History Main / AccidentalPassenger

* ''Anime/InterviewsWithMonsterGirls'': Our dullahan character accidentally had her head and body separated by quite a distance when her body didn't get off of a train quickly enough, while her head was still in her parent's hands.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''Anime/InterviewsWithMonsterGirls'': Our dullahan character accidentally had her head and body seperated by quite a distance when her body didn't get off of a train quickly enough, while her head was still in her parent's hands.
* ''Manga/MonthlyGirlsNozakiKun'': Seo tells Sakura about a time when she was a kid playing with a boy called Okada, and how one day she put him in a back of a truck and said truck suddenly started moving... Seo offhandedly ends the story there, realizing she's telling the wrong one, and she never reveals poor Okada's fate.[[note]]The answer was only revealed in the official fanbook, where it reassures readers that the truck went to a strawberry farm and Okada safely returned, and even gave Seo strawberries as a souvenir.[[/note]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'' the Wonder Dog hears Penny's cries of distress, which are just recordings that some sound editors are tweaking. Bolt tries to leap through a window, but smacks against the glass, and falls backwards into a shipping box full of packing peanuts. A mail room kid tapes the box shut, then sends it to a freight hauler. This is how Bolt suddenly finds himself in New York City, almost four thousand kilometers away from where he started.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'': In the beginning of her journey, Moana finds out that Heihei came as a stowaway in the canoe depot. The rooster panics when he realizes they are in the middle of the sea until she calms him down, telling him that the Ocean is her friend. Big mistake, for Heihei marches into the sea, forcing Moana to jump into the water to save him and almost lose the canoe. She has to put him back in the depot to keep him from walking into the sea again.

* ''Film/LastActionHero'': During a CarChaseShootOut in the [[ShowWithinAShow movie]] Danny is watching, the golden ticket is activated, making a pack of lit [[DynamiteCandle dynamite sticks]] tossed by the bandits fall from the screen. When Danny notices it, he screams and runs in panick, but is caught by the explosion and everything goes white. He wakes up into Jack Slater's car while the latter is still persecuted.

* In ''Literature/AroundTheWorldWithAntAndBee'', Bee's new umbrella is blown out of his hands, and ends up on a crate on a lorry. The crate and umbrella are taken away in a ship, and a plane. Ant and Bee travel round the world looking for the umbrella, which is eventually seen in South America.
* ''Literature/TheCuriousIncidentOfTheDogInTheNightTime'': When Christopher catches the train to London, a policeman who had spoken to him earlier suddenly boards the train to try to persuade him not to travel. Unfortunately, the train doors then close, and the policeman is forced to travel to the next stop. Meanwhile, Christopher hides in the train, and makes it to London.

* Played with in ''Literature/TheMagiciansNephew''. When Polly and Digory escape from Jadis the witch by touching their magic rings to take them back to the Wood Between the Worlds, Jadis travels with them, because she is hanging on to Polly's hair. This is unexpected to all of them. They later use this to try to return Jadis to her own world, and end up taking Uncle Andrew, a cabby and a horse as well.
* ''Literature/OthersidePicnic'': In the anime-only story, this is achieved using an elevator. In episode 10, Akari is lost in interstitial space when they were meant to meet at a building to do Korean BBQ. Toriko and Sorawo determine to go in and find her, only to be joined at the last second by Kozakura, still thinking they were going to use the elevator ''as'' an elevator and go up to the restaurant, only to find out too late that she's being dragged to interstitial spacec with the others.

* ''Series/TwoPointFourChildren'': In "Two Years Before The Mast", the Porter family come onboard a cruise ship to say goodbye to Aunt Tina, who has booked herself on a luxury cruise there. However, before they can disembark, the ship sets sail, leading to them trying to hide their presence from the rest of the ship.

* ''WesternAnimation/BugsBunny'': In ''WesternAnimation/MississippiHare'', Bugs falls asleep in a cotton field. A very distracted worker mistakes his tail for a ball of cotton and picks him. Bugs wakes up among the real cotton and inside a riverboat going down the Mississipi River.

* ''WesternAnimation/JosieAndThePussycats'': Alexandra Cabot has a knack for misdirection that kicks off the plot.
** In "The Midas Mix-Up," the 'Cats have a gig at a ski lodge, and take to the slopes before their performance. When Alexandra sabotages a trail marker, the whole gang end up skiing off a cliff, and crash into a sky tram car. This is how they find themselves at the castle of TheVillain Count Midas.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': In "Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants," the boys receive a goat from their Afghan pen pals, but when their parents won't let them keep it, they sneak the goat a U.S. military plane to send it back there (claiming the goat is Stevie Nicks going to a USO show). However, the boys don't get off the plane in time and end up going to Afghanistan with the goat.

* Many invasive fish, crabs, and other marine organisms have traveled to new environments by accidentally hitching a ride in a ship's ballast compartment. Similarly, many species of invasive insects, spiders, lizards, snakes and rodents have been accidentally introduced around the globe after being accidentally packed in the cargo holds of ships and more recently aircraft.

** Tegan Jovanka ends up a passenger with the Doctor after she mistakes the TARDIS for a real police box. When she sees what lies behind the seemingly ordinary exterior, her curiosity is piqued and she ventures inside. The Doctor then takes off with her on board.

** Brian Williams ends up taking an unexpected trip to the future with his son Rory and daughter-in-law Amy when the TARDIS materializes around them to whisk them off on another adventure.
** Yaz Khan, Ryan Sinclair, and Graham O'Brien all get accidentally transported along with the Doctor into space when she tries to lock onto the location of her Tardis, leaving the episode on a {{Cliffhanger}}. [[spoiler: Luckily, they get rescued at the top of the next episode.]]

* In ''Film/TheAppleDumplingGang'': While the three adventurous, orphaned siblings are searching for gold in an abandoned mine, they climb into a mine cart. One of them accidentally steps on the brake handle, unengaging it, making them accidental passengers. The cart then carries them down the mountainside and careens through the town, wreaking havoc as it goes.

* Many invasive fish species have travelled to new environments by accidentally hitching a ride in a ship's ballast compartment.

* ''VideoGame/EliteBeatAgents'': Sam, the dog, falls asleep on a pickup truck and has to run all the way back home.

[[folder: Fanfic]]

** Played with in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire''. When Harry and Cedric touch the Triwizard cup, they find themselves unexpectedly transported to a graveyard. [[spoiler: This is especially tragic for Cedric, who is casually murdered by Voldemort.]]

** In one episode, the Tenth Doctor takes off with both his companion Rose Tyler and her mother Jackie on board. Rose alerts the Doctor to Jackie's presence when they're already in flight - Jackie is ''not'' amused.

[[folder: Real Life]]
* Many invasive fish species travelled to new environments by accidentally hitching a ride in a ship's ballast compartment.

For this trope, the focus is on the passenger, who often ''actively'' boards the vehicle; the driver of the vehicle may be a BitCharacter, or may not be seen at all. Compare AccidentalKidnapping, where the focus is usually on the kidnapper; however, these tropes can overlap. See also VehicleRoofBodyDisposal, and OutsideRide. If a character unexpectedly ends up in space from having boarded a spacecraft, it's AccidentalAstronaut. Compare LittleStowaway, when a child ''deliberately'' stows away, with the intention of being transported. It can result in NotWhereTheyThought if they didn't realise they moved, or thought they went somewhere different than where they actually went.

* ''VideoGame/EliteBeatAgents'' Sam, the dog, falls asleep on a pickup truck and has to run all the way back home.

-->'''Valerie''': If I didn't know better, I'd swear we were flying over the Amazon.
-->'''Alexandra''': We ''are'' flying over the Amazon.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': This happens a few times.
** Tegan Jovanka ended up a passenger with The Doctor because she stepped into the TARDIS by accident.

A comedy trope. Alice boards a train to see Bob off; but spends so long saying goodbye, that she is late disembarking, and ends up travelling with Bob, at least until the next stop. Alternatively, Alice might be running in the streets from an attacker, and hides inside a parked van, which drives off, with the driver blissfully unaware. This can lead to the passenger trying to exit the moving vehicle (Administrivia/DoWeHaveThisOne), or if on a train, pulling the communication cord to stop the train. It can result in NotWhereTheyThought if they didn't realise they moved, or thought they went somewhere different than where they actually went.