Airline meals hardly carry high expectations but this week a passenger faced more than just a disappointing supper after a mouse crawled out of their meal, forcing their flight to make an unscheduled landing.
The incident occurred during a Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flight from Oslo to Málaga on Wednesday, forcing the plane to land in Copenhagen, the company said on Friday.
Airlines usually strictly prohibit rodents onboard because the animals can chew through electrical wiring, key to the operation of a plane.
“Believe it or not. A lady next to me … opened her food and a mouse jumped out,” wrote one passenger, Jarle Borrestad, on Facebook, along with a photograph showing him smiling next to two women, also smiling.
Øystein Schmidt, a spokesperson for SAS, said that “in line with our procedures, there was a change of aircraft” and the passengers were flown to Málaga, Spain, on another flight.
“This is something that happens extremely rarely,” he said. “We have established procedures for such situations, which also include a review with our suppliers to ensure this does not happen again.”
It was not the first time a loose rodent has caused a ruckus. In 2017, a British Airways flight at Heathrow airport bound for San Francisco failed to take off after a mouse was spotted onboard. After a four-hour delay, a replacement aircraft was found. It is thought to have cost BA about £250,000.
Unscheduled landings are not always due to a technical or safety concerns. Last year, a United Airlines service heading from Houston to Amsterdam was diverted to Chicago after an unruly business class passenger interrupted the flight because his first meal choice was reportedly unavailable. In 2017, a Qatar Airways plane was forced to land midflight after a woman discovered her husband was having an affair.