Forget Snakes on a Plane, how about Tarantula on a Stopover? An incident that sounds like a pitch for a B-movie has occurred on an Iberia Air Lines flight from Düsseldorf in Germany to Madrid, Spain, when the pilot was bitten by one of the notorious arachnids, according to claims by the aircraft crew. And, to make matters worse, the pilot in question has an allergy to spiders.
Belonging to the Theraphosidae family, tarantulas are a group of often sizeable predatory spiders, native to tropical, subtropical and arid climes. Tarantulas are well-known for their size, fuzzy appearance, and venom that can kill small animals and injure farm animals. It is not known whether any pets were being carried on board the Iberia flight but no reports of ill effects have been made.
Fearsome reputation
Despite their fearsome reputation, tarantulas can go up to two years without food and weeks without water. It is highly unusual for a tarantula to attack a human and their bite, while causing discomfort similar to a bee sting, would rarely be lethal unless it prompted an allergic, anaphylactic episode.
It is for that reason, after the bite made itself felt, that concern about the pilot’s allergy to spiders led attendants on Flight IB754 to crack open the first aid kit and give him a dose of the corticosteroid methylprednisolone, to ward off any negative effects. Though the crew said the pilot’s injury was from a tarantula, Iberia has not officially confirmed this and has said it could have been a different bug. The pilot is reported to have made a full recovery, and the plane landed safely at its destination.
How long was the spider on board?
It is assumed that the adventurous stowaway boarded the plane during a stopover the Airbus A320 made in Casablanca, Morocco, on 18 February 2025. If so, it remained undetected for three days, during which time, according to FlightRadar24 records, it completed multiple city trips, including stops in Asturias and Santiago in Spain, Brussels in Belgium, Zurich in Switzerland, and Toulouse in France.
According to Travel Tomorrow calculations, the spider would have racked up a significant carbon “footprint” on its round-Europe tour—thanks to its eight feet and the approximately 13,000 km it covered.
The plane’s next flight out of Madrid was to Vigo, in northwestern Spain, but take-off was delayed for three hours while fumigation of the aircraft took place to either kill the unfortunate creature or send it scurrying away. Passengers boarding the plane after the incident were reported to appear visibly nervous, checking their seat areas and possessions for short-haul creepie-crawlies before strapping in.
