Question

The airport in Salzburg, Austria, has a counter for people who flew to Austria instead of Australia.

Answer 1

This is false. From AP News: https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-austria-australia-salzburg-airport-counter-337704614289

"Salzburg Airport said on Monday in a Facebook post written in German that no such counter or button exists and that the sign seen in some of the posts is actually an advertisement for Commend, an Austrian communication and security technology company."

"The European airport confirmed it does not have a desk for misguided tourists trying to get Down Under. The misconception stems from an advertisement for a technology company that ran on a baggage carousel at the airport, which joked about offering such a service."

This was all a part of a funny advertisement that was seen at the airport, but the actual counter does not exist.

Comments

I wonder whether advertisements like this should come with an asterisk that tells people it's not true. Thoughts?

Answer 2

This is false.

In a round-up of some of the most popular untrue stories, gathered by AP News. The CLAIM: Salzburg Airport in Austria has a help desk specifically for people who intended to fly to Australia. I was on that list. "The European airport confirmed it does not have a desk for absent-minded holidaymakers who set out for Sydney but wind up thousands of miles away in Salzburg. The misconception stems from a technology company advertisement on a baggage carousel at the airport, which joked about offering such a service. The claim has delighted social media users in recent days, with one post on X, formerly known as Twitter, racking up more than 18,000 likes"

 https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-misinformation-499f23c895a28dc6e564b3bce01e79b6

Answer 3

This claim is false. Many news organizations, both conservative and liberal, have reported on this claim and found it to be untrue. For example, the Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2023/10/26/austria-australia-airport-counter/), USA Today  (USAToday.com/story/news/factcheck/2023/10/31/no-counter-in-austrian-airport-to-get-people-to-australia-fact-check/7138739907/), and AP News (APnews.com/article/fact-check-austria-australia-salzburg-airport-counter-337704614289) all fact checked this claim in October of 2023. The claim apparently started as a Twitter post showing a sign that people thought was from the Salzburg airport offering services to people who meant to fly to Australia rather than Austria. In fact, as reporting from all of these sources and more documents, the Salzburg airport has confirmed no such service exists. The original image that prompted this claim was an advertisement for a security and communication firm. People saw the sign, assumed it was true, and a meme was born.