celebrity in Iceland and really made the most of his time, staying overnight in a local hotel and visiting the local herring museum.

Tourist flies to Grenada instead of Granada

An American dentist attempted to sue British Airways in 2014 after he and his partner were accidentally flown to Grenada in the Caribbean instead of Granada in Spain. It had long been the couple’s dream to see the Alhambra (pictured), but the airline apparently mistakenly allocated them the wrong tickets. The couple sought £25,500 ($34,000) in damages, but lost the lawsuit.

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Man takes 6,600-mile detour

A 22-year-old American man was left red-faced in 1985 after accidentally flying to Auckland, New Zealand rather than Oakland, California – about 6,600 miles (10,622km) away. The LA Times reported that Michael Lewis had misheard a number of airline announcements and questions from staff asking if he was going to Auckland (pictured). He said: "They didn't say Auckland. They said Oakland. They talk different.” 

A party-goer accidentally ends up in Paris

In 2013, a number of British newspapers reported on a teenager who, after a drunken night out in Manchester, ended up on a last-minute flight to Paris alone. While all his friends were in bed at home, 19-year-old Luke Harding was sleeping off his hangover in a toilet at Charles de Gaulle airport. He said: “When I first woke up I didn’t know where I was. Then I remembered booking the flight – and thinking ‘oh s***’.”

11-year-old flies alone to St Petersburg, Russia

In 2016, an 11-year-old girl managed to outsmart airport security and fly over 450 miles (724km) on a Rossiya Airlines flight from Vnukovo Airport, near Moscow, to Pulkovo Airport, St Petersburg, without once having her ID checked. She was only found when her parents realised she hadn’t come home from school. She reportedly took the journey as she wanted to see St Petersburg (pictured) for herself.

Couple book dream trip from wrong Birmingham

In 2016, The Telegraph reported on a couple left rather disappointed after finding they’d accidentally booked flights to Las Vegas from Birmingham, Alabama, as opposed to Birmingham in the West Midlands (pictured). Fortunately, they were later given a free trip to Las Vegas by Virgin Holidays, who heard about their story and took pity. 

Man flies with wrong passport

In a shocking lapse of security, a burly, bearded six-foot-three bouncer managed to fly from London Stansted to Dortmund, Germany on a Ryanair flight with his girlfriend’s passport. The man, who was unaware he’d taken the wrong passport away with him, was never stopped on the way despite the fact the document was of the wrong name, picture and gender. His girlfriend sent his passport by courier for his journey home.

Woman flown to San Francisco instead of Paris

In 2017, a French woman with limited English was unwittingly flown from Newark to San Francisco instead of Paris, France on a United aircraft. Despite Lucie Bahetoukilae's boarding pass apparently being checked multiple times, it transpired that there had been a last-minute gate change – but only in English so she was unaware. Instead of flying to Paris, the woman ended up in San Francisco, had to spend 11 hours in the airport, and eventually got rerouted back to France, taking a whopping 28 hours.

Couple flies to the wrong continent

A couple were flown to the wrong continent in a catastrophic airline error in 2013. Intending to travel to Dakar, Senegal (pictured) with Turkish Airlines, a mix-up with the airport codes meant they ended up nearly 7,000 miles (11,265km) away in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It wasn't all bad, though: the couple were offered two free economy-class tickets to anywhere on the flight network as compensation.

Pilot makes a GPS error

It’s scary to think that a plane’s route is as simple as entering numbers onto a GPS system, but in 2016, an AirAsia flight taking off from Sydney and bound for Malaysia had to land in Melbourne after the pilot entered incorrect destination coordinates. There was panic after air traffic controllers noticed the aircraft flying in the wrong direction, with the pilot trying to return to Sydney but landing in Melbourne due to bad weather.

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Commuter train runs out of fuel

The Metro newspaper reported in 2008 that a packed commuter train with hundreds of passengers was left stranded after the First Great Western service ran out of fuel. Passengers were forced to leave the service from Paddington to Worcester after an announcement was made that “someone forgot to fill the choo choo”.

Security checks fail as family boards wrong flight

Ryanair ended up in hot water in 2014 after two families boarded the wrong flight at East Midlands airport, boarding a plane to Latvia when they were supposed to be travelling to Spain, despite showing their boarding passes three times. They missed their flight by the time the mistake had been discovered, and had to wait 11 hours and transfer to another airport to finally get to their destination.

Plane lands at the wrong airport

In 2014, a VietJet Air plane landed over 80 miles (129km) away from its destination, touching down at Cam Ranh airport instead of Da Lat. The incident happened "because of the flight coordinators and crew members of VietJet Air, who did not correctly follow flight procedures”, according to an online statement from the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam.

Two-year-old sneaks onto plane alone

In 2007, a two-year-old girl sneaked onto a flight to Egypt at a German airport after becoming separated from her parents, who were about to board a flight to Tunisia. The girl had gone onto the Egypt-bound flight, found a seat and strapped herself in. She was found as the plane was about to take off after air traffic control sent an alert to pilots when she wasn’t located within the airport itself.

Man flies to wrong country

A CNN report from 2015 details how a Ghanaian man took an accidental 1,864-mile (3,000km) detour after purchasing the wrong ticket for a trip to South America. He was hoping to travel to Guyana (pictured) to begin a scholarship to study medicine, but ended up in the Brazilian city of Goiania instead. He spent a week in the city without any money and was supported by generous locals before the airline offered him a free ticket to his original destination.

Ship runs aground because captain "forgot" about England

In 2013, a captain ran his cargo ship, MV Danio, aground while sailing from Perth in Scotland to Antwerp in Belgium, crashing into the Farne Islands (pictured), off the Northumberland coast. The disaster, which sparked fears for the wildlife at the island’s nature reserve, allegedly occurred because the captain plotted a straight line and “forgot” England was in the way, using an unapproved GPS device similar to a car satnav.

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Man books flight to the wrong San Jose

Another lesson in double-checking your destination and airport code before booking: an English man ended up spending a fortune after arriving at Heathrow to find he’d accidentally booked a flight to San Jose, California, instead of San Jose, Costa Rica (pictured). He figured out his mistake after texting with a friend, and had to spend nearly £1,000 ($1,212.85) rerouting his journey.

Commercial plane lands in military airport by accident

In 2012, a Sriwijaya Air flight that was due to fly from Medan to Padang, both in Indonesia, accidentally touched down in a military airfield that hadn’t been used by commercial aircraft since 2005. Why? The pilots thought they’d spotted the airport they were going to from the air, so ignored the information on the cockpit equipment.

Man ends up in Canada instead of Sydney, Australia

We all know that when something seems too good to be true, it probably is. But this didn't stop an 18-year-old Dutch traveller booking surprisingly cheap flights from Amsterdam to Sydney. It soon transpired, though, that instead of booking a flight to Sydney, Australia (pictured), he ended up caught in a blizzard in Sydney, Nova Scotia, wearing only a t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms. He didn’t stick around to check out the scenery and got the airline to book him a flight straight home.

Pilots suspended for leaving landing gear out for entire flight

Two pilots were suspended from duty in 2017 after their Air India aircraft, carrying nearly one hundred passengers and going from Mumbai to Kolkata, almost ran out of fuel. The reason? They forgot to retract the landing gear after taking off, making the aircraft lose fuel at a much faster rate because of the extra drag created by the extended wheels. The plane was forced to divert to Nagpur instead, as their fuel would have run out before reaching Mumbai.

Student takes train across America to the wrong Vegas

After one English student lost his passport while on a trip to New York, he vowed to still meet his friends in Las Vegas, Nevada (pictured), even though he couldn’t fly. He took a train that crossed America’s vast landscape for nearly three days, only to realise he was heading for Las Vegas, New Mexico instead.

Tour group gets stranded in the Australian desert

Arid, remote and endlessly orange, the Australian Outback is the last place you’d want to find yourself stranded. In 2008, though, that's exactly what happened to customers on an Adventure Tours Australia bus. Unprepared for the long drive, the bus ran out of fuel in the middle of the desert, forcing passengers to walk 28 miles (45km) in one of the harshest environments in the world to find help in William Creek, South Australia.

Train takes hundreds to the wrong destination

In 2010, over one hundred tourists on a sleeper train woke up in Switzerland rather Italy – their intended destination. Why? Their train had been diverted 174 miles (280km) off course after the train split up and signallers mixed up which carriages to send to Milan and which to send to Zurich (pictured).

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Passenger fined for trying to bring McDonald's breakfast into Australia

A passenger found out the hard way just how strict Australia's biosecurity measures are, when they attempted to bring a McDonald's breakfast into the country. Oz requires travellers to declare "risk" items that may harbour "exotic pests and diseases" and this includes cheese and other animal products. A detector dog named Zinta sniffed out a pair of undeclared sausage and egg McMuffins and a ham croissant and the hungry traveller was hit with a £1,524 ($1,849) fine. That's one expensive brekkie.

Tourists fined for Grand Canal joyride

Two tourists felt the full force of Italian law when they were filmed riding electric surfboards down Venice's Grand Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the city's main thoroughfare. Apparently unaware that their joyride was both a massive breach of etiquette and profoundly illegal, they narrowly dodged a slow-moving water taxi beneath the Rialto Bridge while filming on their phones. Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro was apoplectic on social media, promising to buy dinner for anyone who could identify the "overbearing idiots". The pair have now been fined, prosecuted for damaging Venice's image, handed an antisocial behaviour order, had their boards confiscated and been expelled from the city.

Pilots overshoot airport after falling asleep

Two Ethiopian Airlines pilots were left red-faced after seemingly drifting off in the cockpit of their Boeing 737-800, en route from Khartoum to Addis Ababa. Air traffic control was unable to reach the plane as it cruised past its destination at 37,000 feet (11,300m), only re-establishing contact when a siren went off in the cockpit to signal the disconnection of the autopilot and wake the snoozing crew. The aircraft eventually landed 25 minutes late, the passengers none the wiser about the delay.

Tourist fined for driving over Prague's historic Charles Bridge

One of Prague's premier tourist attractions and a symbol of the city, the cobbled Charles Bridge is a superb specimen of 15th-century European architecture and is definitely not open to traffic. This did not deter a tourist in a white Audi, who mounted the pavement on Mostecká Street to drive across the 1,700-foot (515m) bridge, dodging confused pedestrians and sandstone statues of saints along the way. To top it off, the unnamed man then parked in a paid parking zone without paying, incurring £212 ($244) of fines for his various offences.

Man fined for "brazenly" feeding dingo

Feed a stray dog, get a huge fine. That was probably the thought process for the 23-year-old Australian tourist ordered by a court to pay £1,290 ($1,430) this week, after he was photographed giving biscuits to a dingo on Fraser Island back in April. A bystander said the man was "brazenly" feeding the animal while waiting in line for a ferry, and the unnamed tourist later admitted as much. Though they may seem very pettable, dingoes can be dangerous to humans, particularly during pupping season, and fines for feeding them can stretch to £6,450 ($7,150).

Man starts fire in plane bathroom

Between the large, red-lettered signs, the frequent reminders on the tannoy and a bit of common sense, it's hard to fathom how you could not realise that planes are no-smoking. But nothing could deter one foolish flyer on a Tel Aviv-Bangkok service in October, who lit up in the bathroom and promptly triggered the smoke alarm. Like any sensible person he then attempted to hide the evidence in the bathroom bin, igniting its contents and causing a full-blown fire. Cabin crew were able to put out the blaze with fire extinguishers and the flight touched down on time in Thailand.

Plane diverts so passengers can use the toilet

Speaking of plane bathrooms, what happens when all the lavatories are out of order? One Jet2 flight recently found out: in November 2022, a flight from Las Palmas (Gran Canaria) to Manchester took off with a full toilet tank, rendering all four bathrooms out of order. The plane eventually had to make an unscheduled stop in Bilbao so passengers could disembark and use the airport bathrooms. It then took to the skies and completed its journey to the UK, landing just under two hours late. Still, we're sure its passengers were relieved.

What a wait

German carrier Eurowings has been fined $225,000 (£185,000) by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) after leaving passengers aboard flight EW1182 stranded on the tarmac for almost six hours at Florida's Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. The plane was supposed to land in Miami but was diverted by stormy weather, and a lack of baggage handlers meant they could not unload the aircraft in line with US Customs and Border Protection regulations. The airline then further delayed in hopes of making it to Miami after all, but were eventually informed that the bad weather meant Miami International was closed for the day.

What a wait

The fiasco only ended when the trapped passengers took matters into their own hands by calling the police. More than five and a half hours after landing, furious passengers finally disembarked under the supervision of local law enforcement – still 30 miles (48km) from their intended destination. Since the DOT requires all aircraft to unload passengers within four hours of landing, Eurowings was then slapped with nearly a quarter of a million dollars of civil penalties. The airline insists that it exhausted all available options – but has accepted the fine.

What a wait

Frustrating though the wait must have been, it pales in comparison to the longest and silliest ever delays. In 2012 a United Airlines flight suffered a two-day delay after realising all its lavatories were out of action, while in 2017 an American Airlines flight sat in the gate for four hours when a swarm of bees blocked the cargo hold. The longest ever delay was probably to Pan Am's Pacific Clipper in 1941, which could not complete its transpacific flight from New Zealand thanks to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The aircraft eventually headed westward to reach the US the other way, resulting in an entire month's delay.

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