Little Mouse Causes Big Delay for BA Flight
Jackie Reddy March 01, 2017
A British Airways flight from LHR to San Francisco was delayed by four hours on Wednesday after a rodent was spotted onboard.
A tiny mouse was the cause of big problems on Wednesday for a San Francisco-bound flight from London Heathrow Airport (LHR), which was unable to take off with the rodent onboard. Those traveling on the British Airways (BA) plane, which was due to depart LHR at 10:40 a.m. local time, were buckled in and ready to go when the mouse was spotted.
According to the BBC, cabin crew informed the plane’s passengers that the flight could not take off due to the rodent and that another plane would have to be scheduled. One traveler, who identified herself as Carly, told the outlet that there was a sense of “general disbelief” at the announcement. The crew admitted that the sighting was a “rather unusual occurrence”.
“I’m not sure people knew how to react,” Carly said. She also added that passengers were then informed that another plane had been located, but that it would take hours to locate a departure gate for the new flight.
However, a number of passengers appeared to take a more light-hearted view of the incident. Matt Watt tweeted, “Just had my flight to SFO cancelled because of a mouse on board the plane. Could it not get a visa??”. Another traveler even composed a haiku, writing, “About to fly to SF, There is a mouse on the plane, We all must get off.”
The flight eventually departed four hours after its scheduled departure time.
Rolling with this jolly tone, BA commented on the situation, saying, “We know almost everyone wants to fly with us to San Francisco, but on this occasion there was one very small customer who we had to send back to the gate. Everyone with two legs is now on their way to California, and we are sorry for the delay.”
[Photo: Shutterstock]
It's all fun and games until the first EU 261 claims roll in.
Rodents are known for chewing on wiring. This is why they are not allowed on planes.
Maybe it was an emotional support mouse?
The likely reason is that, however unlikely, it could chew into some wiring somewhere and cause an electrical fire or a critical system failure. (I moonlight as a commercial charter pilot in addition to my main job.) BA needs to catch that mouse, inspect the aircraft for any damage, and cancel the mouses EC membership for not following crew member instructions ;-)
I should have lent them my cat, Simon. He and mice.....goodbye rodentiae....