Well I feel better now.

Police once apprehended a man at a train station in Kyjov (Kiyov), Czech Republic. He was reported to be drunk but they only found him terribly confused. Turns out, he was a Ukrainian trying to return to Kyjev (Kyiv) but a cashier in another town misunderstood and showed him the wrong train.

At least that's the same continent and not literally on the other side of the world.
- He only had a 150km detour. You can’t blame him for thinking “Kyjov” is the Czech spelling of “Київ” as he might not even have known the alphabet.
As a Pole i can relate being confused by sudden exposure to Czech language.

The whole thing is an advertisement on a baggage carousel in Austria for a company called Commend that offers intercom systems.

Salzburg airport's website has no mention of a special desk for those trying to reach Australia. If there were 100 errors per year, that would be 1 every 3 days, providing limited need for a desk.

I think they ment a counter like 1..2..3.. Not a counter you approach that seats an employee.
Well now you ruined my day. Thanks.

I don't know if this is true, but it does make me feel better!

It's not true, I saw a different meme on it the other day and looked it up. This came about because some company made an advertisement at Salzburg Airport that looked kind of like a help desk tag for someone that mistakingly flew to Austria instead.
The giveaway here is that it's Salzburg, not Vienna. International flyers into Austria are almost universally going to end up in Vienna by default. Vienna's airport sees ~20x the annual passenger count.
- Well, I rarely downvote, but disinformation gets it every time. Thanks for clearing that up.
- Paywall. Isn't stupid for an article like this? It's a curiosity that attracts many people from the world. That page is designed to just be ad-supported. Nobody living outside Austria would ever subscribe to "the local - Austria" just because it's curious about an article.
  Why even bother writing that article if nobody can read it
  Link fixed: https://archive.ph/wVNt5

I'm not having a better day, but it pleases me that there are some that are.

Most wholesome comment today, thank you for your service.
o7
- Thanks. It's gotten a lot better since I got home. Lol.
  Let's just say retail has a way of absolutely shattering any semblence of peace one can feel...

Huh..? Salzburg is pretty small and so is its airport. What route would you have to take that you end up in a small, barely international airport and not realize at your last transfer that you were in the wrong part of the world?

Stupid people who put literally no effort or attention to anything they do, ever. Same kind of people that don’t bother to reserve a rental car ahead of time.
- It's not like reserving a car ahead of time actually does anything, except maybe get you a discount. Not once has the rental company actually had the right car available for me. Usually I get "upgraded" to an SUV or something that costs me 1.5x in gas over the trip.
Most people know of Vienna so there are probably less mistakes
During COVID lockdowns when the US border was closed, something like 16,000 Americans attempted to go to Canada and were turned back at the border. This was in the news. So I have no trouble believing this.
- Trying to get into Canada during a pandemic and booking a flight to a different country because some letters are off on the country name are highly different things though
- That doesn't actually make sense

You fly to cities/airports, not countries. There's no way people are screwing that up.

How would you even get on a plane without a corresponding ticket?
- You would buy a ticket to Austria not realizing it was the wrong place. I have a very, very stupid cousin who did exactly that.
I can't believe that there's never been anyone that didn't make that mistake. Probably not enough to justify keeping a counter dedicated to it though...

Mangers daughter and a friend of hers where about to go for season work in Australia and do a bit of travel around and found a very cheap ticket to Sidney, bought it and went off.

Sidney, Canada....

Lolol I live in Canada. I have never heard of that. Sidney, BC, population 11,000.
What do you even do in that situation, can't really get any more opposite than that

I once almost accidentally flew to Puerto Rico rather than my city on the way back from a Thanksgiving trip because they unexpectedly delayed the flight and switched the gates

Ahh yes "Salzburg, New South Wales"

Is there a Salzburg Australia?

The people who fly into Austria don't know that...
There's probably dozens in the US though.

At least Austrasia isn't a thing anymore.

the territory that hasn't existed since the middle ages?
australasia is still a term people use for the asia-pacific region that includes australia though
What?
- Austrasia. As you can see, it's not a thing anymore.

In Austria they have these nifty stickers that they sell to tourists: "Warning! No kangaroos in Austria"

Who would want to go to Australia?

Mostly convicts
🥺
- I'm sorry Margot. Australia has its charms, but Austria is pure beauty.
This is a question of mine as well. It's hot as balls.
- "Located three quarters of an inch from the surface of the sun" - Dylan Moran

... Guess I'm Austrian now.

It's a step up from everybody thinking I'm from New York for some reason.

You have a bad day when you fly to Austria, but your bags are going to Australia.

Even funnier the Vienna Hbf has Australian flags ourside and not Autrian ones

It doesn't. (Hbf is short for Hauptbahnhof, the main station)
- No, its true. I had too much time and used Google Street View:
- Are you telling me they removed them? Cause tgat would be sad I laughed for about 5 minutes when I left the station and saw the Australian flag
- Could they have been EU flags? Still a field of blue with stars like the Australian flag.

@emilyapps@lemmy.forty-two.sh

i disagree