The Longest Layover In History
He attempted to travel to London in 1988, to finally find a home and become a British citizen. En route through Paris, however, all of his legal documents were lost. Nasseri had a hard time recalling how everything happened, but he remembered a briefcase that was allegedly stolen from him, containing all his paperwork. He ended up arriving in London but was turned away by local authorities because he couldn’t present his passport.
He had to take a flight back to Paris, where he was arrested for the same reason. His entry turned out to be legal at the time, but he was unable to leave the terminal. The airport serves as a border between countries, therefore without legal documents, he had no choice but to stay.
At this point, he realized that he might have to stay there for a long time. Without any outside help, he had no way of sorting out his documents and he was essentially trapped in the terminal building.