Stowaway pigeons stir chaos aboard MSP Delta flight: ‘There’s another bird!’

Flights can be delayed for weather warnings, mechanical problems or staffing shortages. But a Delta flight over the weekend was tardy taking off from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport because a couple of unauthorized pigeons tried to catch a ride.

Passengers were on board Flight 2348 on Saturday when the first pigeon flew through the cabin. Baggage handlers came and caught it.

But after the jet left the terminal, a second bird came out of hiding. Passenger Tom Caw caught the scene in a video that has gone viral. A few people screamed until one brave man stood up and used his jacket to catch the bird.

Caw, 56, who was returning from vacation in San Francisco, said he has flown through MSP dozens of times while traveling to his home in Wisconsin. He said passengers were calm during the first pigeon’s capture, but the second bird caused a ruckus.

“It was on the floor, strutting down the aisle. Somebody near me reached down to try and grab it, and that’s when the chaos happened because the bird just launched into flight,” Caw recalled.

When that bird was caught and escorted off the plane by the same baggage handlers who captured the first pigeon, a flight attendant asked passengers to check for more birds.

“Everybody started laughing,” Caw said. “And then she waited for a second and she said, ‘OK, yes, it’s funny. But seriously, check to see if there are any birds under your seats or in your bags.’”

The flight carrying 119 passengers and five crew members arrived in Madison 56 minutes late due to the commotion.

In a statement, Delta officials said the airline “appreciates the careful actions of our people and our customers to safely remove two birds from the aircraft prior to departure and we apologize to our customers for the delay in their travel.”

“You’ve heard about birds on planes or, often, the birds flying into engines and causing crashes,” Caw said. “The good news out of all of this is everybody survived. The birds survived, the humans survived. We were delayed an hour, but that was it.”