A bushy-tailed bandit turned New York’s busiest airport into a full-blown circus Thursday morning when a raccoon busted through a ceiling tile at LaGuardia’s Marine Air Terminal and dropped straight into the Spirit Airlines gate area.
Passengers waiting for their flights suddenly found themselves starring in their own wildlife documentary. One second they’re checking their phones, the next a masked marauder is dangling from exposed wires like a furry Mission: Impossible stuntman before plummeting to the floor and taking off like it had a connecting flight to catch.
Chaos erupted. Travelers screamed, chairs went flying, and people scattered in every direction. One unlucky passenger hit the deck hard while the raccoon did laps around the gate, sending staff and flyers into full scramble mode. Video of the melee shows the critter weaving between luggage and legs as an alarm blared and someone desperately grabbed a giant clear trash can in a half-baked attempt to trap the unexpected freeloader.
“This is both the most LaGuardia thing and the most Spirit Airlines thing to happen. Perfect,” one X user cracked, summing up the collective New York reaction.
The Port Authority confirmed the raccoon made its dramatic entrance around 8 a.m. near the Spirit counter in Terminal A. Crews quickly sprang into action, cornered the animal, and safely released it outside with zero injuries reported to humans or the raccoon.
Spirit Airlines said it immediately flagged the facilities team and is working with a professional wildlife control company to make sure the only animals boarding their planes are the ones with tickets.
Airport officials are now hunting for how the raccoon got into the ceiling in the first place. In the meantime, travelers at LaGuardia are left with one more reason to keep an eye on the overhead bins… and the ceiling tiles.
