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OAKLAND — A rat discovered in the cockpit of an Alaska Airlines flight at Oakland International Airport on Tuesday grounded the aircraft and left passengers scrambling for alternative travel plans.

Flight 915 was scheduled to depart Oakland at 9:15 a.m. for Portland, but the passengers were pulled off the plane due to the rodent problem, said airport spokeswoman Keonnis Taylor.

“An Alaska Airlines aircraft departing Oakland International Airport was cancelled today due to reports of a mouse in the cockpit of the aircraft,” Taylor said in an email. “The flight’s 110 passengers are being accommodated as appropriate by Alaska Airlines flights from San Francisco and San Jose airports.”

Alaska Airlines released a statement calling the stowaway rodent a rat, saying it was spotted around 8:30 a.m.

“That’s when a rat was spotted jumping from the jet way to inside the aircraft,” the airline said in an email. “Any passengers onboard the aircraft were deplaned.”

Most passengers found new flights Tuesday, with some having to wait until Wednesday morning.

“The plane is currently out of service,” Alaska Airlines said. “It will be returned to operations once it’s certified rodent-free by a professional exterminator. The aircraft will also be thoroughly inspected to ensure no damage has been done.”

One Oakland woman, Ginger Hintz, who was planning to visit her twin sister in Portland, posted numerous wry tweets about her maze of travel problems, starting around 9:30 a.m.

chose Oakland airport to evade @KarlTheFog at SFO but now delayed because a rat hijacked our plane 🐀 departure time: unknown #truestory — gingamc (@gingamc) January 2, 2018

She even snapped a photo of the “infested” Flight 915.

Around boarding time, Hintz said the captain emerged from the jet way and announced that when the plane arrived at the Oakland gate from Portland, a rat entered the plane as the crew opened the door.

“I asked the captain, ‘If we took a vote and accepted the risk of flying with it could we still go?’ ” Hintz laughed in a phone interview. “The pilot said he didn’t want it around his feet. Maybe he had a phobia?”

Another passenger arriving from Portland said he was exiting the plane when the woman in front of him jumped.

“I didn’t stick around to look for it, just walked off the plane,” he said in a tweet. “I assumed they’d shoo it off somehow.”

As Hintz tweeted for cat reinforcements and posted feline memes, she said frustrations grew.

plane still hasn’t moved, man is yelling at woman at ticket counter. 2 hours after original departure, and theoretically should be in Portland, the mood has turned hostile. the jokes have stopped. it’s getting real. — gingamc (@gingamc) January 2, 2018

“I was trying to be cool about it. You know, new year and all. But I noticed other people’s anxieties went way up,” Hintz said.

A female exterminator offered a glimmer of hope, but alas the flight was canceled shortly after noon, according to the intrepid passenger. She was given a $12 food voucher and a new flight out of SFO on Tuesday night.

Alaska flight 915 officially cancelled. Rats 1 Humans 0 — gingamc (@gingamc) January 2, 2018

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No word on where the rodent came from, but Alameda County Environmental Health food inspectors issued a violation this year for 8 Bar, an Oakland airport vendor, for having vermin, according to records. The facility operates near Gate 8 inside Terminal 1, close to Gate 10 where the rat made its run for the Pacific Northwest.

On Wednesday, a county food inspection supervisor said that bar’s vermin violation was for fruit flies, not rodents. He said the airport’s food facilities have not had rodent issues.

Multiple calls to the restaurant were not answered Tuesday.

Staff writer Thomas Peele contributed to this report.