Rat makes Air India flight U-turn to Mumbai after 2.5 hours

Herersquos an example of a big problem in a small package mdash Air India passengers heading to London lived through a nightmare yesterday as their flight had to be grounded all because a rat had been spotted onboard To the dismay of 256 fliers this discovery was made two and a half hours into the flight forcing the pilot to turn the aircraft to Mumbai againRead Story Denied boarding by AI two families forced to shell out Rs 125L for ticketsAI 131 mdash an AhmedabadMumbaiLondon flight mdash was to take off from Mumbai at 730 am but finally departed at 755 am After the 25minute delay passengers settled in for the 9hr flight to Heathrow airport However two and a half hours into the flight just as the Dreamliner aircraft was coasting over east Iran the pilot announced that they were returning to Mumbai due to a technical snagPassenger Sanjay Joshi seen here with his family at the airportIn truth one of the crewmembers had spotted a rat onboard and passed on the information to the pilot who had no choice but to turn back in case the rat gnawed through any of the aircraft controls This is not the first instance of a flight being grounded due to rats onboard see lsquoPest problemrsquo In such cases flights have to be grounded immediately to assess any damage as rats can chew through crucial wiring or other equipment leaving the aircraft out of controlAlso Read Ordeal for domestic AI fliers accommodated on international flightThe fliers were offered refreshments as they waited for takeoffOne of the 256 passengers on the flight Kiran Joshi said ldquoWe were all worried when after flying for more than two and a half hours the captain announced that we were going back to Mumbai due to a technical snag Though we repeatedly asked crewmembers for the exact reason they refused to reveal anythingrdquoThe fliers were finally told about the rat once the flight had touched down in Mumbai at 1237 pm mdash by this time the fliers would have been halfway to LondonldquoIt was only after we landed back in Mumbai that the airlinersquos ground staff informed us there was a rat in the flight which they feared might have damaged the wires of the aircraftrdquo added KiranRead Story Unhappy Dussehra for 154 whose AI flight got cancelled without prior intimationThe passengers were served refreshments at the terminal and were assured that the flight would take off for London around 4 pm However this was pushed to 530 pm and then to 635 pm which is when the fliers finally took off nearly 12 hours after the original scheduled departure timeA flier Sanjay Joshi was waiting for the flight with his family but missed a business meeting because of the delay ldquoI had to cancel a meeting in London due to the flight delay Since I am a business class passenger there were no service issues at the terminal but the delay has been very long for all of usrdquo he saidHowever many were more upset about the delay especially since the airline eventually could not even find the rodent in the aircraftldquoI had a connecting flight from Heathrow airport which I will miss due to the prolonged delay When I explained this to the airline staff they had nothing to offer but apologies Itrsquos not a joke to travel five hours only to return to the same airport I have been troubled throughout the dayrdquo said a frustrated passenger