A Saudi Prince Reportedly Bought 80 Plane Seats For His Pet Falcons
A Saudi Prince Reportedly Bought 80 Plane Seats For His Pet Falcons
An image recently surfaced on the internet of a plane full of birds. Though many initially thought the plane had been chartered, only 80 seats were actually occupied by the pet falcons of a Saudi prince.
An image recently surfaced on the internet of a plane full of birds. Though many initially thought the plane had been chartered, only 80 seats were actually occupied by the pet falcons of a Saudi prince.
You definitely won't find any snakes on this plane. They would be eaten immediately. A photo recently surfaced on Reddit of a commercial plane full of falcons.
Reportedly, they are the 80 pet falcons of a Saudi Prince transporting them on Etihad Airways. Even stranger than their presence on the plan is the fact that this actually isn't an unusual occurrence. Apparently, falconry is very popular in the Persian Gulf. It's so popular, in fact, that airlines like Etihad have special guidelines and allowances for flying your falcons. According to their website:
We accept the carriage of falcons in the main aircraft cabin provided that all the necessary documents have been obtained. We also accept falcons as checked baggage.
Etihad Airways
Gizmodo, January 30, 2017
But that's not where the oddity stops. Falcons in the UAE have to have their own passports. Between 2002 and 2013, the United Arab Emirates issued over 28,000 falcon passports. This is to help combat the illegal sale and trade of Falcons. (They are endangered, after all.)
So, now, what we'd like to know is...
Would you want to fly on a plane full of falcons?
Would you want to fly on a plane full of falcons?
Any other thoughts? Talk to us about them in the comments below, and share with your friends to see what they think!