Man Almost Dies from Alcohol Poisoning After Drinking in Security Line

Filed in archive Aviation News on December 12, 2007

I had to read this article twice to fully understand it. According to an article on MSNBC, a man almost died from alcohol poisoning after drinking two pints of vodka. The man, who was not identified, didn't want to disregard his vodka and painfully decided to drink it - while standing in the security line at the Nuremberg airport. New carry-on rules state that passengers cannot carry large quantities of alcohol on planes. If he wanted to carry it on, he would have had to pay a fee.

The incident occurred at the Nuremberg airport on Tuesday, where the 64-year-old man was switching planes on his way home to Dresden from a holiday in Egypt.

New airport rules prohibit passengers from carrying larger quantities of liquid onto planes, and he was told at a security check he would have to either throw out the bottle of vodka or pay a fee to have his carry-on bag checked as cargo.

Instead, he chugged the bottle down - and was quickly unable to stand or otherwise function, police said.

A doctor called to the scene determined he had possibly life-threatening alcohol poisoning, and he was sent to a Nuremberg clinic for treatment.

The man, whose name was not released, is expected to be able to complete his journey home in a few days.