Goofs

When Amelia is giving Viktor his emergency visa, he takes it in the first shot, but then in the second shot Amelia has it and is giving it to him again.

When Frank shows Viktor what happened to his country, chips get all over Viktor. In the next scene, all of the chips disappear.

The stamp that officer Torres puts on the form filled out by the Colombian couple says September 4, 2003. However later that same day, the stamp she puts on Navorski's form is dated January 17, 2004.

In the scene where Dixon is watching Viktor almost leave, when Viktor realizes that the camera is following him, we see the various screens in Dixon's room showing different locations in the airport. Suddenly all the screens show Viktor announcing that he will wait.

In the dinner on the patio scene, the way in which the waiter holds the lighter changes. When he lights the first candle, the lighter is resting on his arm. When he lights the second candle, however, his left arm is at his side and in the next shot the lighter is resting on that arm.

The flight-side areas in the international terminals of US airports do not have publicly-accessible doors straight out to the outside world.

Shops in the Terminal are shown as closed for the night. John F. Kennedy Airport's international terminals are open 24 hours a day.

While Viktor is learning English from the bilingual New York guidebook, he comes across a page featuring the TV show Friends (1994). He makes a point of repeating the English word "friends" and what is presumably its Krakozhian equivalent. The Cyrillic text, which is Russian, shows the title of the TV show as a phonetic equivalent "Frenz" of the original English title "Friends". In fact, the TV show "Friends" is quite popular in Russian-speaking countries as "Druzya", which is a literal translation of the word "friends" in Russian. The book would therefore not make such an obvious mistake.

When Frank Dixon lines up all the security officers for a start of day briefing the airport is empty with no other staff or any travelers visible in the terminal. JKF operates 24 hours a day and is never empty.

The International Arrival Terminal is outside the Federal Inspection Area (FIS). If a visitor was to be allowed to proceed to that area they would have been admitted, paroled or illegally entered the United States.

The departure board indicates that Viktor's flight is bound for "Krakhosia," yet this board is supposed to show cities not countries. However, it's possible that the capital of fictitious Krakhosia is also named Krakhosia, just as the capitals of Mexico, Panama, Oklahoma and (formerly) Belize (whose capital is now relocated to Belmopan) share the country's/state's name, or that Krakhosia is a single-city nation like Singapore or San Marino. Either way, this is not necessarily a goof.

Tom Hank's character learns to speak English using two books. One in English and one in his native language. However, this would be impossible to learn to speak because he would have no reference within the books to the pronunciation of the English words. He is, however, spending his life within JFK Airport in New York City and has more than amble exposure to the spoken English language from other sources including overhearing people speak English there.

When Amelia purchases a book from Borders, the cash register does not print a receipt for her. The receipt the cashier gives her is blank and was already there when she arrived at the register.

Viktor goes to Burger King and orders a burger and gives the cashier less than $2. He quickly gets the burger. Airports serve fast food and make it more expensive than the actual food chains that are in not an airport Viktor in real life would not get a burger King whopper Jr with only a few cents.

When Victor gets food with the quarters at Burger King for the second time he puts down $5.50 (seen in freeze frame) to buy the larger burger, drink, fries, salad, and dessert he is seen eating immediately after, which is consistent with the 74 cents in 2004 that he paid earlier for one burger.

When Viktor gets 75¢ for returning the carts, he immediately goes to Burger King and is given a hamburger. He is never shown verbally ordering so the employee would not know what he wanted. She also never rings up his order or opens the cash register, instead just handing Viktor a penny next to the register as his change.

When Victor finds the note inviting him to play cards with the employees, it says "Do Don't be late" instead of just "Don't be late".

Viktor is shown studying himself in front of Hugo Boss suits to see how they would look on him, choosing to buy the third suit. He is then shown leaving the Hugo Boss store with his suit. The third mannequin is now no longer clothed, implying the employees sold him the display suit. This is highly unlikely as they would have sufficient stock to sell Viktor a new suit, the likelihood of a perfect fit is low, and it would no longer be on display to attract new customers.

At the beginning of the movie, some of the images of the "Krakozhian revolution" on the TVs in the terminal are from the 1989 Romanian Revolution. They include Romanian flags, and for a short time (in the VIP Red Carpet Lounge) an image from Brasov, a large Romanian city.

When Viktor is building the fountain, he is seen soldering pipes together. The sound effect is of an electrical sound made while arc welding. This sound is not made while soldering.

When Viktor, Frank and Joe are meeting about Viktor's status, a crew member wearing a set of headphones can be seen in the reflection of the window for about 20-40 seconds on two different occasions.

Camera person visible in reflection on door when Viktor is holding the stuffed fish.

When the INS Agent escorts Viktor into the terminal for the first time, a crew member's hand holds the doors open. The hand is not visible in shots of the same door from the same angle later in the film.

When Viktor is translating to Milodragovich, you see the shadow(s) of the camera and/or camera operator on his back when the shots are behind him and filming the front sides of Viktor, Frank, and the other officers.

When the plane from Krakozhia taxies to the gate at what is supposed to be a New York airport, a large Aéroports de Montréal (Montréal Airports Authority) logotype is clearly visible on a jetway in the distance.

At John F. Kennedy Airport, shortly after Officer Thurman escorts Viktor for the first time, the P.A. announces "Passengers of Air Canada flight 746 from Montréal must proceed to U.S. Immigration before claiming their luggage." Most large Canadian airports, including Montréal's Pierre Trudeau Airport, have U.S. border pre-clearance facilities. In other words, passengers flying from Montréal to New York would have cleared U.S. immigration in Montréal. Also, in real life, Air Canada flight 746 flies to Fiorello LaGuardia Airport, not JFK.

Several Air Transat (blue tail) aircraft are visible during the tarmac scenes. In fact, Air Transat never served any of New York's airports.

Dixon says he knows the drug smuggler is not bringing the walnuts for his mother-in-law because he's not wearing a wedding ring, hence is not married. But a lot of married men do not wear wedding rings.

When Viktor starts reading aloud the news headlines in the TV news, he pronounces "sixty-one dead in Krakozhia", but the TV headlines actually say "61 dead". It is stated that Viktor can't speak English, much less read it. How did he read the number correctly, then?

Napoleon did not "isolate himself on the tiny island of St Helena". He was exiled there and kept under guard until his death. There is also no evidence that he tried to poison himself.

Amelia Warren says the croissant was invented in Romania. It was actually invented in Austria in the 13th century as the kipferl, and perfected as the croissant in Paris in the early 19th century. Several legends link the croissant to Buda or Tours or early Vienna and their fights with the Umayyads or Turks.

When Frank and Viktor are in Frank's office toward the beginning of the movie, Frank mentions a Twilight Zone episode named Nightmare At 30,000 Feet. The episode is actually named Nightmare At 20,000 Feet.

When Amelia is stopped in immigration, Viktor waits for her by the gate. However, she must pass through the gate, which is in the international area where Viktor is allowed, to reach the immigration hall. Amelia should get off the aircraft and come through the gate.

Napoléon Bonaparte gave Josephine a gold medallion inscribed with the words "To Destiny" as a wedding present.