Australian Disney star Andre Rerekura removed a snake from his flight — earning him a free drink as a reward.
Speaking to Australia’s ABC News, Rerekura shared that before his Virgin Airlines flight from Broome to Perth took off on November 21, a passenger yelled about a snake being aboard. The initial take-off time was ultimately pushed back, as the crew tried to figure out how to handle the situation.
“They pretty much shut the whole plane down and everyone was going to get disembarked and sent off the plane, which we weren’t that keen for because everyone wanted to go home,” he recalled to ABC News.
He added: “It was a little bit of a weird story to think it was true, to hear that there was a snake on the plane, so I don’t think a lot of people believed it."
However, Rerekura — who starred in Disney Plus’s Shipwreck Hunters Australia miniseries — said that he noticed the “crazy cute” Stimson's python, a non-poisonous snake, next to his seat.
“As soon as I saw it, I identified it pretty easily... so I knew it was safe [and] I knew it was just scared and super shy,” he explained, noting that he didn’t have a problem picking up the snake and taking it off the aircraft.
He shared that everyone on the flight was so grateful for his bravery that the flight crew even gave him a token of appreciation: a free drink.
“I think everyone was relieved that they didn’t have to get off the plane and then a lot of people were happy that the snake was safe,” he explained, adding the flight was only delayed 20 minutes due to the incident. “The staff were awesome, they gave me a complimentary drink, I had a soda water.”
Another video of the flight posted to Instagram by 7News Australia showed the passengers applauding Rerekura, as he was seen reentering the plane after removing the snake.
“There is never a dull moment in aviation, but that certainly takes the cake,” a flight attendant said over the intercom. “We do have a gentleman onboard who has safely taken it off the aircraft.”
Stimson's pythons, which are non-venomous, have a “pattern of large reddish-brown blotches along their body with a paler background,” according to the Australian Museum.
This isn’t the first time that a snake has made its way onto an aircraft. In January, passengers on a Thai AirAsia flight from Bangkok to Phuket were shocked when they spotted a snake in the cabin’s overhead compartment.
At the time, the tiny snake was seen slithering over the cabin lights on an AirAsia Airbus A320 plane. One of the cabin crew members reportedly tried to capture the snake inside an empty plastic water bottle. The snake was later swept into a garbage bag using a plastic bottle.
In May, a passenger traveling from Miami International Airport in Florida was stopped by security after he was found with a bag of snakes hidden down his trousers. A TSA spokesman told The Independent that the passenger was attempting to take an international flight but had “basically admitted there were snakes in his pants” when the alarms had sounded.
The man was subsequently forbidden to board his flight, the spokesperson said, adding that such incidents were not “commonplace”.
