Well, here’s a story that those of us with arachnophobia won’t appreciate (thanks to Klaus for flagging this)…
In this post:
Iberia captain with spider allergy bitten by tarantula
This incident happened on Friday, February 21, 2025, and involves Iberia flight IB754, from Dusseldorf (DUS) to Madrid (MAD). The 894-mile flight was operated by a 23-year-old Airbus A320 with the registration code EC-IEF.
At some point around the middle of the flight, the captain was reportedly bitten by a tarantula, while in his seat in the flight deck. To make matters worse, the captain has a spider allergy. So the crew urgently treated him with a corticosteroid from the first aid kit, in order to prevent him from suffering an allergic reaction.
Despite the scare, the 2hr11min flight was completed without issue, and the captain was ultimately okay. Interestingly, the passengers weren’t made aware of what happened, so I guess the crew did a good job keeping it on the down low. In all honesty, that’s probably for the better, since I can only imagine the panic that information would’ve caused.
The complicated search to find the tarantula
It’s good that the plane was back on the ground with the captain safe, but that wasn’t the end of the saga. As you’d expect, there was one additional wrinkle — the tarantula hadn’t actually been caught.
Once in Madrid, a full fumigation of the plane was carried out, following the company’s disinfection protocol. This caused the connecting flight to Vigo (VIG) to be delayed by nearly three hours. Initially, the passengers had reportedly been told that the flight was delayed due to a technical fault, rather than the real reason… fair enough, I suppose!
Unfortunately after all of those procedures had been carried out, the spider still hadn’t been found. The real reason for the delay did eventually get out, and passengers report that there was a tense atmosphere onboard, with people constantly checking around their seats. The flight from Madrid to Vigo was initially supposed to depart at 7:45PM, but only ended up taking off at 10:42PM.
I’ve gotta say, if a tarantula had gone “missing” on an aircraft I was flying on a subsequent segment, I’d probably rather just not know. It’s entirely possible that the spider died or escaped somehow, but still, the possibility of knowing it could be alive and onboard would creep me out.
Bottom line
An Iberia captain was reportedly bitten by a tarantula mid-flight. Worst of all, he had an allergy — fortunately the crew treated him, and the flight continued without incident. However, the spider hadn’t been captured, so the disinfection protocol was carried out. The tarantula was never found. Hopefully it doesn’t reappear…
What do you make of this Iberia tarantula incident?
Many years ago our flight FRA - ORD operated by United was delayed for hours. They did not disclose the real reason for the delay: centipede was spotted by passenger during/after boarding. When we finally learned the truth after a long delay, we along with a number of passengers refused to be on that plane after their announcement to take off soon even though the centipede was not caught.
Come on people. You all on the plane could have become Spiderman. Wasted opportunity!
Who brings a tarantula on board a flight. Is that even allowed?
Spanish media reports that there is a suspicion the tarantula entered the plane on Tuesday during a stopover in Casablanca, Morocco. After that, the plane, with the tarantula onboard, made the following trips until it was discovered on Friday: return to Madrid and from Madrid and return to Brussels, Asturias, A Coruña, Zurich, Santiago, Toulouse and Dusseldorf.
Same reports told about how bothered the passengers on the Vigo flight were, permanently checking if the...
Spanish media reports that there is a suspicion the tarantula entered the plane on Tuesday during a stopover in Casablanca, Morocco. After that, the plane, with the tarantula onboard, made the following trips until it was discovered on Friday: return to Madrid and from Madrid and return to Brussels, Asturias, A Coruña, Zurich, Santiago, Toulouse and Dusseldorf.
Same reports told about how bothered the passengers on the Vigo flight were, permanently checking if the tarantula wasn’t under their seat. On a flight that landed around midnight, four hours late.
He had on dark glasses and a small sombrero when he boarded. Fooled everyone. Though there was a tense moment when his cover could have been blownbwhen he took out his phone to scan his boarding pass since his samsung s25 Ultra was much bigger than him.
“the passengers had reportedly been told that the flight was delayed due to a technical fault, rather than the real reason…”
Could have just told them there was a bug in the cockpit systems.
Can I please get the tail number lol…
EC-IEF
Crouching Pilot, Hidden Spider
Arachnids on an Airliner
Tarantulas Taking Off
Daddy Longlegs goes Long Haul
Spinner Spinner Airline Dinner
Black Widow’s Window Seat
8 Legs over Tokyo
Brown Recluse on the Loose
Gladicosa in the Galley
Call me, Hollywood - y’all know these movies are ripe for the picking!
Many years ago my father needed to kill a tarantula for an exhibit. That meant that the tarantula's appearance had to remain unchanged (i.e. no squishing it). Pesticides did not work. Ultimately, he more or less drowned it in gasoline.
BTW, the tarantula had already survived over two weeks confined without food or water inside of a heavy-duty paper bag in the truck of a car during a southwest USA summer (long story). Tarantulas are tough.
Growing up in Las Vegas...and having been bitten...YES, very tough creatures
Despite the hype my understanding is they rarely bite and only if threatened and then it’s equivalent to a wasp or hornet sting unless of course you have an allergy, I wonder what the pilot did to Pi*s it off!
Never heard of anyone being allergic to spiders but I suppose if some people are allergic to cats it's possible. As to the venom, tarantula venom, while toxic, is pretty mild compared to a scorpion or brown recluse.
I’ve had it with these mf’ing spiders on these mf’ing planes!
Sounds like a great spin-off for that movie "Snakes on A Plane" !