Mouse on a plane delays London to San Francisco flight by four hours

March 2 (UPI) -- A flight from London to San Francisco was delayed for four hours due to a small and furry stowaway -- a mouse.

Passengers on British Airways Flight BA285 said they were ordered off the plane Wednesday when a mouse was spotted running around inside.

Airline officials said the plane can't take off with rodents aboard because they could chew through important cables.

"Just had my flight to SFO canceled because of a mouse on board the plane. Could it not get a visa?? #britishairways" passenger @mattwatt tweeted.

"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?" wrote another passenger, Twitter user @midlandsound.

The passengers eventually boarded another plane and arrived in San Francisco four hours behind schedule.

"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," a British Airways representative told the BBC. "Everyone with two legs is now on their way to California, and we are sorry for the delay."