Where have you seen this before? Perhaps in a 2006 cult movie in which Samuel L. Jackson screams that he has “had it with these motherf***ing snakes on this motherf***ing plane?” as large serpents crawl throughout the cabin amid panicking passengers?
While the situation on an AirAsia flight from Bangkok to Phuket was not quite as extreme, a viral TikTok video captured a thin snake crawling out of the overhead compartment as passengers watched a flight attendant try to capture it into an empty water bottle. In another video of the same incident, the serpent’s slithering moves are set to upbeat Thai music.
Related: Loose otters and a marmoset caused some serious chaos aboard a flight
Multiple passengers aboard AirAsia’s Flight FD3015 filmed the moment shortly before the flight was scheduled to land on the Thai island popular among tourists but two videos captured by TikTok user @wannabnailssalon garnered the most internet attention — a respective five and 1.4 million views for each video.
Inside the wild hunt to capture serpent with water bottles and plastic bags
As the serpent continued to crawl through the cabin in the space above the overhead compartment, other workers and passengers made efforts to capture it. One tried to get it to move into a plastic bag while another tried to grab it with bare hands before it slithered away.
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While the flight had not landed, many passengers got up into the aisle between the seats to get a better look at the snake.
According to local Thai news outlets that were the first to report on the incident, the small serpent was eventually captured into a bag and kept in a cupboard at the back of the plane until landing.
The unusual situation quickly captured the internet’s imagination as many weighed in with funny takes and endless “Snakes On A Plane” comparisons.
‘You may never have practiced collecting snakes…’
“Snakes on a Plane is real,” wrote one commenter underneath one of the videos.
“You may never have practiced collecting snakes but being able to do it and being mindful in solving problems is admirable,” wrote another in the original Thai in one of the most upvoted comments under the video.
Flights that leave from tropical destinations occasionally have similar situations with rodents and small animals breaking out onboard. Last October, a Vietjet flight from Bangkok to Taipei was thrown into chaos after a passenger went to the plane bathroom and discovered a rodent with “red eyes” near the toilet.
After flight attendants searched the plane, they found a box full of otters, a marmoset and 28 star tortoises that then got out and started crawling through the plane. A woman was later apprehended on suspicion of smuggling the animals from a Thai wet market while the animals were confiscated and held for examination by Taiwanese customs to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
“I was confused so he said again ‘pet rat, pet rat, it has a white body and it’s not small,” one passenger recounted of the panic that spread aboard the flight after one of the passengers discovered an animal and others started seeing more in different parts of the plane.
