Avian stowaway escapes cold snap for Spanish beaches

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No sooner does the weather down south turn a little chilly, before some of our residents jump ship and run away to warmer climes.
      Some of the snowbirds heading for Malaga in Spain on Tuesday morning were accompanied by a passenger who had not paid for a ticket, but who was remarkably not arrested at the gate or on arrival in Spain.
     
The stowaway in question was a great tit (Parus major), which had clearly drawn its own conclusions about the prospects of a sub-zero week or two in Helsinki, Christmas or no Christmas.
      The small bird made the desperate decision to hop on board AY2160, a Finnair Boeing 757 leisure flight to the Costa del Sol.
     
"The air hostess told us that the bird had been spotted in the cabin on the way out from Helsinki-Vantaa and that it had then gone into hiding. When we passengers who were going back to Helsinki on the return leg were getting on board, the bird darted out of the cockpit”, reported Risto Lahnala by phone.
      “The cabin crew ordered all the doors to be opened so the bird could get out.”
      Lahnala said the bird had not disturbed the passengers. “People were delighted by the show.”
     
Finnair subsequently confirmed that a great tit had indeed travelled as a stowaway on the four and a half hour flight from Helsinki to Malaga, but not in the aircraft’s cockpit.
      “The pilot reported that the bird had hidden itself away under a panel in the main cabin and did not fly around during the trip. It caused no danger whatsoever. An effort was made to feed it, but it didn’t seem particularly interested”, Finnair noted.
      Perhaps it had ordered vegan.
     
The same crew flew back to Helsinki on the plane on Tuesday evening.
      The refugee bird did not - it made its escape into the warmth of Spain.
      Lucky for some. Though as some of the comments on the Helsingin Sanomat discussion forum indicated, things have reached a new low in laziness when even the birds refuse to fly.
      Or perhaps this was a variant of the outsourcing of flights that nearly brought a pilots’ strike in Finnair a few weeks ago?
      And naturally, with Copenhagen very much in the mind, there is the consideration of the additional greenhouse gases generated by this reckless long-haul flight to the south.
     
Meanwhile, no information has been forthcoming as to the whereabouts of the bird’s luggage.


Links:
  Parus major (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat