Oops! Tiny Mouse Causes Big Trouble in British Airways Plane

A London to San Francisco flight was delayed for four hours after a mouse was spotted in the plane.

The passengers on British Airways Flight BA285 were ordered off the plane Wednesday when the mouse was seen running inside the aircraft.

They were later transferred to a new plane and had to wait for hours to finally get on the new flight. Some passengers tweeted about the ruckus.

Just had my flight to SFO cancelled because of a mouse on board the plane. Could it not get a visa?? #britishairways

— Mark Watt (@markwatt) March 1, 2017

Another user shared, "I'm going to sell this to the movies. It can be the slightly more pedestrian prequel to snakes on a plane."

Following the commotion, British Airways apologized and found a way to do it with humor. Quoting the airline, BBC wrote:

"We know almost everyone wants to fly with us to San Francisco, but on this occasion there was one very small customer who we had to send back to the gate. Everyone with two legs is now on their way to California, and we are sorry for the delay."

As a rule, planes are not allowed to take off when there is a mouse. They are considered a major hazard because they can chew through wires, which may lead to further inconvenience, and worse, accident.

"Two ounces of mouse will cancel a 6,000-mile flight, there's no question. They eat anything and chew anything and can slide through anything," Michael Boyd, an aviation expert with Boyd Group International, told The New York News.

Boyd addded that the presence of a mouse is alarming because this animal breeds fast. When you see one running around, that would mean that there's a bunch of them -- a family, even -- hiding in plain sight. 

Meanwhile, Fox News reported that while the incident is already over and done, the airline might have to pay the passengers for the inconvenience saying that under EU compensation rules, furloughed passengers could receive around 600 pounds of $735 as reimbursement for their delayed flight.

The report added that those passengers who were supposed to take a connecting flight in San Francisco but was not able to do so due to the delay could also ask for compensation, excluding overnight expenses they may incur.