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13 August, 2021

Pigeon on a plane! Bird causes chaos trying to hitch a ride with airline to Europe

A United Airlines flight was delayed last weekend after a “feathered friend” caused chaos on board.

United flight attendant Ariana Bloom posted a video to TikTok explaining the reason a flight she worked on last Saturday was delayed by one hour.

“If you wonder why your flight from Newark to Greece was one hour delayed. Hi there,” Bloom wrote.

The clip shows a pigeon wandering around the aircraft cabin, checking out the galley before heading down the aisle and among the seats.

Flight attendants can be seen watching the pigeon while they ready the cabin, some chasing after the bird or crawling behind it in an attempt to catch it.

Image: Tiktok/@arina.bloom

“Everyone’s looking,” Bloom wrote.

“Opened doors, maybe he will fly away… We lost him. We are flying to Greece with a bird.”

According to the flight attendant, the crew still couldn’t find the stowaway after the flight arrived at its destination.

@arina.bloom ##flightattendant ##flightattendantlife ##cabincrew ##airline ##pigeon ##birdontiktok ##delayflight ##greece ##fyp ♬ Into The Thick Of It! – The Backyardigans

“I always get nervous when flights get delayed thinking there’s something wrong with the plane, from now on I’ll just assume it’s cause of a pigeon,” TikTok user Monse Quesada quipped in a comment.

“He came on board as a consultant to make sure y’all know how to fly,” said another commenter named Julez.

Bloom said in a comment that the cabin crew had alerted passengers that there was a loose bird on the plane.

“We literally asked Greek people if they have pigeons to make sure he will have friends,” she said.

In a statement, United confirmed the flight was delayed because of the adventurous bird.

“Prior to the departure of United flight 124 from Newark to Athens on Saturday, we took the time to make sure our feathered friend didn’t travel to Greece, as he could not provide an up-to-date passport or confirmed itinerary,” the statement said.

This isn’t the first time a winged critter has tried to catch a ride with an airline.

In June, an Air India flight was forced to divert after a bat was found flying around the business class cabin.

Coincidentally, the flight was headed to Newark from Delhi.

In 2019, a Javan Mynah bird showed up in a business class cabin of a Singapore Airlines flight from Chicago to Heathrow.

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airline Ariana Bloom aviation cabin crew flight attendant greece newark TikTok united