“Wind to blame for airport queues” and five other unusual reasons for travel delays

MP Damien Green has raised a few eyebrows by suggesting the length of queues seen at UK airports “depends on the wind”.  Are there any strange reasons for travel delays that can beat that? We take a look…

1.    Icelandic volcano causes European travel chaos

By the end of the Easter 2010 everyone in the UK could spell Eyjafjallajokull- the name of a volcano situated in Iceland. Well, maybe not, but the obscure volcano caused chaos as hundreds of flights were grounded as volcanic ash drifted over UK and European airspace for more than 5 days.

Thousands of British holidaymakers arrived at airports across the globe to find their return journeys cancelled, leaving them stranded abroad for days on end. The ordeal was not only an inconvenience, it was an economic disaster. It is estimated that airlines lost £130m a day collectively, while tourists not covered by comprehensive travel insurance had to shell out for additional accommodation and, in some cases, alternative means of travel.

2.    Lawnchair Larry floats into airspace, delays flights

Larry Walters, more commonly known as “Lawnchair Larry”, caused delays for thousands of plane passengers in 1982 when he took to the skies in a garden chair strapped with 45 helium weather balloons. His airship, dubbed “Inspiration I”, climbed over 15,000 feet, but the escapade went awry when he drifted close to Los Angeles International Airport.

Larry was tracked by traffic control after being spotted by a passing plane. Realising he was causing quite a stir he decided to ground his eccentric flight there and then. The stunt captured the imagination of the US public and “Lawnchair Larry” appeared on a number of popular chat shows, although he was fined £940 [$1,500] for “operating an aircraft near an airport without establishing and maintaining two-way communications with the control tower”.   



3.    Marmite spill on the M1

Tailbacks are not usually much of a talking point, but when it is a Marmite spill that makes you late for work then it’s a different matter. Drivers on a section of the M1 in Yorkshire were kept from making it to work on time in November last yea after a tanker overturned, shedding Marmite over the busy motorway.

The spill caused chaos on the roads as the Highways Agency had a big job clearing it up. You know what they say - either you love it or you hate it… 

4.    Turtles escape onto JFK airport tarmac

Planes can get delayed for just about any reason but turtles on the runway? That’s what happened at JFK International Airport, New York, last year as more than 100 diamondback terrapins toddled across the tarmac to find an ideal spot to lay their eggs. The fiasco caused JFK’s runway 4 to close for more than an hour, delaying a number of flights.

It’s not the first time the airport, which is largely surrounded by water, has seen the daredevil turtles.  A similar incident occurred in 2009 when the same runway was closed after 78 terrapins made the same journey. According to the US Federal Aviation Administration there have been 18 cases of terrapins interfering with aircraft flows between 1990 and 2007.

5.    Bull semen closes US road

Lastly, and most bizarrely, a ramp to a US highway was closed off as canisters of frozen bull semen fell from a bus and were later found emitting vapour from the side of the road.

Strangely the semen was being carried in a Greyhound bus carrying passengers from Ohio to Texas, though the company said that the liquid were being carried in a separate compartment to the luggage.