JetBlue took – A JetBlue flight from Los Angeles to Turks and Caicos was diverted after a small rodent appeared in the first-class cabin, prompting the airline to take the aircraft out of service. A passenger’s Instagram video posted June 13 quickly drew about 1 million view
A day that was supposed to be a premium trip ended with a jet being pulled from service.
On a JetBlue flight that included first-class seating. a small rodent scurried through the overhead bins and around light fixtures. according to a video posted to Instagram on June 13. The clip shows the silhouette of the animal moving in the first-class section of the aircraft. a sight that soon spread widely online.
Brittney Brimway and her three children were traveling from Los Angeles to Turks and Caicos. with a layover in New York City. when the disruption began. Brimway told Storyful that her son woke her up and said there was a rat in the plane. She said she was initially dismissive. but when her son insisted she get up to look. she did—then yelled at him to record it.
The video was captioned, “You can’t make this s–t up! Our first class with JetBlue had a rat, yes a rat, in the overhead bin.” Brimway also added the hashtag “mint,” referencing her seat in JetBlue’s premium offering. The post later racked up around 1 million views.
After the incident, Brimway said the plane was forced to divert. In the aftermath, JetBlue responded publicly to her post with an apology and instructions for how to get in touch.
On June 17, Brimway returned to Instagram to say JetBlue had offered a refund for the flight. JetBlue did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a statement shared with Storyful, the airline said: “While incidents of this nature are rare, maintaining a safe and comfortable experience for our customers and crewmembers is a top priority.” The statement also said the aircraft had been “identified and taken out of service.”
The sequence of events—viral footage in first class. a diversion. and then an aircraft taken out of service—brings a rare kind of scrutiny to routine airline operations. And it lands at the center of a broader public worry: that pests can appear even when travelers are expecting the comforts of premium cabins.
JetBlue is not the only U.S.-linked carrier to face international incidents involving rodents. Last December. a rat appeared from overhead bins and crawled behind a curtain while a flight was en route from Amsterdam to Aruba. with previous reporting describing the incident as “very exceptional.” KLM Royal Dutch Airlines said at the time it didn’t know how the rodent boarded the plane. and the return flight from Aruba to Amsterdam was canceled so the aircraft could be cleaned before returning to service.
A year earlier, in September 2024, another flight was diverted after a mouse was found on a trip from Oslo, Norway to Málaga, Spain. According to protocol and procedures described at the time, the plane diverted for an “inspection and fumigation” process and to move passengers to another aircraft.
For Brimway and her children, the episode has now shifted from a sudden moment of alarm to a question of what comes next—refunds, reassurance, and whether the disruption is fully contained by taking an aircraft out of service.
JetBlue’s response says the company treats safety and comfort as a top priority, and its statement confirms the specific action it took: the aircraft was identified and removed from service after the incident.
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