Airline meals don’t usually come with high expectations, but a passenger encountered more than just an unappetizing dish this week when a mouse emerged from their meal, leading to an unplanned landing.
The incident took place on a Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flight from Oslo to Málaga on Wednesday, prompting the plane to make an unscheduled stop in Copenhagen, the airline confirmed on Friday.
Airlines typically ban rodents due to the risk of them damaging crucial electrical systems on the aircraft.
“Believe it or not. A woman beside me opened her meal, and a mouse jumped out,” wrote passenger Jarle Borrestad on Facebook, sharing a photo of himself smiling alongside two women who were also smiling.
Øystein Schmidt, a spokesperson for SAS, stated that “as per our procedures, the aircraft was swapped,” and the passengers continued their journey to Málaga on a different plane.
“This is an extremely rare occurrence,” he added. “We have strict protocols in place for such incidents, and we are reviewing the situation with our suppliers to prevent this from happening again.”
This isn’t the first time a rogue rodent has caused disruption on a flight. In 2017, a British Airways flight from Heathrow to San Francisco was delayed after a mouse was found onboard. After a four-hour delay, a new plane was arranged, with the incident reportedly costing British Airways around £250,000.
Unscheduled landings aren’t always due to technical or safety reasons. Last year, a United Airlines flight from Houston to Amsterdam was diverted to Chicago after a business class passenger caused a disturbance because his preferred meal option wasn’t available. In 2017, a Qatar Airways flight had to make an unexpected landing after a woman discovered midflight that her husband was having an affair.
