Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

In the summer of 1994 I decided to go back to the States for a week to visit my mom who at the time was living in Dallas. It had been one of the hottest summers on record in Korea and when it came time for our summer break at Yonsei University’s Foreign Language Institute, where I was teaching at the time, I was really looking forward to getting out of Seoul for a week and heading back to the States.

Back then Thai Airways still had a direct flight from Seoul to Los Angeles and as a frequent flier on the airline there was no question which airline I would take to get back to the States. I had been flying on Thai for the past year when I went to Thailand and other than the superb in-flight service, Thai offered (at least back then) some of the cheaper air fares in Asia.

Of course, summers in Korea can be a little hectic with more and more Koreans opting for overseas travel during the summer months as well as parents sending their kids to school in the States which often means that flights are overbooked. While waiting for my flight to depart at Kimpo I heard an announcement for me to report to the Thai ground staff. I expected to be bumped off the flight, but instead I was bumped up to business class.

It was really sweet flying business class for the first time and especially on a long flight to the States. My seat on the Boeing 747 was right next to the exit so when we arrived in Los Angeles I was one of the first people off the plane.

I got through immigration almost immediately and went to the baggage carousel to wait for my bags. So there I was, just standing there waiting when a U.S. Customs agent comes up to me.

“Excuse me,” he says, “I was wondering if you could do us a favor?”

“Sure,” I say.

“We’re training one of our new drug-sniffing dogs and we would appreciate it if you could help us out.”

“No problem. What would you like for me to do?”

The Customs Agent then proceeded to pull out a small baggie containing a small amount of marijuana.

“We would like for you to put this in your back pocket and when the dog is brought around to sniff the bags if it detects the marijuana in your pocket it will just sit down behind you,” he explained.

Fair enough, I thought so I took the baggie of marijuana and put in my back pocket.

I had been the only person at the baggage carousel while the Customs Agent asked me to do this big favor, but by now other passengers from my flight had made their way to the carousel. When the luggage finally started to appear on the carousel, I noticed out of the corner of my eye another Customs Agent walking the drug-sniffing dog around the passengers waiting for their luggage. Sure enough, when the dog reached me and got a scent of the marijuana in my back pocket, it immediately sat down behind me.

There were a few people watching the dog move through the crowd around the baggage carousel and when they noticed it stop and then sit down behind me, many of them stared and pointed at me. They probably thought they were witnessing a drug bust.

The Customs Agent who had approached me initially came back and thanked me for helping out.

“My pleasure,” I said as I handed him the baggie of marijuana.

Since then, when I have thought about that day I have never been able to figure out why I was singled out from the rest of the passengers to help test their drug-sniffing dog. I suppose it could have been anyone, but because I was the first one waiting for my luggage, I was the most likely choice. The day I helped out U.S. Custom Agents at Los Angeles International Airport remains one of my more interesting travel stories.