A curious story has been making the rounds online: supposedly, Vienna Airport in Austria has created a special help desk dedicated to travelers who accidentally flew to Austria instead of Australia. According to social media, there are enough confused tourists expecting kangaroos and beaches that the airport had to step in and save them from their own geography.
The posts are irresistible. One viral message claims, “If you’re having a bad day, remember that Salzburg Airport has a counter for people who flew to Austria instead of Australia.” On X, formerly Twitter, the anecdote has gathered tens of thousands of likes. Instagram users love it too, gleefully imagining disappointed travelers searching for koalas among snow-capped mountains.
It sounds almost believable—too many vowels swapped, a missed letter, and suddenly your dream trip to Sydney becomes a detour to Salzburg. A charming disaster. A perfect internet story.
But is it real? Here comes the reveal: No. It’s fiction.
The entire rumor started from an advertisement displayed on the baggage carousel—a joke by a tech company, not an actual airport service. Salzburg Airport confirmed it: there is no special desk for continent-confused travelers. Just a clever ad and an online world eager to believe it.
