OC Opossum Bumped From Flight Finally Arrives Home

NEWPORT BEACH, CA — A Newport Beach man and his pet opossum were forced to make other flight arrangements home when an airline refused to allow the marsupial on the return flight.

Owner Gerald Tautenhahn and his opossum, known as Zatara, flew JetBlue on their way to Austin from Long Beach, in late November. On their return trip, JetBlue officials refused to allow the creature onboard.

"We did all of our homework about a month in advance," Tautenhahn told Fox7 Austin. "I called the Department of Transportation, cleared it with them. Cleared it with JetBlue, they said it was fine."

JetBlue was unable to be reached for comment on how the animal originally made the flight to Austin. The company's website says it accepts "all small dogs and cats only in an approved pet carrier."

Though Tautenhahn toted his pet in such a device, and describes Zatara as a "fancified trash cat," on his Instagram page, she is not a feline.

JetBlue told Fox7 that "crew members informed the customer that the opossum would not be able to travel on the flight, and worked to assist the customer with his options."

"We boarded the plane to go home, and … a JetBlue employee had me get off the plane and said I couldn't fly," he wrote on Instagram. "After 3 hours on the phone with JetBlue, they told me to rent a car and drive back to California."

View this post on Instagram

Guys help #bringzatarahome ! #jetblue let me fly from Long Beach airport to Austin Texas and now They won't let me fly home! . We boarded the plane to go home and after a 30 minute delay, a Jet blue employee had me get off the plane and said I couldn't fly. . After 3 hours on the phone with jet blue they told me to rent a car and drive back to CA. The crew at #longbeach and #austin all took pictures with me and loved me but now they're trying to act like they didn't know I was an #Opossum! There's pics of them holding me!!! . All I wanna do is get home back to #california ! Please pass this along and share with everyone and help me find a way to fly back home! . #petstagram #pets #texas #animallovers #fly #home #help
A post shared by Zatara (@zataratheopossum) on Dec 12, 2019 at 12:49pm PST

Ultimately, after an extended social media cry for help, he made the return trip via United Airlines, USA Today reported.

View this post on Instagram

Nap time with the little trouble maker.
A post shared by Zatara (@zataratheopossum) on Sep 28, 2019 at 3:09pm PDT

Zatara is home again, eating eggs and napping in the hood of Tautenhahn's wet suit, oblivious to all of the fuss she had caused.