Spider on a plane: Tarantula delays Delta flight from Baltimore

Ben Mutzabaugh | USA TODAY

An escaped tarantula delayed an Atlanta-bound Delta Air Lines flight at Baltimore/Washington International Airport on Wednesday evening.

Delta Flight 1525 was delayed for about three hours after a baggage handler noticed a baboon tarantula had gotten out of its container in the cargo hold, WXIA TV of Atlanta reports.

"They were able to capture it, and they contacted the handler," Delta spokesman Brian Kruse says to The Baltimore Sun. The handler confirmed that it was the only spider in the cage.

"It was not in the passenger cabin and customers were not on the aircraft when the tarantula was discovered," Delta spokesman Morgan Durrant says in a statement to WSB TV of Atlanta.

Still, when word of a loose tarantula was relayed to cockpit crew, the pilots opted to keep the plane on the ground to be sure there were no more spiders free in the cargo area.

Durrant tells The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the "flight crew made the decision to fly to Atlanta on another aircraft out of an abundance of caution and the captain explained the situation to our customers."

The new aircraft departed for Atlanta about three hours after the originally scheduled 7 p.m. departure time.

"Safety and security are our top priority," Kruse adds to the Sun.

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