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Around 1,000 ticketless passengers attempted to board an American Airlines flight in Texas, causing commotion in the cabin and delaying the jetliner for more than an hour.

This wasn't a case of double-booked seats, though — the unwelcome travelers were bees.

The pilot said a queen bee had flown into the airliner's wing while it was waiting to depart Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Wednesday, according to Karin McCay, a reporter at NBC station KCBD.

Here come the Bee-Busters! Ready in a space suit to kill the swarm and save our luggage! #kcbd11 #beebrave! pic.twitter.com/EMoTHuERii — Karin McCay (@KarinMcCay11) October 14, 2015

Around 1,000 bees followed the queen and experts in protective suits had to be sent to remove them, McCay said in a series of updates on Twitter and Facebook. She posted images of passengers peering out of the plane's windows as someone worked under its right wing.

American Airlines did not immediately respond to NBC News' request on Thursday for information about the incident.