An unusual passenger on the Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland, California, to prompted a delay of over an hour on April 30, resulting in the late landing of the flight, ABC7 reported.
The unusual traveler was a 70-pound humanoid robot, which caused a runway delay. Named Bebop, the was traveling for work when it became the focus of questions and safety checks before departure.
According to FlightAware, Southwest flight 1568 from Oakland/San Francisco Bay Airport to San Diego International Airport was scheduled to depart around 2:00 pm local time on April 30. However, the flight eventually took off at 3:13 pm and landed at its destination at 4:18 pm. The aircraft arrived at its gate just over an hour after its schedule.
The Dallas-based Elite Event Robotics team bought the robot its own seat after its transport case was deemed too heavy for checked baggage. Before boarding his flight, Bebop put on a little show for the passengers; however, concerns arose after it was strapped in.
In a video posted on the company’s Instagram account, the four-foot-tall and 70-pound humanoid robot could be seen swinging its arms back and forth in front of a crowd of impressed onlookers.
Why did the robot cause a delay?
PEOPLE, citing a spokesperson, said Ben-Abraham had purchased a seat on board the plane for the “device”. However, flight crews were concerned about the robot being seated next to an aisle, which is against company policy for large carry-on items. After moving Bebop to a window seat, crews were then concerned about its batteries inside.
Eily Ben-Abraham with Elite Event Robotics said, “Then they come and start asking, what kind of batteries does it have? What’s going on with this? X, Y, and Z. They want to see it.”
Chana Ben-Abraham with Elite Event Robotics said, “And meanwhile, I’m, like, watching his flight, and I keep seeing online, ‘runway delay.'”
Southwest Airlines, in a statement, said that Bebop’s exceeded the airline’s maximum allowable size, which caused the delay. Elite Event Robotics said it is now working to recover the battery before its next scheduled appearance. When asked if Bebop will be taking any other flights in the future, Chana Ben-Abraham said that he is expected to take a flight on May 3, adding that the company is “overnighting batteries to Chicago tomorrow to hopefully be able to fulfill the next event request.”
Eily Ben-Abraham noted, “At the moment, we got him under 100 pounds, so I shouldn’t have to worry about actually, like, walking him through the terminals.”
Social media reactions to Bebop causing a delay
As the news went viral, several social media users pointed out that the team behind the humanoid robot might have brought it intentionally on the flight to gain some traction.
A user wrote, “I would lose my mind if a robot got a first class seat,” while another said, “First they took our jobs, now they take the centre armrest!?”
A third commented, “Just a publicity stunt. They had a way to transport this robot before today that didn’t require a seat. My guess is that it is easy to disassemble and transport as luggage.”
A fourth said, “Your publicity stunt caused a significant delay, making the entire flight late and causing me to miss a connecting flight. This resulted in a two-hour wait and an additional $400 expense.”
