A Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland, Calif., to San Diego was delayed for more than an hour due to the presence of an unusual passenger — a robot.
Eily Ben-Abraham of Elite Event Robotics confirmed he and the 4-foot-tall, 70-pound robot, named Bebop, boarded the plane at Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport on Thursday to fly to San Diego.
Southwest Airlines spokesperson Lynn Lunsford confirmed Ben-Abraham had purchased a ticket for Bebop, but the initial delay was caused by the robot’s presence in an aisle seat being a violation of the airline’s policy for large carry-on items.
Bebop was moved to a window seat, but airline staff soon noted a second issue.
“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,” Ben-Abraham told KGO-TV.
Bebop’s lithium battery was found to be larger than the maximum allowed by Southwest Airlines policy, so the plane was only able to depart once the battery was removed and confiscated.
Ben-Abraham and the inert robot were then able to continue their flight to San Diego. The plane departed one hour and two minutes behind schedule.
Elite Event Robotics, which rents out its robots for appearances at various events, said Bebop will continue to fly commercial, but without its batteries installed.
Bebop was able to make it to a scheduled appearance Sunday at Digestive Disease Week at McCormick Place in Chicago. Elite Event Robotics had batteries shipped overnight to Chicago so the robot would be able to perform.
