CNN  — 

The next time your airplane seat mate clips their nails or snores loudly, you can at least be grateful for one thing – they’re human.

Passengers on a recent Spirit Airlines flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Newark, New Jersey, did not have the same luxury.

Several passengers filmed cell phone videos of a mysterious animal – which they initially thought might be a bird, but ended up being a bat – flapping around the cabin. Passengers and flight attendants alike were clearly unnerved by the incident.

According to one traveler, Peter Scattini, the bat did not make an appearance until about 30 minutes into the flight, which is about halfway through the total flying time. No one was sure how the stowaway made it on board.

Scattini adds that eventually someone was able to trap the bat “between a book and a cup.” The bat was held in a bathroom so that the flight could finish uneventfully.

According to a rep from Spirit, animal control came on board to take the bat after the plane landed safely and customers were able to deplane.

“The aircraft was disinfected and searched as a precaution,” the Spirit Airlines representative told CNN. “No one was hurt in this incident, including the bat.”

Spirit, a low-cost US domestic carrier based in Florida, has had more than one newsworthy event in 2019.

In June, a passenger was banned for life from the airline after he was caught vaping on board.

Sometimes, though, Spirit planes play host to much cuter – and more welcome – stowaways.

In 2017, a woman gave birth on board a Spirit flight from Fort Lauderdale to Dallas. The plane made an emergency landing in New Orleans, the mother and baby were healthy, and little Christoph Carsten Lezcano now gets one free Spirit flight a year on his birthday for life.