Remember the movie The Terminal? Robert Wladyslaw Parzelski lived it.

by McLean Robbins on

File this one under “news of the weird.” Robert Wladyslaw Parzelski was sent back to London 18 days after arriving in São Paulo on a one-way ticket … and never leaving the airport.

The story is still unfolding, but Slate reports that Parzelski, a Polish man, traveled on a British Airways flight from London on June 17 on a one-way ticket purchased by a friend in Poland. He was to return with “two telephone sets.” How, when, or why has yet to be determined.

Parleski, who spoke no Portuguese and arrived without any cash, was supposedly meeting a friend in São Paulo, but the friend never arrived, and Parzelski, like Tom Hanks in The Terminal, simply lived in the airport, subsisting on water, yogurt and cigarettes given to him by airport custodians.

When asked what he was doing, he simply replied “I’m Poland.”

This story caught the attention of the Folha de São Paulo paper, where reporters began an attempt to figure out Parzelski’s story.

Newspaper reporters (not authorities) finally found a doctor in São Paulo who spoke the language and was able to speak to Parleski — sort of — and determine that he was, in fact, “lost” inside the airport. The doctor revealed to the media that Parzelski was a father of five from Krakaw, Poland, who moved to London to work as a builder. After he was laid off, he traveled to Brazil at the behest of a Polish friend in London with the mission to return with two telephone sets. Why the telephones? Nobody is sure.

“Before embarking … [we] spotted Parzelski enjoying a dark ale at a bar inside the departure lounge,” the Folha de São Paulo wrote Wednesday.

Parzelski’s story has ended, though. He left São Paulo on a Swiss Airways flight on Tuesday, bound for Zurich and then London.

[Flickr via MarkHillary of Sao Paulo airport]

Bahrain plans major airport expansion

by McLean Robbins on

Bahrain International Airport (BIA) will begin a new expansion program that is expected to increase the airport’s capacity by 50 percent.

“The plans we are initiating for an expanded international airport are essential to Bahrain‘s continued development, not only in providing businesses in Bahrain with the access they demand for the future, but also in bolstering the growing aviation and logistics industry in the kingdom,” said Khalid Al Rumaihi, Chairman of the Bahrain Airport Company.

The entire expansion program is expected to take four years and add 40,000 square meters, five new gates and forty check-in counters, boosting the airport capacity from 9 million to 13.5 million passengers, reported Arabian Business News. This project – which will help drive business investment and infrastructure development – follows recent investment in housing, water and education following the lifting of the State of National Safety by His Majesty King Hamad.

Seeing international airports expand is always a positive sign for travelers, as it means increased flight numbers and lower prices.

[Flickr via Jacobs Creative Bees]

TSA workers are blaming body scanners for cancer; D.C. public interest group calls for independent reviews

by McLean Robbins on

Workers for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) from locations around the country are reporting higher-than-usual rates of cancer, strokes and heart disease amongst employees who work on or near new full-body scanners.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C. recently obtained information under the Freedom of Information Act that shows TSA employees at Boston’s Logan International Airport reported a suspected “cancer cluster” to their supervisors, only to have the higher-ups downplay the problem and refuse their request for dosimeters, badges that monitor radiation exposure and are routinely used in other industries where workers come in contact with X-rays and other potentially harmful forms of radiation, states Seattle Weekly.

EPIC has filed a lawsuit to suspend the deployment of body scanners at US airports, pending an independent review.

TSA’s official statement is that they have “implemented stringent safety protocols to ensure that technology used at airports to screen people and property is safe for all passengers, as well as the TSA workforce.”

Still, existing studies cannot confirm or deny that the full body scanners are safe. Are frequent travelers also at risk?

“We’ve said to TSA, ‘If there’s all this info that you have that can show people than they’re not at risk, that the levels are that low, why not share that information?’ It has given employees the idea that if they’re not given the information, there must be something to hide,” said Milly Rodriguez, an occupational health and safety specialist for the American Federation of Government Employees.

Reports from Johns Hopkins University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology–both of which were “publicly characterized” by TSA, according to EPIC–found that the radiation from the scanners could exceed the “general public dose limit.”

Still, proving a direct correlation between radiation emitted from the scanners and cancer or disease in any working population is difficult.

“[Cancer clusters] are very difficult to show,” Rodriguez told Seattle Weekly yesterday. “There are so many things that can cause cancer in a group of workers. They live in same community, so it could be something there. They’re all in similar age groups. It’s just so difficult to isolate the cause.”


[Image via Flickr user Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com]

UK strike slows down ports and airports

by Sean McLachlan on

UK airports and ports are experiencing delays as many customs and immigration officials are on a one-day strike.

The UK Border Agency is one of several UK public sector unions on strike over plans to change pensions, a move they say will have employees working longer, paying more into the system, and getting less out of it when they retire.

Some Border Agency workers started early, at 6pm yesterday, and most airports and ports are reporting some delays. These delays aren’t as bad as were expected, however, because qualified managers have stepped in to fulfill the absent workers’ duties and not all workers are on strike. Still, if you’re flying into the UK today, don’t expect to be relaxing in your hotel an hour after you land.

Passengers leaving the UK will not be affected because they don’t go through customs. Airport security workers are not on strike.

Other government facilities such as schools, courts, and offices are also closed or giving limited service.

[Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons]

Strike to cause delays at UK ports and airports tomorrow

by Sean McLachlan on

A massive public sector strike planned for tomorrow in the UK will slow down travel in ports and airports.

An estimated 750,000 public sector workers will go on a one-day strike in protest over proposed changes to pensions, and this will include thousands of customs and immigration officials. UK ports and airports will remain open but passengers should expect delays.

Most schools and many other government buildings will be closed tomorrow. Strike organizers complain that the new public sector pension scheme will make employees work longer, put more money into the system, but get less when they retire.

[Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons]