interestingasfuck
A photo of Mehran Karimi Nasseri who ended up living at Charles de Gaulle Airport for 18 years when his travel documentation when missing. His story later inspired The Tom Hanks film The Terminal (2004)
Discussion
I was interested to discover that there is a Wikipedia page listing people who have lived in airports:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_have_lived_in_airports
This list is amazing.
There is a couple of people on this list who have been living at an airport for 25+ years and apparently STILL there??? 😮
Wild read..."Wanted to smoke and drink without his family bothering him" so decided to live in an airport for 17 years
Also the dude in Turkey who moved airports when the one closed 😂
Yeah I’m guessing this was their life choice instead of a homeless shelter or refugee camp etc. A combination of mental health problems and political asylum is what I think drives this
And most shelters are absolutely awful places full of crime and violence.
So you can just choose to live at the airport and they don’t ask you to leave?!
If you can credibly go "deport me back where I came from and they'd kill me" yeah, sometimes.
There's often no formal "you can't live in an airport" rules and as long as you stay in the sterile zone behind customs and don't break any laws, you haven't actually 'entered the country' yet as far as immigration law is concerned, so you don't need permission from the government to stay.
A few people on the list just wandered into the airport in their own country because they didn’t get along with their family…
I mean, if there's no law against that...
Yeah it's rather impossible to enact a 'no loitering' law at a place where everyone comes to wait around...
How do they afford food and stuff?
How do they get food or do anything if there is usually nothing in the sterile zone? No restaurants or even tables and chairs to sit. Just bathrooms you can use before going through immigration.
Apparently
It seems only Denis Luiz de Souza is still living at São Paulo’s airport. A couple more years and they will hold the record. 😬
Still lives in the airport, but comes out occasionally
This part 😂😂
How do people afford to do this? I don't understand where do they get food?
Bayram Tepeli is the absolute GOAT. 27 years and the airport closed so he went to live in a different airport. He outlasted the airport!
Man just wanted to have fun
Wei Jianguo Chinese Beijing Capital International Airport[48] Circa 2008 – Present[48] 6398 days (approx. 16–17 years; exact dates unknown) Wanted to smoke and drink without his family bothering him. Also had difficulty finding work.[48] Still lives in the airport, but comes out occasionally.
This might sound like daft question - but they clearly don't have a job, so what exactly do they live on? Food and drink isn't free, and they have no source of income...
My main question as well
"Spare change?"
Is airport food cheaper in China? That has to cost a fortune
It's cheaper than in the West, but it's proportionally more expensive, and very mid compared to the real stuff.
There really is a page for everything!
fell for it
Never give up.
Never let down.
i wish i could say i was not surprised but i was...
Eh, could very well be a page in a user space, it's ok.
You are a terrible person and I love you.
This is awesome! I was surprised to find it wasn’t just a list with one entry.
Oh snap that was good
GODDAMN IT
Got me lol
Oh wow.
Fuck off.
Only Epstein island visitor missing
I know where it is, it’s on www.
hold on some one’s at my door it sounds like they are in a hurry
Sorry to hear about your suicide attempt
I know it as well, the website is https://www.ep
Wait, sorry, someone just entered my apartment and they're asking me if anyone else is at home
Get well soon!
Some of those days only reach into 2 or 3 weeks.
All I'm saying is if someone wanted to be wiki famous, all you need to do is get comfortable at an airport for a while with little to no excuse.
Of course, document it, so it can be accurately cited.
Didn’t expect to see Snowden on there
I’ve heard stories about people becoming homeless and living in the airport.
I’m sorry, 18 YEARS?!?!?
Hold onto your hat when you find out about the guys who have been living in airports for 25+ years and are STILL there!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_have_lived_in_airports
“Still lives in the airport. Comes out occasionally.”
Wild.
One guy lived in an airport for 28 years, the airport closed, so he moved to a different airport where he still lives. Seems like airports are genuinely a viable way for some homeless people to live
This guy is playing homeless chess while the rest of the chumps are playing homeless checkers
How did they shower and brush their teeth? How do they get money for food?
There’s showers in airports. Not sure how he would have paid for entry into the lounges, but there’s definitely showers.
According to the article, he relied on garbage (food waste thrown out by vendors) and sympathy donations from strangers. My guess is, after a while, workers in that terminal got to know him and food workers probably gave him stuff they were going to throw away. Or maybe even saved stuff for him.
As for bathing, generally the only showers at Charles de Gaulle airport that I remember seeing were in the lounges, which he would not have access to. So I’m guessing he sponge bathed, if anything. And I’m also guessing he didn’t smell that clean either 🤢
He chose this , Belgium and France offered him residence but he refused.
He was only a victim of his own stubborness .
I would change my nationality in this case for a free cheeseburger after 6 hours. How stubborn could you be?
Both France and Belgium offered Nasseri residency, but he refused to sign the papers as they listed him as being Iranian (rather than British) and did not show his preferred name, "Sir, Alfred Mehran" (including the misplaced comma)
Probably had some sort of mental illness
100%
Lol "probably"?
Wait, that guy who chose to live in an airport for nearly two decades and spells his name with a comma doesn't have all the lights on upstairs? Well, I never!
Might have been the right call?
My takeaway here is that if I’m annoying enough and camp in the airport, I can make the EU take me. Also I don’t have to pay rent anymore.
Clearly more stubborn than you, ya traitor!/s how many cheeseburger would it take to turn your best friend in for tax fraud? Like 4? Also/s
Randy don't play me like some kind of sucka, dawg. Mafks with guts like that, ain't off the cheeseburgers. Mafks with guts like that definitely are on the cheeseburgers, dawg.
Came for this comment!
1
Ah, but what kind of cheeseburger…it matters..
Mcdouble, no sauce, dry
You monster.
You have no standards, I’d at least ask for a Baconator or Bacon Ultimate
A man's gotta eat
If it‘s tax fraud in a country that no longer exists, maybe one Big Mac and a Coke.
What I don’t understand is how does the airport not have the right to kick someone out for loitering? I know people are ALLOWED to “loiter” since delays are common, but I would have thought there would be a limit. I mean they wouldn’t want all airports to become homeless shelters right?
So the question is, did the airport officials even WANT to move him? Because it would have been so easy to have him arrested and detained at a police station rather than set up camp. I mean, people are routinely arrested on trumped up charges way more often and for way less than this. Right?
Read the wikipedia article. Very special case. They cannot kick someone out of an airport if he has no documentation to enter the country.
So if I go into an airport then flush my passport in the toilet, I can declare that I have no documentation and would like to camp in the airport?
Yeah, I did read it,but not sure how the laws work. There was a lot of information left out of that page. I would have thought airport officials have supreme authority and can kick out or deny entry to anyone if they felt they were a threat to anyone inside (maybe not necessarily this case) or if they were loitering without intent to move on.
Of course, laws vary by country and I don’t know France’s laws on this. Maybe a French person who knows a bit more about laws in their country could shed some light here?
This is my understanding:
He wasn't allowed to enter france due to the missing documentation but was unable to leave without said documentation.
The airport served as a neutral space he was allowed to exist. Airports have odd jurisdiction.
By kicking him out of the airport they'd have effectively made him an undocumented migrant they'd have been unable to deport.
Airports can kick you out under normal circumstances but homeless living in airports isnt uncommon as it isnt suspicious to see someone sleeping in an airport.
This is accurate. Airports are exempt in some ways because travelers may be just passing through from one country to another and are just on a layover. There is a whole set of immigration exemption rules on areas of the airport that are designated for people not entering the country of the airport.
The airport has to be able to kick you out to someplace that will take you.
It’s pretty simple.
If you can’t legally enter the country, then they can’t let you leave the airport.
If you can’t legally leave the country because you don’t have a country to go to, then they can’t just put you on a plane to go anywhere.
If he is stateless he still would have needed to be housed etc. I’m not sure on specifics but if he had no recognised nationality than you can’t deport him anywhere. If he was happy there it was probably the easiest solution for all parties
I’m not sure on specifics but if he had no recognised nationality than you can’t deport him anywhere
I mean, you can. As we've seen in recent months, those treaties are only as good as people are willing to follow / enforce them. If this happened in the US right now, I'm sure the US would stick the person on a flight to Sudan or El Salvador, which probably wouldn't even violate the treaties if those countries accept the person/people.
I'm not lauding the actions as good. Just saying that it's not like the US would be dumping/deporting the person to an unwilling country, so country-wise no one would be complaining. Taking someone and just "dumping them somewhere else" – morality aside – is usually an issue because the "somewhere else" complains about it. If the "somewhere else" is on the same page, then it becomes less of an issue so far as international relations goes.
This makes sense. I remember hearing about this but not reading into it too much. How could this not have been resolved more quickly? Oh, cause the guy chose not to. Not the victim the headline portrays it as.
Because he was offered citizenship in 1999, after 11 years of staying in an airport.
He may have been scared about trying to adjust to life again or maybe didn't believe the help he was getting etc.
It wasn't as if he was offered it day 1.
He also mailed his own paperwork away to intentionally create this. His paperwork did not 'go missing'.
I feel like he would have made his point after about two weeks or so.
Also… based on your username, you must be here to fix the cable. Am I wrong?
He had already stayed in the airport 11 years before being offered citizenship.
He also died in 2022 of a heart attack while being homeless
I'm glad someone else mentioned this. He's often talked about like this victim who was stuck there but he had plenty of options. He refused them all because they weren't 100% what he wanted.
And what he wanted was too much.
Came across him a few times in cdg during my travels. I would believe this. Cranky as hell before the karens. I saw him utterly rip into three us teenagers because he thought they photographed him.
Honestly, I can’t even handle a 4-hour layover without questioning my life choices.
$25 drink at the bar, checking the clock constantly, and hoping to god that your terminal doesn't change AGAIN.
$25 for a drink? At that point, I'd just pay the $40 entry fee for a lounge with free booze.
If only every single airport on earth offered an unlimited drinks bar that anyone could use
I remember changing planes in DFW, where American has like half of the terminals because it's their main hub. Learned the terminal was changed to all the way across the airport as I was walking off, and had less than 15 minutes to catch the new one.
Do you know how friggin' huge DFW is? I didn't. Yeah, there's a monorail, but I still missed my flight and had to catch a later one, and was late to what I was trying to get to.
There's a couple other times that airport ruined my trip. Hate DFW.
If only every airport had a free movie theatre like Changi airport it would be zero problem, for me anyway.
I always go to the lounge (can buy entry if you‘re flying economy for some, although they‘re usually not great). Have a feed and a shower, sorted.
100%, nothing beats an airport shower.
Truckstop showers let your bring a friend
He wasn't stuck, just couldn't go exactly where he preferred.
For 18 years he was stuck in the transit area. After 1999 he could leave but chose not to
People in other threads keep saying he had mental health issues. No joke. I go crazy with a 4hour layover in Doha. 18 years in god-forsaken CDG? People barely manage to survive that airport on their way to their dream vacation. 18 years without privacy, dignity or hope. No wonder the guy kind of lost it.
Thats not true at all… he was just hung up on Catherine Zeta Jones
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No. He had the right to go out. And used to do so for a drink in a bar or going out for a snack.
I think they were asking why the airport just let him sleep there for years.
Yeah that was my question. Seems like they probably could have forced him out if they wanted to. See my comment elsewhere in this thread on that. So why didn’t they?
Stanley tucci was incompetent in charge of the airport.
I’m guessing it’s a public space and there aren’t any official rules on the books for something like this. But that’s purely conjecture.
That’s not a bad thought. But I would think that airport officials have authority to remove anyone for loitering if they feel that they are not there to actually fly, since this point is beyond the security screening and only people with tickets are allowed through to this area.
But again, what do I know!? Maybe the officials were too scared of political backlash and decided to just let it slide??
I'd also consider the possibility that they let him stay as a sort of twisted tourist attraction.
Like you could go "Hey, since we're going to Paris, I wanna try and take a photo with the guy that inspired the The Terminal!"
Where else was he supposed to go?
Belgium or France. Both nations offered him residency
After 11 years.
*7, IIRC. Which is a pretty quick timeline for a stateless person, all things considered.
To the movies to see The Terminal
I'm sure he would be a big Tom Hanks fan
The bloody embassy
Inside an airport?
Well, now that you mention it. If there is a place where it would make a lot of sense for an embassy to have a satellite office, it would be huge international airports.
And now that I'm writing this I'm starting to wonder why that isn't a thing.
There’s no way Catherine Zeta Jones would have fallen in love with that dude.
Eat to bite?
According to Wikipedia he eventually left, then came back to live in the airport.
uncle leo?
This guy obviously had mental health issues
Sir, Alfred. He seemed to be sane, but not reasonable. His family gave up on trying to change him by the time he launched this airport stunt, from what I can gather.
Did he eat and shop at the airport? That could definitely add up over 18 years
How do you survive/get food if you have no income for that long?
His pad looks a lot shittier than Hank's in the film.
What did he do for a living? For 18 years, he had to earn money, right?
Just want to add that the arrivals waiting area at Charles de Gaulle is the biggest shithole I've ever been to.
Looks nothing like Hanks…
Of all the fucking airports in this world…
Imagine making an airport your entire personality
Annd it you look into it. The guy just lied. Claimed to be expelled, his documents stolen. Both dubious at best.
The sad part is he could have left pretty quick, if he had told the people who where trying to help him where he was from and his name was 'Mehran Karimi Nasseri' and not 'Sir Alfred', which no one could locate any person by the details he was using.
It caused him to be left there for years.
I think he went back too once he got his papers in order.
How do you survive and get food and shower tho?
18 years?! Even 18 days would be insane... 18 months... but 18 years?! How the fuck...
His story inspired the Jean Rochefort film "Tombés du ciel" which was made in 1994 telling the story of this guy stuck in Charles de Gaulles aiport (Paris) which rights have benn bought by US film maker 10 years later to make the one you're talking about (and french version is so much better).
Aw I didn’t realize he died at the airport in 2022.
He was a crazy person who refused to leave.
I don't think his paperwork went missing. I think his country of origin went missing.
He chose to do this. Period.
On reflection, seems ready weird his character was played by a White American.
I mean the movie wasn't trying to portray his life. It was just inspired by it.
But no happy ending for him :(
Full disclosure, both France and Belgium actually did offer him residency but he refused because he wanted to go to the UK instead.
Reading his Wikipedia page, it seems like a combination of mental health issues and wanting political asylum which he must have felt was safest in this airport.
But I still don’t understand how he managed to survive without income for so long. Free meals from strangers only get you so far, right? Right??
Edit: finding food is one thing. Bathrooms are free, so that’s a problem solved. But doing sponge bathing will only get you so far and then this guy probably smelled horrible after a while 🤢
Also full disclosure, the earliest either countries gave him that opportunity was 1995, he'd had already spent about 7 years living in the airport.
lol, as if his quality of life would have been any different and I guess by that point he talked french
How is that ? Outside the fact that he was stucked there 18 years.
You should read his Wikipedia page. He had many opportunity to regain a normal social life.He could had the Belgium or French residency, even both. Having an European residency would been helpful to go where he wanted to go (UK). But he absolutely wanted a British nationality. as his family said:"[...] he was living the life he wanted". Guess that he was in war against the world.
Update: He refused residency of Belgium and France because he would have been classified as Iranian. He claimed to be British.
He died homeless at the airport in 2022. What do you consider a happy ending?
Having now seen this, I realize that I saw him at CDG many years ago. No question about it. Also definitely not the strangest character I've seen in 30 years and nearly 3 million miles of business travel.
at least it is air conditioned. but man, that gotta sucks.
Didn't suck enough for him to accept France and Belgium's offers of residency.
What a fascinating life
wtf, are you stalking the discords I'm in? I was just talking about this yesterday.
I was watching the terminal last night and his story pooped into my head.
Was it ever mentioned what he did for bathing/laundry?
Goat, medicine for goat
Snowden lived in the airport haha
who tf would accept these circumstances for the better part of 20 years?
Indont understand this. Just figure it out so the MFs can go home.
god i hate that airport
I went and looked this up. Pretty sad to learn the poor guy died in that airport.
How did he pay for food, etc?
Garbage and donations.
I mean honestly, probably enough food thrown away on the daily to feed dozens in an airport
Name checks out
This man has never found a good produce dumpster. Don't disrespect the good produce dumpster dawg
Im weak 🤣 bro got caught in Spanish
Broo 😂😂😂
Mostly donations and help from friends and strangers.
Didn’t you watch the movie? He returned carts for quarters
The movie was just inspired by Nasseri's story, in real life most of his money came from donations from strangers and friends. Allegedly he was paid a quarter of a million by Dreamworks for the rights to his story in 2003 (even though in the end they didnt really use it), so for the last 3 years of his stay he probably lived like a king.
Source: Waiting For Spielberg - The New York Times
Wikipedia says he became homeless and died of a heart attack after he left the airport 😔
Damn, he should have stayed in the airport.
$250k probably won't last that long in most US cities if you don't have a job.
Agreed. He died homeless of a heart attack after he got out. In my first comment I'm referring to his last 3 years in the airport, where his day-to-day costs were probably much lower. Not to mention his mental health was deteriorating and he had a lawyer, if i remember correctly.
Actually, the movie suggests he works in construction the airport, getting paid under the table, and implies he makes a decent amount doing it. It's a pretty stupid movie TBH.
Interesting that so many agree. I liked it (alas I was a kid at the time I watched it.
I was an adult, and both my girlfriend at the time and I liked it.
Yeah trying to turn it into a weird fairy tale just did not work. Maybe somebody else could have done it well but Spielberg could not. A bizarre movie. The real theme of the story should have been about the utter failure of human institutions to provide dignity to people. As it was it was just quirky for quirky's sake despite an attempt to otherwise inject some thematic elements. Ugly story. Weird attempt to make an uplifting movie about resilience or whatever the fuck they were doing.
You 100% nailed it. I couldn't quite describe why I didn't like it but this is it.
He does not look like he eats much. Could be a combination of charity, eating what restaurants would otherwise toss at the end of the day, and scavenging.
Mustard and biscuits aren't too expensive ig. /s