Snake on a Plane: Garter Snake Frightens Passengers at a United Airlines Flight

A garter snake surprised passengers on a commercial plane operated by United Airlines. The reptile frightened the passengers when United Airlines Flight 2038 made its landing at Newark Liberty International Airport at around 1:15 p.m. local time on Monday, October 17. The snake particularly made its debut when the aircraft was navigating towards one of the Newark airport's gates.

Snake on United Airlines Plane

News 12 New Jersey reported that passengers in the business class section of the United Airlines plane started "shrieking" and pulling their feet up when they spotted the garter snake, a name generally given to a variety of harmless snakes in the wild. Since the snake on the plane is not dangerous, there were no reported casualties from the incident, which is considered to be rare but does happen.

The account of what happened came from one of the passengers who told the News Jersey media outlet that the panic amongst the passengers started when the plane was taxiing on the runway.

New York and New Jersey's Port Authority confirmed that the garter snake was found on the United Airlines flight after landed in Newark on Monday afternoon. The Port Authority police was also able to respond and capture the snake before releasing it into the wild near the Newark airport.

A Port Authority spokesperson confirmed the absence of any injuries from the incident or any impacts to airport operations, as cited by Fox 5 New York.

The latest incident adds to the many cases of snakes on a plane in recent years.

Snakes on a Plane

Prior to the Newark Liberty airport incident, an American movie entitled "Snakes on Plane" was released in 2006 which depicts the reality that snakes can get into a commercial planet either intentionally or accidentally. In recent years, there have been multiple instances when snakes are found inside planes.

In February 2022, a viral TikTok video showed the silhouette of a long snake above passengers on board an AirAsia flight from the Malaysian capital city of Kuala Lumpur to the city of Tawau. Many of the TikTok commenters at that time attributed the incident to the said movie and asked where is Hollywood star Samuel L. Jackson when they needed him, USA Today reports.

Snake-Friendly Airlines

While these incidents are considered terrifying, not all snakes on a plane are accidental. In fact, there are some airlines that allow passengers to bring their pet snakes with them under the condition they safely contained throughout the flight.

According to the website PetsThatTravel.com, all the following airlines below that permit snakes on their planes are allowing them to fly as cargo:

• Aegean Air
• Air Canada
• Air Europa
• Alaska Air
• American Airlines
• Finnair
• WestJet

In general, the allowed snakes on a plane vary depending on their number and species. Deadly and venomous are most likely not allowed in most instances and need special authorization from local authorities from the point of departure.