Aboard a Scandinavian Airlines flight, a woman opened her in-flight meal, only to find a mouse scurry out of it. The flight, heading from Oslo, Norway to Málaga, Spain, had to take a quick detour in Copenhagen, Denmark. The incident took place on Wednesday, September 18.
The diversion was necessitated by company procedures as the mouse posed a "safety risk," said Øystein Schmidt, an airline spokesperson. Passengers were spooked, to say the least, as the rodent scampered off the food tray and around the cabin. Passengers were forced to take a different aircraft to their destination.
The internet had a lot to say. Many reacted with a flood of mock resolutions and memes. One person suggested, "plane cats are the solution," on Reddit.
"Stuart little should be treated human. Leave him alone," one user joked.
"Was it just for 1st class menu?" another user asked, wittily.
"Never underestimate the power of a mouse," another user claimed.
Several others poked fun at the situation, with some noting that an emergency landing might have been a little over-the-top.
"I'm going to need a picture of that mouse crawling out of that meal. I just can't picture it," another user shared.
"Well maybe you should allow cats on aircrafts as staff and you wouldn't have rodent problems," one user suggested, jokingly.
"I would be so f**king pissed off if they re-routed my flight because of a mouse. I would have stomped on it and told the pilot to keep flying to my damn destination," another user said.
A spokesperson of the airplane says having a mouse onboard is "something that happens extremely rarely"
Øystein Schmidt said in a statement,
"In line with our procedures, there was a change of aircraft. This is something that happens extremely rarely. We have established procedures for such situations, which also include a review with our suppliers to ensure this does not happen again.”
One passenger, Jarle Borrestad, took to Facebook to share what he had just seen:
“Believe it or not. A lady next to me … opened her food and a mouse jumped out."
He posted an image of himself alongside two other women, all of whom were smiling. He told BBC News that everyone aboard maintained a calm demeanor and no one was "stressed at all".
However, he did disclose that he had to take some measures to prevent the rodent from crawling up his trousers, such as pulling his socks higher. He also noted that the journey was only delayed by a few hours altogether.
According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s (AOPA) website, mice can pose a safety hazard, as they can chew through the electrical wiring.
Furthermore, this may be hard to detect, thereby increasing the chances of a short circuit. The website adds that these rodents can defecate onboard, and the urine is "corrosive to metal," while their defecation "can serve as anti-desiccants, retaining moisture and causing water corrosion.”
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