Ants Invade Flight To Newark; Passenger Tweets Play-By-Play

NEWARK, NJ — The ants went marching one by one … on the pillows, in the overhead lockers, on the seats and just about everywhere in the cabin. That was the play-by-play from a passenger aboard United Airlines flight 169 as it traveled from Venice, Italy, to Newark, New Jersey on Monday.

According to Charlotte Burns – who gave the details of her insect odyssey via series of tweets – the incident began when she saw a large, fat ant saunter across her pillow. “Hmmm, that's odd,” Burns wrote at the time.

But soon there was another ant. And another. Between the seats. Crawling on windows.

At first, she tried to play it cool. But there’s only so much a person can bear, Burns wrote:

“The part of me that, you know, doesn't want to be difficult or cause a fuss is being taken over by the part of me that really doesn't like ants on airplanes.”

Finally, Burns said that she and her fellow travelers managed to track down the alleged source of the ant infestation … a sleeping passenger’s bag.

A United Airlines spokesperson confirmed parts of the Twitter saga, offering Patch the following statement on Monday afternoon:

“We are concerned by the experience our customer reported on United flight 169 from Venice to Newark. We have been in contact with the crew and they have advised the ants have been isolated from a customer’s bag. At this time, the aircraft will continue to its final destination. We will be taking the aircraft out of service when it arrives in Newark.

A Port Authority spokesperson said the incident appears to be "isolated."

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