I’ve never flown anywhere on Halloween, so I was surprised to learn that, despite our current state of security hassles and identity paranoia, both travelers and flight crews often show up at the airport in costume. Via MSNBC Travel today, a list of get-ups actually witnessed by Tripso Columnist James Wysong. Some are ingenious:

Airline CEO. I wish I had thought of this one. A flight attendant dressed up as the tycoon from the Monopoly game and added a badge identifying himself as an airline CEO. He bragged about his pension during the whole flight, threw fake money around and laughed continuously at the other airline employees. Simple, yet brilliant.

others, decidedly ill-advised:

Osama bin Laden. Maybe funny at a college frat party, but a little too close to the bone at the airport. The person who did this was — believe it or not — a pilot, and let’s just say it went over like a lead balloon. I laughed, not at his costume but at his surprise when he discovered the authorities didn’t think it was funny.

I’m totally dressing up as a phantom piece of lost luggage.

(Image via simonk’s photostream)