At Japan’s New Chitose Airport, 38 flights were cancelled on Saturday after a pair of scissors went missing.
Japanese media reports that outlets at the airport – which serves the regional city of Chitose on Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido – are required to keep scissors in a locker. When staff need to cut something, they take the scissors out and put them back after cutting.
But last Saturday, an unnamed retailer was unable to find a pair of scissors at the airport. A lengthy search ensued, during which security checks for arriving passengers were suspended for at least two hours.
There was chaos: the queues were getting longer and longer, passengers were being denied entry and the airport authorities were trying to find out whether the scissors had been stolen by someone with malicious intent.
The incident resulted in over 200 flights being delayed and 36 flights being cancelled altogether. The chaos prevented some artists from performing at a music festival.
Fortunately, the scissors were eventually found – in the same store they disappeared from, and not in the hands of someone nefarious. However, it took a while before authorities could confirm that the scissors were the missing tailors and not another lost pair.
The incident could hardly have come at a worse time, as last weekend coincided with the Obon festival, during which it is tradition to honor ancestors, often by traveling home to see family.
At a time like this, it was more than inconvenient that an airport was effectively closed instead of transporting people to places.
At least the chaos could not be attributed to code or cable cutting: this was a completely real problem. ®
