eBay has amazing daily deals


Woman Resorts to Extreme Measures After Airport Shuts During Layover


1 week ago 15
-->

Stuck at the airport overnight and don't know where to sleep? One woman managed to find a creative solution for bagging a "cozy sleep" during an airport layover.

The sleep hack was shown in a TikTok video captured at Honolulu Airport in Hawaii by Steffi Jade (@frothyblonde), a 30-year-old surf photographer based in Tofino in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The poster arrived there from Canada's Calgary Airport at 10 p.m. local time, the photographer told Newsweek. The clip has had over 107,000 views since it was posted on February 24.

A message overlaid on the clip reads: "When you have an overnight layover but find out the airport closes overnight," as the footage shows what appears to be an empty airport."

"So you have to check into a board bag hotel on the concrete outside," another message reads, as the poster is seen lying inside a surfboard bag that's been zipped up like a sleeping bag.

The poster told Newsweek: "I had no clue they close the airport overnight and we had to collect our surfboards between flights. Once we got our boards, they let us know we could not come back in until 6 a.m. [local time]. Our next flight was at 8 a.m. [local time] to Australia."

One of the airport security guards informed her that she "could stay outside the airport as this happens to a lot of people and so, they had a little section that was apparently patrolled overnight by a security guard," she said.

Steffi Jade in surfboard bag; empty airport.
A stock image of a hallway at an empty airport (right); a screengrab from a video showing Steffi Jade inside her surfboard bag during an airport layover in Hawaii, which has gone viral on TikTok.... @frothyblonde/TikTok; iStock / Getty Images Plus

The latest post comes as air travel continues to see strong growth after grinding to a halt during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In November 2023, global air traffic was reported to be at 99.1 percent of November 2019 (pre-pandemic) levels, according to a January report by the International Air Transport Association.

Passengers will often find themselves stranded at an airport during flight delays and cancellations.

A total of 675 delays and 318 cancellations for flights traveling within, into, or out of the U.S. at the time of writing on March 21, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website.

Passengers should always check with their airline to see if hotel stays are offered for delayed flights so they can catch some rest in a more secure setting rather than in a public area like an airport.

The U.S. Department of Transportation notes: "There are no federal laws requiring airlines to provide passengers with money or other compensation when their flights are delayed. Each airline has its own policies about what it will do for delayed passengers."

"If your flight is experiencing a long delay, ask airline staff if they will pay for meals or a hotel room. While some airlines offer these amenities to passengers, others do not provide any amenities to stranded passengers," the DOT advises.

'No Hotel, No Problem'

A caption shared with the latest viral clip reads: "No hotel, no problem. Slide on into your board bag for a warm, cozy sleep and dream about glassy waves while you become one with your surfboard."

A message overlaid on the video reads "got a lot of weird looks," as a person walks past the board bag, while the poster is seen shuffling herself around in the bag.

The clip later cuts to a view of a reflection of the woman inside the bag shown on the ceiling of the airport before the video ends.

The poster told Newsweek that there already were "quite a few people" on the airport's outdoor benches and near the walls on the floor. So, she emptied her surfboards from the board bag and climbed into the bag.

She clipped her backpack, which contained all of her expensive camera gear, to her surfboard bag as well as to a bench near her "so if anyone tried to grab it, I'd hear the unclipping." She left her surfboards beside her, hoping they wouldn't "get taken."

The poster said sleeping in the board bag was "actually super comfy and I zipped the bag up so it kept me quite warm as well."

"We were awoken by a security guard yelling to wake up at 4 a.m. [local time], which was unfortunate because we still had to wait another two hours before they'd let us into the airport," she recalled.

Do you have a travel-related video or story to share? Let us know via [email protected] and your story could be featured on Newsweek.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Read Entire Article