I have seen many unusual things make their way onto airplanes over the years, but this one was particularly unusual.
The Most Unusual First Class Upgrade Of The Year
A photo circulating online this week shows what appears to be a skunk seated comfortably in first class on a Delta Air Lines flight. Not inside a carrier or peeking out of a bag. Just sitting there, upright, composed, and entirely unbothered by the realities of commercial air travel…
The animal looks remarkably at ease. The posture is impeccable. The expression suggests familiarity with the concept of pre-departure beverages and an expectation that they will be served promptly…
If this skunk is anxious about turbulence, tight connections, or the slow rollout of boarding, it does not show. In fact, it displays better cabin etiquette than many human passengers.
But the image inevitably raises questions. Safety questions. While a dog having an accident is pretty nasty, a skunk accidentally spraying inside the cabin would be magnitudes worse and would likely force an immediate diversion.
What Delta agent would possibly let a skunk onboard? How did it get past the TSA security checkpoint?
Would this qualify as an emotional support animal? A service animal? (Or perhaps something more elite: a passenger who knows how to work the upgrade list better than I do?)
What did the other passengers say? Did anyone refuse to sit down next to his creature? Did his human allow others to pet it?
So many questions…
CONCLUSION
Of course, as with many things on the internet, the reality is slightly less dramatic than the initial impression.
The skunk, as it turns out, was not alive.
It was a piece of taxidermy.
Which means this may have been the quietest, most well-behaved passenger in first class all year, and the only one onboard that never once complained about the service…
As an aside, I have a skunk who lives under my office at home…we smell it from time to time and we’ve seen it many times. It’s very cute…I hear that skunks make really great pets if you “de-fume” them. I’m not much of an animal person, unless it is on my plate, but wouldn’t it be cool if that skunk under my office became our pet? On the other hand, I could never imagine stuffing it and putting it on a shelf inside my office…or taking it with me in first class.
image: reddit
Matt, I’ve read this blog for a long time… never thought you’d take a bunch of drugs and then write an article, but there’s a first time for everything. Happy tripping!
I don’t consume drugs…
Lol obviously. This article was a trip though.
Zing!
It was Tim Dumb.
Ahh, someone ‘went there.’ (See below.)
Skunks are lazy hypocrites. They will use other animal’s dens to sleep all day while the groundhog does all the tunnel maintenance. Also skunks despise things that stink. Go figure.
They seem to like the smell of their own farts.
Growning up, I knew a few families that had de-skunked, skunks as pets. They were fun.
I was waiting to hear “emotional support skunk”. Nothing would surprise me.
Surprised no one has mentioned you-know-who so far… no, not Trump… we are talking about Delta after all… *cough*
A serene stowaway…
Mostly i was waiting for. ” this story stinks..
LOL…
“Just sitting there, upright, composed, and entirely unbothered by the realities of commercial air travel…
The animal looks remarkably at ease. The posture is impeccable. The expression suggests familiarity with the concept of pre-departure beverages and an expectation that they will be served promptly…
If this skunk is anxious about turbulence, tight connections, or the slow rollout of boarding, it does not show. In fact, it displays better cabin etiquette than many human passengers.” Got me laughing, but the reality at the end is all too true.
That is not a skunk, but a black cat that squeezed under a freshly painted white fence. That seemed to happen almost every Saturdsy of my youth.
To be fair, I’ve encountered far worse smells on airplanes than skunks.
An emotional support Skunk.. Glad it was stuffed