While this is no doubt an unpleasant discovery, stuff like this does happen…
Passenger records rat in JetBlue A321 overhead lighting
A JetBlue passenger has taken to Instagram to share something she witnessed on a recent JetBlue flight. Specifically, she recorded a video of what appears to be a rat crawling through the overhead lighting area of the aircraft, underneath the overhead bins.
She was traveling in Mint, JetBlue’s version of business class, and it appears to be on either an Airbus A321neo or A321LR, based on the plane having the newest version of JetBlue Mint seats. In the two days since it has been posted, the video has been viewed over 650K times, and has received nearly 11,000 likes, and around 800 comments.
This happens, but what an unpleasant discovery!
It goes without saying that seeing a rat (or any other unwanted animal) in an aircraft isn’t a pleasant discovery. As much as I love animals, there are certain kinds of creatures I’d rather not get into close contact with, especially in an enclosed space, and rats are certainly among them.
I guess personally I find this to be a less pleasant discovery than something like a snake in the overhead lighting, as we’ve seen that before as well. On the plus side, actually getting into or out of the overhead lighting area isn’t that easy, so it does give you some separation from the animals, at least (though if they found a way to get in there, they can probably also find a way to get out of there).
While airlines will of course apologize for incidents like this, the carriers can’t actually typically be blamed for this, and instead, it comes down to bad luck. As you’d expect, these creatures get on the plane while it’s on the ground (last I checked, rats and snakes don’t fly), so it could get on the aircraft via the jet bridge (like from the terminal), via a galley catering cart, in a bag, or through some other opening. So it’s typically more a function of the airport one is flying out of, rather than the airline.
When airlines make a discovery like this, they’ll of course take immediate action to remove the “stowaway” from the aircraft, before the plane flies again, and will also perform a safety inspection. There is some risk associated with this, like a rat potentially chewing through wiring.
Bottom line
A traveler on JetBlue recorded a rat crawling through the overhead lighting console of an aircraft. Stuff like this does happen every so often, as creatures do sometimes make it onto aircraft via galley carts, jet bridges, etc. As someone with an irrational fear of some creatures, this would definitely make me a bit uneasy, but I wouldn’t be blaming this too much on JetBlue.
What do you make of this JetBlue rat situation?
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