Video Of Airline Passengers With 'Emotional Support' Falcons On Plane Goes Viral

A video of two men entering a flight with "emotional support" falcons was posted on Twitter by a passenger Friday – a clip that went viral, drawing thousands of reactions, retweets and comments from social media users.

The 11-second clip showed two men, in Middle-Eastern attire, carrying falcons on their arm walking down the aisle on an aircraft from Tajikistan. While the man in the front was carrying just one such bird on his right arm, his companion carried two, one in each hand. Both of them wore protective gear on their arm to keep the birds from boring their sharp talons into their skin.

Twitter user @DonnieDoesWorld, whose bio says he is a foreign correspondent for Barstool Sports, posted the video. In a reply to one comment, @DonnieDoesWorld said people were changing seats to get away from the predatory birds while he “volunteered to sit closer to them. They make me feel secure.”

Many of the users refused to believe the falcons were meant to provide any sort of emotional support to the men possessing them. “They are def not emotional support animals but used for hunting,” one person explained. “They are so expensive could be sold for up to 800,000 USD. They probably didn't want to leave them in the cargo bins.”

Another opined, “Falconry is a sign of wealth in many parts of the world. These dudes like to party,” alluding to the sport of falconry in the Middle East in which the birds of prey are trained to hunt.

In reply to a user who wondered if the second guy needed “a lot of support” as he had “'two' falcons,” @DonnieDoesWorld joked, “One for catching fish and one for catching rabbits.”

Although it was not clear on which airlines @DonnieDoesWorld was traveling many Twitter users pointed out that it was not a rare sight in a number of airlines in the Middle East.

“Falcons are allowed to travel with the owners in the cabin. It's nothing new...we see it all the time here in the Gulf,” one person tweeted. “Don't be an ignoramus. Be curious. Learn about diff cultures.”

Another tweeted: “If you fly on Royal Jordanian Airways you'll have the best chance of this happening. They allow two falcons per person [till the max of I think 10 per plane is reached]. Other Middle Eastern airlines allow them too but fewer. In the UAE falcons are issued their own passports.”

A third seemed to be concerned about the safety of the falcons on the flight. “Pets have died in airplanes in cages stored where luggage is stored,” the user commented. “Air quality and pressure change within plane, falcons do not do well with change effecting [sic] their eating habits sometimes for days.”

Here are some other reactions from people on Twitter:

Regardless of the debate over whether the birds should have been allowed in the flight, @DonnieDoesWorld concluded that the falcons did not harm anyone on the flight. “Post Flight Thoughts: Would ride with an entire plane full of falcons if given the chance. I saw a 6 yr old kid try to touch a falcon but didn’t see the falcons trying to touch any 6 yr old kids. Very well behaved,” he tweeted.