Unlike the 2006 "Snakes on a Plane" movie starring Samuel L Jackson, this reptile did not affect the flight. Passengers on a Qantas jet watched in amazement as a three-metre (nine feet) python clung to the outside of their aircraft during a flight from the Queensland city of Cairns to Port Moresby, capital of the Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea, when took off early Thursday morning with the unintended passenger tucked into its wing.

"The snake was seen by passengers once (the plane) reached cruising altitude," a Qantas spokesman told AFP. It was known to on the aircraft when it arrived in Port Moresby, but it had died by that stage after being reptile engaged in a life-and-death struggle to maintain its grip on the plane despite the winds and chilly altitude temperatures for the two-hour journey as told by the passengers on the flight.

But,there was no panic. At no time did anyone stop to consider that there might be others on board, Weber, a passenger said. He even added that he felt sad with this incident.

According to an expert, the snake was probably a scrub python which is Australia's longest snake and one common in northern Queensland.

(AW:Samrat Biswas)