May 4 (UPI) — 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.<\/p>\n
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.\n<\/p>\n
Southwest Airlines spokesperson Lynn Lunsford confirmed Ben-Abraham had purchased a ticket<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Bebop was moved to a window seat, but airline staff soon noted a second issue.<\/p>\n “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.<\/a><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.\n<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n