What would be a nightmare flight experience to many happened to passengers on a Scandinavian Airlines flight. A mouse crawled out of a female flyer’s in-flight meal during the Malaga, Spain-bound trip – causing a diversion to Copenhagen, Denmark. According to BBC, the flight left from Oslo, Norway.
Surprisingly, the furry flyer allegedly didn’t wreak havoc or cause passenger distress. Jarle Borrestad told BBC that passengers were “not stressed at all.” Borrestad claimed he was sitting beside the woman who had the rodent scurry out of her meal. While allegedly unbothered by the mouse, Borrestad candidly admitted that he put his socks over his pant legs so the critter couldn’t potentially run up his leg.
The Scandinavian Airlines Mouse Incident
It’s unclear what was on the menu during the flight where the mouse made a cameo. USA Today detailed that the incident happened on September 18.
“We made a very normal landing (not an emergency landing which has been wrongly stated in some media) in Copenhagen in order to change aircraft and catering – which is a fully normal procedure when a rodent is found onboard,” Scandinavian Airlines spokesperson Alexandra Lindgren Kaoukji stated.
The passengers were switched to another plane — another part of standard procedure. Their delay in Copenhagen was reportedly two and a half hours. Per another representative of Scandinavian Airlines, the mouse’s presence reportedly presented a safety risk.
“This is something that happens extremely rare,” carrier spokesperson Oystein Schmidt said separately. “We have established procedures for such situations, which also include a review with our suppliers to ensure this does not happen again.”
A piece published by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association in January noted that mice eat airplane electrical wiring. The source’s author detailed that the aftermath of the pesky critters’ munching, and their nests, can create fire hazards.
