Horror as snake slithers into United Airlines business class mid-flight

It's the stuff of nightmares (and Hollywood blockbusters): Being trapped on a plane with a snake.

And it was a frightening reality for a group of passengers on-board a United Airlines flight on Monday.

The plane had departed Tampa, Florida and was just about to land in New Jersey when a passenger spotted the slithery reptile in business class.

A traveller told New York publication News 12 "passengers in business class started shrieking and pulling their feet up" while the flight was taxiing at Newark Liberty International Airport.

The garter snake hitched a ride to Newark International Airport. Photo / Chris Leipelt, Unsplash

After alerting cabin crew to the garter snake, "appropriate authorities" took care of the situation once the plane landed.

Unlike in the 2006 cult film Snakes On A Plane, starring Samuel L. Jackson, the snake on this flight was not venomous.

Once it was captured and removed, it was released into the wild, officials said.

The garter snake was removed, unharmed authorities say. Photo / Aaron Fernando, Unsplash

It has not been confirmed how the snake got on to the plane, but no one was injured nor were there any disruptions to airport operations.

It comes after a pilot in Malaysia was forced to make a diversion when a snake was spotted crawling inside the lighting panel above passengers on an AirAsia flight.

The horror incident took place earlier this year, when several passengers first raised the alarm after spotting the slithery stowaway.

Meanwhile, in February a snake was spotted on an AirAsia flight. Photo / TikTok

This is a very rare incident which can occur on any aircraft from time to time," said Liong Tien Ling, AirAsia's chief safety officer, in a statement to CNN Travel at the time.

Meanwhile, Qantas was battling its own snake issues last June when rattlesnakes began taking up residence in planes stranded at the Mojave Desert in California.

"The area is well-known for its feisty rattlers who love to curl up around the warm rubber tyres and in the aircraft's wheels and brakes," Qantas' LA engineering manager Tim Heywood said in June 2021.

"We've encountered a few rattlesnakes and also some scorpions, but the wheel whacker does its job and they scuttle off."