British Airways plane grounded after tarantula sighting

A London bound plane was grounded in Edinburgh after a passenger spotted a tarantula walking through the cabin.

The plane was filled with 100 passengers, and the sighting forced BA staff to evacuate the plane. An exterminator was flown in from London Gatwick, but the spider was nowhere to be found.

Eventually, the plane was flown back to London without any passengers. According to a British Airways spokesperson, if the spider is still on the plane, they'd need to pull the whole thing apart in order to find it. Surprisingly, this would be the second time in a week that a British plane was involved in a lost item that required things to be torn apart.

Personally, I hate spiders, and I'd gladly leave the plane if someone thought they spotted a tarantula. Tarantula bites won't kill you, but they will cause several days of pain, something I'm no big fan of either.

Tarantulas are found all over the world, but British Airways staff are baffled how the spider made its way onto a domestic UK plane. Sadly, since passengers regularly try and smuggle all kinds of items on their flight, it could have been something as "innocent" as someone trying to bring their pet on a trip.

Filed under: Europe, United Kingdom, Airlines