Man who inspired "The Terminal" dies at Paris airport

He had a terminal illness.

 

The terminal 2 was my favorite Arnold movie

 

Jokes aside reading his story is very sad. It sounds like being stuck in the airport really effected his mental state.

 

I worked at IAH airport from 1992-1996 while going to college…some of my best young adult moments. This was right out of high school where I had bad luck in relationships suddenly I was dating cute girls from ranging from ticket agents from Air France and duty free shops to a cute Asian girl that worked at a popcorn stand…i went inside planes delivering packages (this was allowed before 9/11) I met several sports stars including Hakeem, Robert Horry, Luis Gonzalez from Astros, shook hands with George Foreman …eventually met my wife because of working with my wife’s sister there …Airport life was so amazing and you get a different vibe that is it’s own living entity and experience…maybe some of the best years of my life quite honestly was during this time, so I get the airport life and fear of leaving that as it related to him …RIP to him

 

Yes airports can be exciting and it sounds like you had a great experience but living in an airport 24-7 where you can't leave? I've spent nights in airports either because of missed connections or back when I was poorer and decided to just crash at the airport to catch an early flight than spend money on a hotel. It can be pretty depressing trying to sleep in an uncomfortable airport chair in an empty terminal, where you can't turn off the lights, there is either bad music playing, and/or cleaning crews buffing the floors. I remember being stuck at DFW once so I just ended up riding the airport tram around for a couple of hours because I couldn't sleep.

 

Yes that’s true, I was thinking about all the appeal and not necessarily the bad

 

Growing up (and even now) I always wanted to work at airports - especially international ones. I was never one of those dudes who wanted to be a fly-boy/Top Gun pilot or anything, but I was always in love with airports. I think it's because of the "people" aspect of it where you encounter people of all cultures and walks of life going to and coming back from doing all kinds of things. If you're a people watcher, I'm sure it's a blast. I tried for years to get a job at an airport because of this, but always chose money over the experience. Stupid me. lol.

 

rip terminal breh.

i hate airports. spent like half a day in singapore last week on a connecting flight. it's supposed to be the best airport in the world and even then i was ready to leave after like the 2 hour mark.

 

I read that he recently moved back into the airport. How does one do that? Can you just live in an airport if you want? I realize he initially did it because of odd circumstances, but I didn't know living in an airport was an option for people. Someone tell the homeless!