The carrier offered compensation to passengers.
Passengers got a creeping surprise on a flight to the Caribbean when a rat was discovered crawling on board. On a KLM flight from Amsterdam to Aruba, a rodent was seen scurrying on a curtain rail and jumping across overhead storage units. The flight landed safely, but the return was canceled, and the airline offered overnight accommodations and compensation to impacted travelers.
There were more than 250 passengers on board the flight from the Dutch capital. It was scheduled to return to Amsterdam with a stopover in Bonaire. Passengers waiting to reach both destinations were stranded due to this unusual situation.
A spokesperson from the Dutch carrier told The Independent that it was an exceptional incident and that their priority was the safety of their passengers. “That is why we cancelled the flight from Aruba via Bonaire to Amsterdam on December 10th, so that the aircraft could be thoroughly cleaned before being put back into service.”
The airline did not offer an explanation for how the rodent got on the aircraft. However, they confirmed that the rat was discovered while the plane was flying over the ocean and could not land. The pilot continued to the destination, after which the plane was grounded.
The airline offered affected passengers overnight accommodations and made new arrangements to get them to their destinations. “Very unfortunate for the passengers who had to experience this,” a spokesperson told Dutch outlet RTL. The spokesperson added that passengers remained calm and the crew kept an eye on the uninvited guest. “The animal also didn’t come near the food,” they said.
Continue Reading Article After Our Video
Recommended Fodor’s Video
Although rare, there have been other instances of unwanted passengers flying without tickets. In September, a flight in India was delayed by three hours when the crew and passengers spotted a rat on the aircraft. Last year, a flight from Oslo, Norway, to Malaga, Spain, was diverted to Denmark after a mouse jumped out of a meal. In 2024, a rodent was seen inside a light fixture on a flight from Texas to Los Angeles, to the horror and amusement of passengers.
Rats are not just a sanitation risk but are also dangerous on board because they can cut through wires and damage equipment, causing short circuits or system failures. The protocol is to ground the plane until it has been inspected to ensure nothing has been damaged. Extermination is also carried out to prevent further problems.
Related: There’s a Place Where Rats and Humans Live in Harmony
Like many global cities, Amsterdam has a growing rat problem. In the United States, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York are the most rat-infested cities. In fact, New York hired a rat czar in 2023 to manage the city’s population of 3 million rodents. But the problem may not be easy to handle if the temperature keeps rising. A study has found that climate change is making rat infestations worse.
