Scorpion Stings Passenger Aboard United Airlines Flight

Image: PHOTO: United Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner. (photo via Mateusz Atroszko/iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus)
Image: PHOTO: United Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner. (photo via Mateusz Atroszko/iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus)
Laurie Baratti
by Laurie Baratti
Last updated: 1:06 PM ET, Sat December 7, 2019

An unnamed woman who traveled aboard a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Atlanta on Thursday morning, December 5, 2019, reported that she began noticing a stinging sensation in her leg mid-flight.

When the burning intensified, she went to the restroom to investigate, at which point a live scorpion fell out of her pant leg and scurried across the lavatory floor. Flight attendants eventually managed to trap the hitchhiking, venomous arachnid, whose mugshot was afterward posted online.

The following evening, United Airlines released a statement to local news outlet KPIX, saying: "Upon landing in Atlanta, the flight was met by medical personnel. The customer was transported to a local hospital. We have been in contact with our customer to ensure her well-being."

Having been stung multiple times, the victim reportedly did not suffer any major injuries from the incident and should be fine. FOX News' investigation has not turned up any answers as to how the scorpion wound up inside the woman's pants or on the flight itself.


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Laurie Baratti

Laurie Baratti

Assistant Editor

Laurie Baratti is an Assistant Editor for TravelPulse. She is a San Diego-based journalist whose work has previously appeared in publications like TravelAge West, SPACE, Modern Home + Living, Montage, and Sandals Life magazines. Travel writing has long been her passion, and she is always looking for excuses to explore the world outside of her native California. Laurie is also a lifelong equestrian, a proud pet-parent, and an underground advocate of the Oxford comma.

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