Passengers on a Spirit Airlines flight were left startled after seeing a rat crawling inside a light fixture of the plane. The size of the animal even sparked debate as some travellers were wondering whether or not it might have been a bigger beast, calling it “a super rat!”
The comment of one of the passengers aboard the domestic flight from Dallas to Los Angeles is saying it all: the animal crawling through the light fixture is not a small rodent. In the comment section of the video, some social media users say it might have well been a raccoon or, trying to lighten the mood, even a small moose.
The video has since gone viral on social media, even though it is not clear when exactly the incident did happen, nor how long the rodent had already been on board of the plane.
While almost all airlines require animals flying with them to be restrained in a well-specified cage, incidents with animals roaming the wild do happen on a regular basis. Earlier this year, a SriLankan Airlines flight was grounded after a rat was spotted inside and a China Eastern Airlines got held up by an escaped possum. Animals, especially rodents, running freely around a plane can be the cause of many problems, including malfunctioning of the plane due to gnawed cables.
Despite the fact that the date on which the video was filmed isn’t clear, the timing for the incident isn’t ideal for Spirit Airlines. Earlier this year, the planned merger with JetBlue was halted by the courts and, since then, the airline has experienced quite a bit of financial struggles. While negotiations with Frontier for a potential merger are back on the table, the carrier has been looking for ways to cut costs and increase overall income.
Just last week, it announced it would be selling 23 Airbus A320-series planes for $519 million to GA Telesis. Starting from the beginning of 2025, Spirit Airlines will also be implementing $80 million in cost-saving measures, a big part of which will be stemming from workforce reductions. The exact number of layoffs to happen, however, hasn’t been shared just yet.
