Qatar Airways Privilege Club - Uncaged falcon on board!

A few days ago I saw something that I have never seen before in my years of flying in the region: A passenger was carrying a falcon on his arm on a DXB-DOH QR flight.

It was tethered to the passenger's glove, and with a blinder hat on, but otherwise free to flap around and spread its majestic wings, which it did several times in the boarding area. The animal left three large white-ish blobs on the floor in the boarding area in DXB. :td: (I will give you one guess as to how concerned the passenger seemed to be about cleaning this up or alerting other passengers who were walking close by.) I can only imagine what it might have left on the seats or the floor onboard.

I was sitting in F, so assumed that the duo would be next to me, but luckily the passenger walked by toward the back of the plane. I would certainly not want to be the passenger seated next to this menace. Regardless of how well-trained such a bird is, there must be some risk of the beast pecking another passenger. And there must be at least some chance that it could break free from the string, which would be disastrous.

I was shocked that the airline would allow this. Anyone seen it before?

I was looking into the pets policy of Middle Eastern carriers years ago, and was amazed to find that virtually all of them permitted uncaged falcons in the cabin. At the time, most required all other animals to fly in the cargo hold.

Royal Jordanian's pet policy is here: http://www.rj.com/TravelEssentials/PlanningYourTrip/Pets/tabid/173/locale/en-US/default.aspx - the section about falcons is at the end. Most regional airlines have similar rules. I've never actually seen it, though.

Setting aside the inconvenience to other passengers, well-trained falcons are worth a fair amount of money. If I'd made that investment, I wouldn't want to take the chance of the bird panicking and hurting itself, which it could easily do while leg-tethered to a seat. The bird would be much safer (and probably happier) in a cage.

:td::td:

I flew Emirates from Karachi to Dubai many years ago (1992 to be precise). I was shocked to see the same thing. We had somewhere between 15 and 20 falcons on board. We had 6 falcons on a long perch occupying the middle section of the last row in coach. One of the Dubai royal families had much (all?) of the first class cabin with their falcons. There were two birds on one first class seat, and a person seated adjacent. Newspaper was put on the seat and the floor. The group had been bustard hunting in Pakistan.

I was so shocked to see it that I found the flight attendance to ask if this was allowed. She assured me that the birds had been thru more stringent medical tests than me. I've heard their value can go as high as $1MM per bird.

A friend told me that she was in a Hyatt in Casablanca, and a suite had been booked for falcons.

When we arrived in Dubai, we stopped short of the gate. The royal family, their servants, and their falcons all deplaned into SUVs that had pulled up on the tarmac for them.

Wow! I can't believe that that's allowed in this day and age, but I suppose that they are well-trained and tied to the owner's arm. All in all, definitely preferable to an uncaged dog running around in the cabin! ;)

Oh, and Turquoise, welcome to FT! ^

Now what if someone on board has a severe allergic reaction to birds/feathers.. or a phobia about them? Offload the passenger?

I'm guessing the people who are into Falconry are very much in the upper echelons of society in these parts? In which case, I'm guessing they wield a fair bit of influence when it comes to what they can and cannot take onto the plane.

Not much of a falcon if he had to take a plane.

:D

Can falcons be trained to attack?