Have you ever tried to check something odd when you were flying? Say, maybe a bathtub? Or a giant wheel of cheese? No, neither of those. Okay, how about a tarantula? No, not that either. So maybe you have not tried to check any of the above, but somebody has, according to a recent Virgin Atlantic Airways survey. The airline asked check-in staff at all its worldwide airports, “What’s the strangest item a passenger has tried to check in on a Virgin Atlantic flight?” According to staff, the lady with the bathtub had her family help her carry it into the terminal, unwrapped and un-packaged, at New York JFK. Another passenger attempted to check the cheese wheel; and another, a car engine. Those were a handful of the oddities, but the airline also ranked the Top 5 weirdest. Here they are:

• A pet tarantula hidden in a lady’s coat at JFK airport
• A dead cow wrapped in plastic at JFK airport
• A bag of cutlery previously stolen from a Virgin Atlantic flight at Delhi airport
• A bag full of sand and sea (a couple who fell in love in Grenada wanted to check the memory of the island where they met)
• A bag of soil and coconut trees at Grenada airport

You have to wonder what passengers will do with some of these items on the other end! Have you ever been behind someone checking in a very odd item? — Kim Krol, eFlyer editor, circulation and public relations executive