Rat On Plane Forces Alaska Airlines To Cancel Flight From Oakland

Alaska Airlines called an exterminator after a rat was discovered in the cockpit of a flight at Oakland International Airport Tuesday that forced the company to ground the aircraft and left the passengers on board scrambling for alternative travel plans.

Alaska Airlines Flight 915 was scheduled to depart Oakland at 9:15 a.m. EST for Portland, but the passengers were taken off the plane due to the rodent problem, airport spokeswoman Keonnis Taylor said.

“An Alaska Airlines aircraft departing Oakland International Airport was canceled today due to reports of a mouse in the cockpit of the aircraft,” Taylor said in an email, according to Mercury News. “The flight’s 110 passengers are being accommodated as appropriate by Alaska Airlines flights from San Francisco and San Jose airports.”

The airlines said passengers were boarding the flight when the rat jumped from the jet way onto the aircraft. Alaska Airlines released a statement after a short while calling the rodent a rat, claiming that it was spotted around 8:30 a.m. EST

“That’s when a rat was spotted jumping from the jet way to inside the aircraft,” the airline said in an email. “Any passengers onboard the aircraft were deplaned,” Stuff.co.nz reported.

Most of the 110 passengers scheduled to take the flight found new flights on Tuesday to Portland, while some had to wait until Wednesday morning.

“The plane is currently out of service,” Alaska Airlines said. “It will be returned to operations once it’s certified rodent-free by a professional exterminator. The aircraft will also be thoroughly inspected to ensure no damage has been done.”

The company added that the plane will also be inspected for any kind of damage.

One of the passengers in the plane named Ginger Hintz, who had plans to visit her twin sister in Portland, posted numerous disappointing tweets about her array of travel problems, starting around 9:30 a.m. EST on Tuesday.

While passengers boarded the flight, Hintz said the captain reportedly came out from the jet way and announced that when the plane arrived at the Oakland gate from Portland, a rodent had entered the plane as the crew opened the door.

“I asked the captain, ‘If we took a vote and accepted the risk of flying with it could we still go?’ ” Hintz told Mercury News in an interview. “The pilot said he didn’t want it around his feet. Maybe he had a phobia?”

Another passenger in the aircraft, who was arriving from Portland, said he was exiting the plane when reportedly a woman in front of him jumped.

“I didn’t stick around to look for it, just walked off the plane,” he said. “I assumed they’d shoo it off somehow.”

The flight was canceled shortly after noon and Hintz claimed she was booked in a new flight out of San Francisco Airport on Tuesday night and a $12 food voucher.

Authorities were not sure where the rodent exactly came from. However, Alameda County Environmental Health food inspectors had issued a violation this year for an Oakland airport vendor called 8 Bar, for having vermin. The facility was located near Gate 8 inside Terminal 1, close to Gate 10 where the rat was spotted and made its run into the aircraft.