Airline Passengers Eat 66 Pounds of Oranges to Avoid Fee

Image: PHOTO: Oranges in a bag. (photo via RyersonClark / E+)
Image: PHOTO: Oranges in a bag. (photo via RyersonClark / E+)
Donald Wood
by Donald Wood
Last updated: 9:10 AM ET, Wed February 3, 2021

A group of travelers in China who were stopped at an airport with 66 pounds of oranges were forced to eat them before their trip to avoid paying an extra fee.

According to the Global Times, four men were stopped by security personnel at Kunming Wujiaba International Airport in China with 66 pounds of oranges. Officers informed the travelers they would have to pay roughly $46 to bring the fruit on their flight.

Instead of paying the extra fee, the men decided to eat all 66 pounds of oranges in about 30 minutes. The men were on a work trip and reported getting painful sores in their mouths as a result of the mass consumption.

"We just stood there and ate the whole thing up. It took about 20-30 minutes," one of the travelers identified as Wang told the Global Times. "We never want to have any oranges again."

While eating 66 pounds of fruit to avoid paying a fee is strange, at least it wasn't potentially dangerous.

At security checkpoints in the United States, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) revealed it had detected twice as many firearms per million passengers in 2020 compared to the previous year, despite a massive drop in travelers due to COVID-19.

Mandatory facial coverings have also been a problem, as more than 2,500 passengers have already been banned collectively by U.S. airlines for refusing to wear a mask. U.S. President Joe Biden recently signed an executive order making it mandatory to wear a face mask inside all airports and airplanes.


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