A Single Mouse Grounded a Plane in London

Yesterday, around 10:40 a.m. local time at London’s Heathrow Airport, a British Airways flight to San Francisco was grounded for around four hours after the plane’s crew announced there was a mouse on board. 

For passengers, this created some consternation, and, of course, the opportunity to say something on social media that they thought was funny. 

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

Nearly 11 years ago, Samuel L. Jackson starred in a movie titled Snakes on a Plane. You may have heard of it. At least one passenger on the plane with the mouse on it had heard of it as well, getting inspired enough to also make a joke, which referenced the movie Snakes on a Plane, the plot of which Rotten Tomatoes describes this way: “Forget terrorists or hijackers—there’s a handful of deadly assassins aboard a jet liner and they don’t even have arms or legs in this airborne thriller.”

I’m going to sell this to the movies. It can be the slightly more pedestrian prequel to snakes on a plane. Maybe this is what lured them on?

— Midland (@midlandsound) March 1, 2017

According to the BBC, British Airways made a cheeky statement of their own on the matter, which came alongside some preening about how great British Airways is.

“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,” the airline said. “Everyone with two legs is now on their way to California, and we are sorry for the delay.”

There was no word on what happened to the mouse. 

Stay safe out there, stowaway mouse.