Man sneaks pet possum onto United Airlines flight

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A passenger managed to sneak his pet possum onto a United Airlines flight having been kicked off a Jetblue service days earlier.

Gerald Tautenhahn had flown from California to Texas with his possum, Zatara, for Thanksgiving without incident.

However, on the return journey with Jetblue, cabin crew told him he couldn’t fly with his unusual pet.

“They said hey, either you can leave her here or you can stay with her but she can’t fly,” Mr Tautenhahn told Fox 7 News.

He called the experience “insane” and said it was “frustrating beyond belief” that the airline had let the pair fly out but not back.

The pair were stranded in Austin for four days while Mr Tautenhahn frantically searched for alternative travel arrangements.

He claimed to have got the go-ahead from both the Department of Transportation and Jetblue before flying.

“I’m out four days of work now,” he said. “I’ve got deadlines to meet and I had to push them all back.”

Mr Tautenhahn eventually booked a return flight with United Airlines, during which he told the New York Post the cabin crew “didn’t even ask” about Zatara.

He posted a story to her Instagram page, saying: “Made it to my seat! The last checking tickets was looking the other way when I scanned my pass. So far so good...”

Jetblue said in a statement: “Jetblue gladly accepts small dogs and cats only in an approved pet carrier.

“On the customer’s return trip, our crew members in Austin witnessed the possum come out of its carrier and saw that it was not a cat or dog.

“The crew members informed the customer that the possum would not be able to travel on the flight and worked to assist the customer with his options.”

Possums are not banned from air travel at the federal, state or local level according to the TSA. It’s up to airlines to draft and enforce their own pet policies.