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Typo takes tourist 13,000 km out(Hold Muh Beer!)
CNN ^ | 12/29/2006 | unk

Posted on 12/29/2006 9:52:00 AM PST by devane617

A 21-year-old German tourist who wanted to visit his girlfriend in the Australian metropolis Sydney landed 13,000 kilometers (8,077 miles) away near Sidney, Montana, after mistyping his destination on a flight booking Web site. Dressed for the Australian summer in T-shirt and shorts, Tobi Gutt left Germany on Saturday for a four-week holiday. Instead of arriving "down under", Gutt found himself on a different continent and bound for the chilly state of Montana. "I did wonder but I didn't want to say anything," Gutt told the Bild newspaper. "I thought to myself, you can fly to Australia via the United States." Gutt's airline ticket routed him via the U.S. city of Portland, Oregon, to Billings, Montana. Only as he was about to board a commuter flight to Sidney -- an oil town of about 5,000 people -- did he realize his mistake. The hapless tourist, who had only a thin jacket to keep out the winter cold, spent three days in Billings airport before he was able to buy a new ticket to Australia with 600 euros in cash that his parents and friends sent over from Germany. "I didn't notice the mistake as my son is usually good with computers," his mother, Sabine, told Reuters.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: dumb; dumber; dummkopf
He ain't dead, so the Darwin award is out of the question.
1 posted on 12/29/2006 9:52:05 AM PST by devane617
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To: devane617

Some years ago, there was another German who landed in Bangor, Maine and thought he was in San Francisco. Maybe this guy is related.


2 posted on 12/29/2006 9:54:02 AM PST by Past Your Eyes (Do what you love and the ridicule will follow.)
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To: devane617

Tobi Gutt?

Could probably use the exercise anyway.


3 posted on 12/29/2006 9:54:22 AM PST by BenLurkin ("The entire remedy is with the people." - W. H. Harrison)
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To: devane617
Wrong time of year to be packing your summer clothes in Montana...unlike Australia.

Mamma always said spelling was important.

4 posted on 12/29/2006 9:58:15 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly.)
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To: devane617
Instead of arriving "down under", Gutt found himself on a different continent and bound for the chilly state of Montana.

Does this guy have any Chinese cousins named Wang Wei by chance?


5 posted on 12/29/2006 9:58:42 AM PST by Centurion2000 (Not one of those seasonal Festivians. I practice the Airing of Grievances daily. Often on this site.)
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To: Past Your Eyes

And the scientists who were supposed to go to a Global warming Conference(?) in Monterrey Mexico and wound up in Monterrey California!........


6 posted on 12/29/2006 9:59:55 AM PST by Red Badger (New! HeadOn Hemorrhoid Medication for Liberals!.........Apply directly to forehead.........)
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To: devane617
The standup comedian should have been waiting at the gate in Montana with Here's Your Sign".
7 posted on 12/29/2006 10:02:36 AM PST by Chuck54 (later..............)
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To: devane617
"I thought to myself, you can fly to Australia via the United States." Gutt's airline ticket routed him via the U.S. city of Portland, Oregon, to Billings, Montana. Only as he was about to board a commuter flight to Sidney -- an oil town of about 5,000 people -- did he realize his mistake.

I've been telling a venture capitalist buddy of mine there needs to be a direct international flight from Billings, Montana to Sydney, Australia.

I now have proof of demand.

8 posted on 12/29/2006 10:10:48 AM PST by A message (We who care, Can Not Fail)
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To: devane617

(Halten Sie mein Bier.)


9 posted on 12/29/2006 11:10:02 AM PST by keat (You know who I feel bad for? Arab-Americans who truly want to get into crop-dusting.)
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To: devane617

A British tourist to the US wanted to fly home to Manchester, and he did...Manchester, NH, that is. Yes, there's more than one Manchester around(in fact there's a Manchester in each of the New England states though the Mass. one added "-by-the-sea"). He was wondering why the fare was so low.


10 posted on 12/29/2006 11:58:41 AM PST by raccoonradio
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To: devane617
"I thought to myself, you can fly to Australia via the United States."

I suppose, but isn't Australia closer to Germany than the US West Coast?

11 posted on 12/29/2006 12:00:59 PM PST by RockinRight (To compare Congress to drunken sailors is an insult to drunken sailors. - Ronald W. Reagan)
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To: A message

The Billings airport is classified as "International" although no international fights go to or from there. I do think they had some to Canada at one point.


12 posted on 12/29/2006 12:02:37 PM PST by RockinRight (To compare Congress to drunken sailors is an insult to drunken sailors. - Ronald W. Reagan)
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To: devane617
Just a few months ago we had something like 14 Egyptian students LOST, originally on their way to "someplace Montana" virtually all of them ended up at other airports and towns with an MT or MN in the destination airport designator.

People laughed at the idea you can get lost this way and demanded these fellows be strung up as terrorist invaders.

Here's a German who's explaining why he's lost the same way as a MISTAKE.

Why should we believe him. They have Moslem terrorists in Germany too. Could be he belongs in jail for a couple of months until we sort this out.

13 posted on 12/29/2006 12:41:50 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah

I remember the story you mention. Very interesting... Wonder what is going on in MT? Close to the CAN border, and spending three days unguarded in the MT airport...


14 posted on 12/29/2006 12:50:25 PM PST by devane617 (It's McCain and a Rat -- Now what?)
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To: devane617
Think about it, Homeland Security failed to notice this, nor did anyone report it to them.

Maybe it was a "test", eh?!?!?!?!?

15 posted on 12/29/2006 1:18:03 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah

It was possible for him to switch places with someone else that may have been trying to leave the country...The story was funny, but the possibilities for terrorist activity is not funny...


16 posted on 12/29/2006 1:23:14 PM PST by devane617 (It's McCain and a Rat -- Now what?)
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To: muawiyah

Are you serious?


17 posted on 01/01/2007 3:25:39 AM PST by gd124
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To: gd124

Must be...too early for a double...


18 posted on 01/01/2007 3:36:29 AM PST by dakine
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To: gd124
You mean about tourists getting lost due to a misreading of airport designator codes?

Or that Deutschland might have some terrorists (SEE: Mohammad Atta).

Or that someone might get hornswaggled out of their seat on the right airplane while someone else of a dangeorus nature is quietly rerouted in their place?

Or, that by misrouting one tourist a crooked travel agent can convert the money paid by that tourist to his or her own pocket.

19 posted on 01/01/2007 6:08:24 AM PST by muawiyah
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