Snake slithers onto US flight; causes emotional turbulence

New Jersey: Passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 2038, bound for New Jersey from Tampa, were in for a slithering surprise after a snake was discovered in the aircraft mid-flight. 

Once passengers alerted them about the reptile, crew members on the flight called the appropriate authorities to take care of the situation immediately.

The United Airlines did not clarify when the snake was discovered or how it got on the plane. 

Reportedly, after the plane landed at Newark Liberty International Airport, wildlife operations and the Port Authority Police Department removed the snake and released it into the wild. 

As per the airline, the reptile stowaway was not venomous and identified as a harmless garter snake, turned up on flight from Tampa shortly after landing Monday afternoon at Newark Liberty International Airport. 

There were no injuries, no impact to airport operations, and the plane later departed Newark. 

Notably, this incident was not the first real-life instance of a serpentine creature hitching a ride aboard.  In 2016, a large snake was found, hanging right above passengers’ seats of an Aeromexico (AEROMEX.MX) flight to Mexico City, and a python was spotted by passengers clinging to the airplane wing—on the outside—of a flight from Australia to Papua New Guinea in 2013.