We’ve travelled beside some strange creatures in our time, but a plane ride with an actual pig is a new one to us.
One passenger on a recent US Airways flight was asked to leave before takeoff after becoming “disruptive”.
That passenger was a pet pig.
Speaking to ABC News, fellow traveller Jonathan Skolnik explained that he was aboard a flight out of Connecticut on Wednesday last when he saw a woman pass through the aisle with the pig. He initially believed the animal the woman was carrying to be a duffel bag, until she sat down beside him with her unusual companion.
“But it turns out it wasn’t a duffel bag. We could smell it and it was a pig on a leash.
“She tethered it to the arm rest next to me and started to deal with her stuff, but the pig was walking back and forth.
“I was terrified, because I was thinking I’m gonna be on the plane with the pig,” Snolnik said, adding that he estimated the pig weighed between 50 and 70 pounds.
It seems the old saying is true though, and pigs don’t actually fly. Both woman and animal left the plane before takeoff, as the pig became “disruptive”. A representative of US Airways confirmed the pig had initially been brought on board as an emotional support animal.