# That guy stuck in the airport: The Terminal

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-guy-stuck-in-the-airport-the-terminal/395467>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 11, 2007, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-guy-stuck-in-the-airport-the-terminal/395467 "2007-03-11T08:13:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![MelCthefirst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MelCthefirst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MelCthefirst)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2007, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-guy-stuck-in-the-airport-the-terminal/395467/1 "2007-03-11T08:13:30Z")

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What happened to that guy who was caught in an airport when his country became unrecognised by the US and they made a movie about it called The Terminal?

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2007, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-guy-stuck-in-the-airport-the-terminal/395467/2 "2007-03-11T08:25:25Z")

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That never happened.

But the guy who the movie was (very, very loosely) based on was stuck in an airport in France.

From [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/travel/airline/airport.asp):

> [@](#):
>
> What follows is one representative newspaper account of the strange story of Merhan Karimi Nasseri, a man without country, trapped by his lack of papers in Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, France, since 26 August 1988:

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**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2007, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-guy-stuck-in-the-airport-the-terminal/395467/3 "2007-03-11T08:29:18Z")

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[QUOTE=MelCthefirst]  
What happened to that guy who was caught in an airport when his country became unrecognised by the US and they made a movie about it called The Terminal?  
[/QUOTE]

According to Wikipedia, the guy was taken to a hospital in 2006. But I can’t find any verification so take it for what its worth.

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**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2007, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-guy-stuck-in-the-airport-the-terminal/395467/4 "2007-03-11T09:45:59Z")

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[The Perfect Master Speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990820.html).

Since he last spoke in 2001, the information might, possibly, be slightly out of date 😉

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**Author:** ![MelCthefirst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MelCthefirst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MelCthefirst)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-guy-stuck-in-the-airport-the-terminal/395467/5 "2007-03-11T19:09:54Z")

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I wonder if he had a mental health issue before living in the airport.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-guy-stuck-in-the-airport-the-terminal/395467/6 "2007-03-11T20:42:52Z")

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Now the Madrid airport has one, too. He calls himself “Emperor Feld Carlos I.” He’s supposed to be from Ethiopia, but nobody can prove it, so they can’t deport him. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/30/wspain30.xml](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/30/wspain30.xml)