Flight thrown into chaos as stowaway pigeons storm cabin

News.com.au

3 days ago

Chaotic footage shows the frantic moment a pigeon burst onto a Delta Airlines plane Saturday as a passenger desperately tried to catch the animal with an piece of clothing as other flyers screamed in the background.
The pigeon, which was eventually captured, was second of two that emerged on the Wisconsin-bound plane at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, WCCO News reported.
'The pilot gets on and says, 'ladies and gentlemen, we have a wildlife situation on the plane,'' passenger Tom Caw told the outlet.
The other feathering stowaway was walking under the seat until a Delta baggage handler picked it up.
The two pigeons led to a brief delay Saturday night.
Mr Caw told WCCO when he first boarded the flight, 'everything seemed normal'.
'Then I went to sit down and I overheard a passenger come up to the flight attendant who was standing right by where I was, and she said, 'I think there's a pigeon on this plane,'' he reportedly recalled in reference to the first pigeon.
Shortly after, the pilot told everyone on-board that there was another pigeon on the plane after the aircraft was moving toward the runway.
That second pigeon took flight, leading to a frenzy as another man tried to capture the bird with his jacket, Mr Caw said.
'The woman next to me was quite panicky about it, and she said to me, 'Oh I'm going to need a free wine. I'm going to need a free wine out of this',' he told the station.
The flight was brought back to the gate before the same baggage handler took the second pigeon off the flight.
'Delta appreciates the careful actions of our people and our customers,' the spokeswoman told WCCO News. 'We apologise to our customers for the delay in their travel.'