We’re willing to admit that we have a little bit of ophidiophobia—it’s a fear of snakes, we had to look it up too—so we were excited to hear that less and less of the slithery serpents will be making their way to the United States. The US Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced a proposal that would ban the important of certain snake species from other countries. Of course this would also greatly reduce the chance of a Snakes on a Plane sequel.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar recently spoke about the danger of certain snakes and what they’re doing to our environment. He specifically addressed the issue of what happens when pet snakes are released into the wild. The rogue critters have been specifically troublesome for Everglades National Park. There’s been 1,200 snakes taken out of the park since 2000, because they’re usually up to no good. ]]> kjb 2010-01-28T09:04:24-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/4/17/13149/5754

We wish every Friday began with a story like this: In a scene reminiscent of a not-too-distant Samuel L. Jackson movie, a Qantas plane had to be taken out of service after four baby pythons escaped from their secure location in the cargo hold.

Frighteningly, the carriers of these snakes didn't realize until two days after they landed in Melbourne from Alice Springs that one-third of the pythons were MIA. After making sure the Stinson's pythons, native to Australia, hadn't eaten their own kind, officials pulled the plane and fumigated it, causing delays and probably a number of nightmares. ]]> egw 2009-04-17T11:11:39-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2007/9/10/44742/9776

You know, we've never even considered packing snakes in our luggage, but it's one of the hottest trends in travel right now. The most recent trendsetter was a passenger arriving at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport who checked the snakes on his Korean Air flight. Customs officers found the reptiles when he touched down.

The icky part about these snakes on a plane is that they were already dead and packed with a dead bird and pieces of other birds. He faces a fine but the final punishment isn't clear because officials are still trying to work out what he planned to use the snakes for:

Right now our agents are a little leery about speculating on that, a federal spokesman said.

Related Stories:
· Snakes On Planes at Atlanta Airport [AJC]
· Snakes and Crocs On A Plane [Jaunted]
· Snakes On A Plane coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Pathfinder_Linden]]]> amandak 2007-09-10T09:15:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2006/8/3/95016/33786

Ok, we totally made that up, however we needed some reason to post the action photo we just took.

So let this post serve as a double reminder:

First, Snakes on a Plane opens two weeks from tomorrow, August 18th.

Second, Jet Blue's three day Fall Fare sale ends today.

Related Stories:
·   Jet Blue Coverage [Jaunted]
·   Snakes on a Plane Coverage [Jaunted] ]]> markj 2006-08-03T09:50:16-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2006/6/5/83934/04119

There's a sliding scale when it comes to unpleasant seatmates on an airplane. On the "wish-it'd happen-to-me" side of things is the lonely model who recently suffered a bad breakup, needs a shoulder to cry on, and possibly a make-out partner. Moving up the scale, you'll find the contagious cougher, the idle chatterer, the morbidly obese person who steals your armrest and your sandwich, all the way up to Simon Cowell, who wouldn't be impressed with us in any way, shape or form, we can say that much. We used to think that was he would be the worst possible in-flight companion, but we were wrong.

No, the worst in-flight companion, a fact to which Samuel L. Jackson will almost certainly attest, is a snake. And pilot Monty Coles, flying his Piper Cherokee over West Virginia last weekend, would agree. A former flight-instructor, Monty found himself facing off with a four-and-a-half foot snake in the cockpit while he was preparing to land the plane. Thinking quickly, he grabbed it behind the head, radioed for an emergency landing, and flew the plane with his free hand.

"They came back and asked what my problem was," he said. "I told them I had one hand full of snake and the other hand full of plane. They cleared me in."