--- title: United Airlines: Scorpion Stings Passenger on Flight description: A passenger on a flight from Houston to Calgary was surprised when a scorpion fell from the overhead compartment and stung him. canonical: https://time.com/4738585/united-airlines-scorpion-stings-passenger/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-13T16:12:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T08:45:42.501Z og:title: A Passenger Was Stung by a Scorpion on a United Flight og:description: Quite the souvenir og:url: https://time.com/4738585/united-airlines-scorpion-stings-passenger/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc45365b04c87b205/6988c2aecf40a83b6bc47383/united-airlines-scorpion-sting.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5100 og:image:height: 2869 og:image:alt: Scorpion found in Riverside, California, identified as Anuroctonus pococki, in the family Iluridae og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Passenger Was Stung by a Scorpion on a United Flight twitter:description: Quite the souvenir twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc45365b04c87b205/6988c2aecf40a83b6bc47383/united-airlines-scorpion-sting.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Scorpion Stung a Passenger on a United Flight > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=dc5bdb31-73d7-4137-8610-9bc4c826cbf3&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 5 Travel Hacks That Save You Time & Money MONEY [Watch (HLS stream): 5 Travel Hacks That Save You Time & Money MONEY](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OFApg3b1.m3u8) (1:38)  _Published 2017-03-31. Here are five travel hacks that can save you a little more time and money along your journey._ by [Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure](https://time.com/author/travel-leisure/) ## Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure Apr 13, 2017 4:12 PM UTC by [Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure](https://time.com/author/travel-leisure/) ## Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure Apr 13, 2017 4:12 PM UTC After spending two weeks on vacation in Mexico, Richard and Linda Bell were on a [United Airlines](http://www.travelandleisure.com/airlines-airports/united-airlines) flight home from Houston to Calgary on Sunday. They thought their adventure was over — until a scorpion fell from the overhead compartment and on to Richard. They didn’t immediately recognize the honey-colored, 1.5-inch animal until a passenger sitting next to them pointed out that it was probably a scorpion. Richard took the scorpion from his hair and dropped it onto his tray. When he picked it up again, the animal stung him. Bell [told Global News Canada](http://globalnews.ca/news/3372520/man-bitten-by-scorpion-during-flight-to-calgary/) that it “felt like a wasp sting.” Another passenger took the scorpion, stomped it on the ground and then threw the remains in the toilet. Upon landing in Calgary, emergency personnel came onboard the plane to examine Richard. He showed “no sign of distress,” according to an EMS spokesperson, and declined medical attention. It is unclear how the scorpion got onto the flight, although the most likely scenario is that it snuck onboard inside someone’s luggage. United Airlines is investigating the incident. This is not the first time a scorpion had made its way onto the cabin and bit a passenger. In 2015, [an Alaska Airlines flight was forced to return to its origin airport](http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/15/us/lax-scorpion-plane/) in Los Angeles after a woman onboard was stung by a scorpion. The woman declined medical attention upon arrival. _This_ [_article_](http://www.travelandleisure.com/airlines-airports/scorpion-bites-passenger-on-plane) _originally appeared on_ [_TravelandLeisure.com_](http://www.travelandleisure.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4738585/united-airlines-scorpion-stings-passenger/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4738585/united-airlines-scorpion-stings-passenger/"},"headline":"A Scorpion Stung a Passenger on a United Flight","datePublished":"2017-04-13T16:12:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T08:45:42.501Z","description":"Quite the souvenir","url":"https://time.com/4738585/united-airlines-scorpion-stings-passenger/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","Aviation","Bizarre","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc45365b04c87b205/6988c2aecf40a83b6bc47383/united-airlines-scorpion-sting.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc45365b04c87b205/6988c2aecf40a83b6bc47383/united-airlines-scorpion-sting.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Scorpion found in Riverside, California, identified as Anuroctonus pococki, in the family Iluridae","caption":"Scorpion found in Riverside, California, identified as Anuroctonus pococki, in the family Iluridae","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4738585/united-airlines-scorpion-stings-passenger/","name":"A Scorpion Stung a Passenger on a United Flight"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"5 Travel Hacks That Save You Time & Money MONEY","description":"Here are five travel hacks that can save you a little more time and money along your journey.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/OFApg3b1/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-03-31T20:34:56.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OFApg3b1.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4738585/united-airlines-scorpion-stings-passenger/","duration":"PT1M38S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4738585/united-airlines-scorpion-stings-passenger/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```