Bird Sneaks Into Plane’s Cabin, Delays Takeoff

Well, all we can say is thank goodness it wasn’t snakes on a plane.

Just a bird.

We’ve heard of birds holding up a plane before, but that’s usually a flock of them who could threaten being sucked into a plane’s engine. But folks on a United Airlines flight from Maui to Newark, N.J. over the weekend experienced a different kind of delay – one bird that found its way into the cabin, delaying takeoff.

The problem happened Friday, July 2, during the busy holiday travel weekend.

Passengers on the Newark-bound flight recorded the airline staff’s work to corral the bird and tweeted their experience, including Zach Honig, a writer with the travel blog The Points Guy.

At one point, the pilot said he received notification that if he dimmed all the lights, and all the passengers shut their shades, the bird would then look for any light at all – which was the open door as the plane was still at the gate.

Sure enough …

Honig was traveling with his girlfriend, who also got in on the action with a few well-timed puns.