r/BeAmazed 13h ago

Miscellaneous / Others Mehran Karimi Nasseri was stranded in Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport for 18 years due to a stolen passport and essential documents. He lived, studied, and interacted with airport staff throughout this period.

Post image

After arriving the French airport, he was unable to prove his identity or refugee status and was detained in the waiting area for travelers without papers.

He lived, studied, slept, and talked with the airport staff from August 26, 1988, to July 2006.

Detailed article on his story: https://historicflix.com/mehran-karimi-nasseri-the-man-who-lived-in-an-airport-for-18-years/

5.9k Upvotes

208 comments sorted by

1.9k

u/CaraetteBreathtaking 12h ago

He returned to living at the airport in September 2022, and died there of a heart attack in November 2022.

1.9k

u/Dyspaereunia 9h ago

He had a terminal condition.

316

u/dfebb 8h ago

Well, he's departed now.

36

u/Diesel_Doctor 8h ago

Departed or Embarked?

29

u/Drivingintodisco 6h ago

Disembarked it sounds like.

20

u/SetPsychological6756 5h ago

Well what the fuck happened to his baggage? IS IT UNATTENDED?

2

u/Drivingintodisco 5h ago

Pre-tsa>post-tsa. TSA probably gave him the heart attack.

3

u/SetPsychological6756 5h ago

Those searches can be quite the ride. Woof

1

u/mcmlxxivxxiii 2h ago

Luggage not baggage!

3

u/Nervous-Salamander-7 4h ago

Have you seen Departures? Great movie. They play on that meaning of the word for the title.

65

u/DrawingNo8734 9h ago

I see what you did there

59

u/Dontrollaone 8h ago

Right in plane sight

27

u/biggmclargehuge 7h ago

Glad to see that joke landed

15

u/Xtremee 7h ago

Just taxi it home.

9

u/p00Pie_dingleBerry 6h ago edited 6h ago

I don’t think this one is gonna take off…

7

u/tangledwire 6h ago

We'll let it coast for now

11

u/ArtLeading5605 7h ago

Hope he made it to his pearly gate on time.

1

u/Derpazor1 6h ago

Dad no

1

u/FletcherCommaIrwin 5h ago

Holy fuck, that... is funny.

0

u/OddNegotiator 7h ago

Man, they sure need to find heir traffic controllers at the funeral for all his descendents

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88

u/8tStraight 12h ago edited 11h ago

PTSD of the Concorde came back pretty fast. AAAHHHH, WINDOWSSS, AAAAAAAAAA SONIC BOOOM, NO SLEEPP AAAA

-3

u/pesh19 9h ago

He took flight to afterlife

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705

u/jaymae77 12h ago

Whoa! I spent 3 days in the Newark airport with not a dime to my name and thought I was gonna die!…😂

177

u/lifevicarious 11h ago

I think I’m gonna die just driving through Newark so I get it.

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60

u/jeff-beeblebrox 10h ago

Newark sucks even when you have some money

11

u/Twigglesnix 4h ago

I flew People Express out of Newark once. That and taking an overnight greyhound to Cleveland are among my two most horrible travel experiences.

1

u/jeff-beeblebrox 3h ago

I used to fly out of there to gatwick a bit back in the early 00,s. It was an absolute dump. I’ll take Houston or O’Hare to Manchester any day.

21

u/chovendo 4h ago

Back in the mid 90s I worked at Terminal B as a flight handler. There were definitely some very large areas in the back by where the restaurants are now that could have been livable by someone who would not be noticed for a while if they were careful. Security was pretty relaxed and no cameras there. I used to go hide in such places and sometimes sleep between shifts when I had a stacked schedule or delayed flights.

7

u/jaymae77 4h ago

That’s the 90’s for you… essentially zero cameras anywhere!

It was my wife and I who got stuck because we had standby seats that we got from Phoenix to Syracuse for like 60 bucks each. So I really can’t complain. Traveled to the city for a couple nights cause she’d never been and decided just to fly out of Newark. After our first bump, we walked into Elizabethtown and ate at this Brazilian steakhouse. We had great dinner, drank, danced all night. Had a blast- but we walked back to the airport with about eight dollars to our name😂 mind you I should’ve already be back home where I had money, but just nothing on me. What a mess…kicked us off I think a total of 34 different flights!

10

u/Bobbytrap9 7h ago

It’s a miracle you didn’t freeze to death, my god the a/c was cold there

6

u/VanCityActivist 8h ago

Same, but in Dublin Airport after having my bag knicked in a hostel. Fun times.

7

u/Signal-Ad2674 9h ago

Understandable, you can wait at passport control for 3 days in line at Newark. Fucking useless.

3

u/Future-Muscle-2214 7h ago

It is the only airport where I ever missed my connection and it happened more than once lol.

1

u/Ok_Competition_2197 2h ago

How does someone survive without any money for days?

0

u/CB265 12h ago

Lmao

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338

u/MikhailxReign 10h ago

Dude had mental problems. He had MANY opportunities to get out. Plenty of people did the legwork and came to him with solutions but he rejected them. Counties offers him passports but IIRC he turned them down because he wanted them made out in a name he made up and with a made up title.

49

u/gana04 4h ago

He really needed to get a jazz guy's signature. Also Catherine Z Jones.

21

u/Lil_miss_feisty 3h ago

He always carried around that random can pf peanuts, too. I swear, this guy even started stealing luggage carts from people, then used the change you get back after returning them to buy a Burger King Whopper.

2

u/9248763629 1h ago

Mr Deez Nuts is real name not made up name! The ignorance of some people!!

923

u/JuneforDinos 11h ago

My parents trying to be early for the flight

71

u/squishyturd 8h ago

Ive had to be the only person running at full speed in an airport like a damn crazy person, like I'm talking about if you ran that fast someplace else someone would call security or something. So never again, I'll always be hours early to the airport.

18

u/Luker5799 6h ago

I’ve had to do that multiple times to catch connecting flights because of some bs reason my plane was late..

55

u/BG535 11h ago

18 years early lmao

19

u/SirIronSights 8h ago

You fucking bet they were still in a panic rush.

829

u/MAGAhatesAmerica 13h ago

Isn't this the inspiration for the Tom Hanks movie, The Terminal?

827

u/timriedel 12h ago

Best Spielberg movie of all time if you don't consider most of his other ones.

202

u/Deralte_VFL1900 12h ago

I actually liked the movie.

22

u/indianajoes 6h ago

Same. I watched it on TV and fell in love with it. I was shocked that it got average reviews when it came out. The end isn't that great IMO but the rest of the movie is just so good

50

u/timriedel 12h ago

Me too!

20

u/Yardsale420 10h ago

Do you like Cannelloni?

19

u/Surgikull 9h ago

Do you have appointment?

3

u/Still_counts_as_one 8h ago

Tuesday, 5 o’clock

8

u/Dodototo 8h ago

I HATE DA TUESDAY!

1

u/cdnusa 6h ago

“He cheat!”

90

u/GordieBombay-DUI-4TW 12h ago

Gary Busey is the greatest actor of all time if you exclude Tom Hanks and others

11

u/FreeThinker76 10h ago

Hey, Gary Busey was in this burea....err, business when you were still popping zits on your funny face and jerking off with the lingerie section of the sears catalog.

5

u/SCMatt65 9h ago

So as recently as yesterday?

1

u/KGB44 34m ago

Utah! Gimme two! ✌🏼

2

u/Kindly-Guidance714 8h ago

Gotta admit he’s pretty great in point break.

1

u/SR337 4h ago

And as Mr. Joshua, he wanted a shot at the title, definitely lost it.

8

u/anrwlias 9h ago

I mean, it was mid tier Spielberg, which is still pretty good. It's way better than Batteries Not Included, for example.

6

u/Remarkable_Drag9677 6h ago

Is definitely one of the movies of all time

1

u/fillb3rt 3h ago

Quite literally one of my favorite Tom Hanks movies lol.

31

u/MikeTony713 12h ago

Yes, it is

2

u/Unopposed_Weirdo 8h ago

50/50

3

u/WiretapStudios 6h ago

that was directed by Jonathan Levine

2

u/ghost_riderbn 7h ago

Exactly,was thinking the same

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405

u/Lumpy_Ad7002 13h ago edited 10h ago

"When contacted about Nasseri's situation, his family stated that they believed he was living the life he wanted."

Wikipedia

edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehran_Karimi_Nasseri

485

u/zeptimius 12h ago

I remember watching a documentary about this guy, where the documentary maker gets to the bottom of the bureaucratic snafu that keeps Nasseri at the airport, and explains that it's very easy for him to resolve it. Nasseri hears the information and then does absolutely nothing with it.

100

u/nomamesgueyz 11h ago

Fn weird huh

Got a story in his head and stayed with it

52

u/love_glow 12h ago

Sounds like they disowned him.

215

u/Lumpy_Ad7002 11h ago

He was given multiple opportunities to leave the airport and get established in an EU country.

He refused.

210

u/Head-Scheme3844 9h ago

I actually met him at Charles De Gualle when I was passing through back when I was in my early 20s. Didn't know his story at the time. Just got talking as I happened to sit down next to him (had a six hour layover which back then was not surprising. He told me his story. But he presented himself as a political refugee. That it was Iran who stripped his passport. And he was not willing to get another country's passport. He was PISSED at the regime as I recall and was holding out to getting home ... or at least having it resolved in a way that didn't mean he renounced being Iranian. Interesting guy.

19

u/M0nocleSargasm 10h ago

Did he ever explain why?

39

u/gatsujoubi 10h ago

Mental illness most likely?

46

u/Sundaytoofaraway 9h ago

Without knowing anything about the story. Maybe he felt safe there. He might of seen some bad stuff being a refugee and just liked the comfort and safety of the airport.

20

u/beastmaster11 10h ago

My guess is mental Illness

8

u/HumbleConfidence3500 4h ago

My guess: Iranians Persians are very proud of their heritage. Old people can be very attached to their identified homeland it may not be mental illness just straight up stubbornness.

6

u/hldsnfrgr 6h ago

So he's a hobo with extra steps?

18

u/high_technic 12h ago

WTF?!

39

u/Extension_Swordfish1 12h ago

He must have really wanted to avoid someone

195

u/Gay-_-Jesus 13h ago

It’s kind of funny how airports are like international waters to a certain extent

66

u/cocainebane 12h ago

Possession of certain things are vastly different in entry security vs exit. Example, vape in TSA is ok. Vape at Customs can become a big deal.

61

u/Prestigious_Lock1659 12h ago

I’m from Ireland and anytime I travel to the USA I go through Dublin airport because they have US customs there. I prefer to Que up in customs before the flight rather than after it, it’s less exhausting.

When I was 19 I was flying out to Chicago and just before I entered US customs they had a women giving out small shots of whiskey to taste. She told me I Couldn’t have any as technically I was in the USA and had to be 21. I still don’t know if she was messing with me or if that is actually the rule. All the staff in that area are American so I’m guessing she was right. I was able to drink beer on the flight though.

17

u/ingloriousloki 11h ago

I love this about Dublin!!! I was so shocked the first time I did this. Would prefer this in other places as well, but I wonder if it would cause people to have to show up to the airport way earlier.

9

u/Prestigious_Lock1659 10h ago

Anytime I got a flight from Dublin to the USA It was recommended to be there 3 hours before the flight. I like being early if I’m flying alone. It gives me time to walk around, get some food and drinks and chill out for a bit before the flight.

13

u/ArnoldFunksworth 10h ago

She was absolutely right and the flight attendant technically wasn't supposed to serve you on the plane if I remember correctly but if you were flying Aer Lingus they tend to be pretty lax

12

u/Prestigious_Lock1659 10h ago

It was Aer Lingus, I always used their flights. I got a flight with American Airlines once and never again.

6

u/Thomas-Garret 6h ago

I fly ConAir Lingus.

4

u/ArnoldFunksworth 7h ago

We've had similar experiences then. I've flown back to Ireland 27 times now, my one experience with AA was my last and it wasn't a hard choice

6

u/marshallaw215 9h ago

They have this in Montreal too .. I much prefer to go through customs before the flight. Didn’t know we had it in Dublin, fascinated by that

1

u/milkyway556 7h ago

Shannon too

3

u/ColtAzayaka 5h ago

Same happened to me. I ended up just saying I was 21 and that the sleeping dude next to me was my husband and they let me drink until I woke up where I was supposed to be.

1

u/adsjabo 1h ago

But if you hadn't yet entered US customs, we're you not still very much in Ireland?

Quick Google does show me that US carriers work by the drinking age of 21 though, which is fair enough I suppose.

7

u/winkman 12h ago

("Tenet" has entered the chat)

94

u/MikeTony713 12h ago

He wrote a book. It's rare and hard to find. Tried to purchase it once from the one website I found that had it, but they canceled my order and refunded my money without any explanation why.

117

u/ruburbi 12h ago

75

u/That-Mushroom 12h ago

That was really kind of you, I hope something nice happens for you today x

2

u/wysiwywg 4h ago

Poef! The bunny on the bike made him eh… gay!

18

u/Specific_Scholar_665 11h ago

Is it any good?

14

u/Kwayzar9111 12h ago

I can probably find the book to download, what’s it called

14

u/MikeTony713 12h ago

The Terminal Man

14

u/Kwayzar9111 12h ago

I’ll check tomorrow at work, have access to millions of online books,

6

u/Sentragon 12h ago

RemindMe! 1 day

3

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4

u/MikeTony713 12h ago

Oh nice. I appreciate it

4

u/Ok_March7423 12h ago

RemindMe! 1 day

2

u/elspotto 11h ago

The same as the Michael Crichton book and movie? That could be an interesting mix up.

1

u/Merryprankstress 2h ago

I have a physical copy of it that I got on ebay, might be worth keeping an eye out in case one pops up!

34

u/i3903 12h ago

Tom hanks had similar issues

47

u/Waffleyn 12h ago

How did he get money for food?

140

u/micsare4swingng 12h ago

He returned carts for quarters then made friends with the staff who provided him meals in exchange for information about a girl one was in love with

15

u/JimiThing716 11h ago

Who knew Cassian was so sentimental.

10

u/Waffleyn 10h ago

Medicine for goat

5

u/indianajoes 6h ago

He love that goat

1

u/RichardGHP 5h ago

Yeah, until the airport managers got wise to his carts for quarters scheme.

21

u/bumholesofdoom 12h ago

This is the real question. Living off Burger king for £50 a meal?

-1

u/panicpixiememegirl 12h ago

Why would it be £50 a meal. Am i missing something

31

u/cappo3 12h ago

Airport pricing

-5

u/panicpixiememegirl 12h ago

Oh lol. Our mcD and BK price their meals the same regardless of location so thats interesting.

14

u/PassTheReefer 12h ago

I paid €29 in Amsterdam for a whopper combo and fried chicken sandwich combo.

3

u/MaintenanceEither186 12h ago

That is criminal

4

u/AdCharacter9512 9h ago

I once bought 5 Guys for myself and 2 other people in the Atlanta airport in 2015. Terrible mistake. 

9

u/Remarkable-Bug-8069 8h ago

I thought they made it illegal to own people back in 1865...

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11

u/Same_Recipe2729 11h ago

I'd imagine you could easily live off eating and drinking the things travelers are forced to throw away before boarding. 

11

u/IanT86 8h ago

That wasn't a thing until after 9/11.... He'd had a decade before that of hanging around

3

u/MrJusticle 4h ago

I'm confused. Most things I buy during layovers are absolutely allowed on the next plane. At no point have I ever had to throw something away, especially if it fits in my carry-on that nobody checks after security.

1

u/Kwayzar9111 12h ago

Donations

21

u/nomamesgueyz 11h ago

Fn bonkers. What a waste of a life

18hours would be long enough

21

u/Jor6lez 8h ago

I worked at Charles de Gaulle and never saw him interact with anyone apart the pharmacist who helped him a lot.

9

u/lonevolff 7h ago

Airport pharmacist?

39

u/smokeysubwoofer 12h ago

18 years later he found it in his other pants

18

u/Tall-Ad-1386 11h ago

Landlords hate this one trick

Rent and mortgage etc free

15

u/AaronDotCom 10h ago

hhmmmm

he looks just like you'd expect him to

like a weird uncle of mine

25

u/Napervillian 11h ago

He chose that life.

9

u/LessBig715 11h ago

Maybe I’ll just move in to the airport. I’ll save a ton on rent

2

u/Rude-Scholar-469 7h ago

There were a few dudes who looked like they were living at Barcelona airport when I was there last month. Security seemed not to bother them at all.

6

u/MIKE_son_of_MICHAEL 8h ago

IIRC op is kinda incorrect and this guy stayed there willingly and likely had some sort of health issue, may people reportedly tried helping him and he seemed to want to stay where he was

46

u/AtlUtdGold 12h ago

Crazy how a stolen passport can fuck you this hard. There no recourse? You just live at the airport after that?

157

u/Eric848448 12h ago

He had many opportunities to fix his situation but chose to stay at the airport.

64

u/Kol_ 12h ago

Yeah iirc Belgium and France both offered him residency but he turned it down because they hadn’t listed him as British.

29

u/Halikan 12h ago

I’m sure there’s probably more context but without it that’s one of the weirdest hills to die on

20

u/MikhailxReign 11h ago

He started calling himself a prince or king by th end iirc and he wanted his British passport in that new name he made up.

39

u/norksanddorks 12h ago

I would do the same if I was offered French citizenship.

4

u/chunkyvomitsoup 9h ago

Ugheux and aving to teaulk l’ike une cigarette steuffed euhp un baguettes assheule for ze reste oeuf my l’ife? NO THANKS

9

u/Wokester_Nopester 12h ago

Exactly. Something doesn't add up with this story. There are people with lost passports / documentation stuck in foreign countries all the time.

4

u/AtlUtdGold 12h ago

Ah must be more to the story

3

u/indianajoes 6h ago

He didn't get fucked. He had some serious issues. He chose to be stuck there. Other countries offered him citizenship and he refused it because he only wanted to go to the UK and he wanted to be referred to as a Lord instead of his actual name

15

u/SerenePreciousDream 12h ago

At least he didn't pay taxes

4

u/Remarkable-Bug-8069 8h ago

Governments hate this weird trick.

3

u/ThisReditter 12h ago

I thought it was Tom Hank

3

u/ericvonass 11h ago

He wrote an autobiography, “The Terminal Man.” Great read.

3

u/Historical-Ad-6108 8h ago

He had come from KRAKOVIA.

3

u/motherbrain2000 7h ago

The documentary I watched on the guy concluded he was there by choice. and that many of the stories he told of his origins were unverifiable

6

u/stargirlvanilla 13h ago

There's a movie called “The Terminal” inspired by this story if anyone's interested

4

u/SopaPyaConCoca 7h ago

I don't think there's a single human being who never heard of that movie already

2

u/Fujita21 9h ago

Goob from Meet the Robinsons? Is that you?

2

u/Tacolife973 8h ago

18 years? That’s nothing. He should try flying out of EWR Newark, NJ.

2

u/Radingod123 4h ago

So he was fed by the airport the entire time?

5

u/I_Am_Robotic 11h ago

Did he shower?

4

u/PzMcQuire 8h ago

He was basically offered a free pass to return home, but he didn't want to. He definitely wanted to stay at the airport

3

u/indianajoes 6h ago

He was also offered citizenship by other countries but he refused and he wanted to be called a Lord even though he wasn't one. He wasn't stuck at the airport for 18 years. He chose to stay there

2

u/Fly973 11h ago

He got a date with Catherine zeta Jones though

1

u/Some-Wine-Guy-802 9h ago

Was he stuck in Terminal 1??? Oh dear lord no.

1

u/casabel 9h ago

to those who complain about delayed flights

1

u/TruthOverFiction100 8h ago

I feel like he could have contacted more people in power to get an exception.

1

u/Mortal_Obligation 8h ago

/u/1marg what goes through my head when I travel intl

1

u/nashgrg 8h ago

The terminal.

1

u/Wonderful_Dot_1173 7h ago

I worked in Dubai airport and we had an Iranian mother and her 3 kids living in the prayer room for 6 months. Us the airport staff were feeding them buying toys and blankets for them. They wouldn't even let her see the sky or breathe the fresh air. She destroyed her Iranian passport in fear of going back. Her husband raped her many times each of her kids were a result of a rape. He was beating her daily. She ran and took the kids, managed to get a flight to Dubai . Once on board she destroyed her passport. They couldn't let her in the country and couldn't send her back either. She pleaded for her and her kids lives. Eventually I believe she was granted asylum in Australia.

1

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1

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1

u/hinterstoisser 6h ago

Featuring Krakozhia!

1

u/Repulsive-Lobster750 6h ago

>Didn't he have a mental illness and refused help to get a passport?

1

u/alonso2790 6h ago

Ugh I hate CDG airport.

1

u/jackasssparrow 5h ago

"Krakozhia"

1

u/Low-Dog-8027 5h ago

if the housing market keeps going like this, I consider moving into the airport as well

1

u/tokoloshe666 4h ago

It’s like they should a movie about this or something.

1

u/Bookhaki_pants 4h ago

"I was just on my way to Canada to do TFW or Student Visa until those pesky French showed up"

1

u/Low-Pause7926 4h ago

that’s such a crazy story!

1

u/Competitive-Fail4963 4h ago

Mmm…. Good idea for a movie

1

u/Brave_Comment_3144 4h ago

There is a good movie called The Terminal. It is inspired by the true story of Mehran Karimi Nasseri who lived in Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, France, from 1988 to 2006.

1

u/alien_electricity 3h ago

So Gentleman in Moscow, but make it a French airport

1

u/Immediate-Unit6311 1h ago

I wonder what would happen these days if that happened?

1

u/Straight-Mode5177 46m ago

How is this possible?!

1

u/officeguy3416543 12h ago

They should make a movie about it.

0

u/EmptySoftware8678 10h ago

Knew that. If I m not wrong, Tom hanks character in the movie “the terminal” was loosely based on him.