Denver airport security learn to always let the Wookiee win after confiscating Chewbacca actor's light saber walking cane

Actor Peter Mayhew uses force of Twitter to get his cane returned



Star Wars cast member was returning from Denver Comic Con



It's not wise to upset a Wookiee, as airport staff in Denver found out when they tried to take the Star Wars actor's walking cane as he boarded a flight.



Security had mistaken his walking stick, fashioned to look like a light saber, as a weapon, as Peter Mayhew, 69, prepared to fly home from a sci-fi convention.



But when the 7ft 2in actor took to Twitter to complain to his 22,000 followers, staff at Denver airport soon realized you should always let the Wookiee win.



Grounded: Peter Mayhew, left, waits in a wheelchair after airport security staff confiscated his walking stick

The frustrating episode was played out on Twitter as Mayhew, who had been a guest at Denver Comic Con, tried to catch an American Airlines flight to his home in Boyd, Texas.



' Won’t allow me through the airport with me cane! Giant man need giant cane. Small cane snap like toothpick. Besides, my lightsaber is just cool. I’d miss it,' the actor, who played Han Solo's co-pilot in the original Star Wars trilogy said.

The British-born actor, who has been spotted using a wheelchair at recent sci-fi conventions, is due to have an operation on his knee later this year.



He explained there was a delay in the surgery because the 'largest replacement knees on the market are a size "6", but this Wookiee needs a size "11",'.

Concerned that he would miss the flight on Monday, last week, Mayhew pleaded with his followers: '@AmericanAir won't allow me through the airport with me cane! Can I get a retweet?'

The farce is strong: Mayhew, who played Harrison Ford's sidekick in Star Wars, was stopped at the airport



He was quick to point out on @thewookieroars however, that it was airport security and not the airline which was causing the problem.



American Airlines was quick to respond and check if it could help Mayhew.



When security finally accepted that the light saber was not so much a weapon as a walking aid, the cane was returned.



Mayhew later tweeted: 'Magic words to TSA are not "please" or "thank you"... It's "Twitter".. cane released to go home.'

This prompted one of his followers to tweet: 'That and they didn't want their arms ripped off by a wookiee'.

Co-pilot: Harrison Ford with Peter Mayhew, who had his walking cane customized to look like a light saber

Mayhew, who had gigantism diagnosed when he was 14, was working in a hospital when George Lucas approached him about playing Chewbacca.

After the films were made, he returned to Yorkshire in the UK, but soon found he was in demand at sci-fi conventions in the U.S.