Passengers on the Florida-based, low-cost Spirit Airlines were startled midway through a one-hour flight when a bat suddenly came flapping through the cabin.
About 30 minutes into the flight from Charlotte, North Carolina en route to Newark, New Jersey passengers spotted the bat. Some of them managed to capture footage of the incident with their phones.
me, twice a year: “i’ll never fly spirit again.”
me, this morning, after deciding i’d rather save 12 dollars: pic.twitter.com/ASqk3bb89j— Peter Scattini (@jpscattini) July 31, 2019
One traveller named Peter Scattini said that eventually someone managed to trap the creature ‘between a book and a cup’. The bat was then locked in the bathroom until the flight landed and pest control was called to remove it.
‘No one was hurt in this incident, including the bat,’ Spirit Airlines confirmed in a statement.
The footage was posted on social media and responses included quips such as ’emotional support bat’, which may sound bizarre, however, in 2018 an ’emotional support peacock’ was prevented from boarding a United Airlines flight.
Subsequently, the airline released a list of banned animals including ‘hedgehogs, ferrets, insects, rodents, snakes, spiders, reptiles and ‘non-household birds’.
Image: Spirit Airlines
