A flight attendant refused to let a plane take off until passengers cleaned up the mess they’d left in the middle of the aisle.

The incident happened onboard a Southwest Airlines aircraft on 15 April, and another passenger shared the story on social media.

Jennifer Schaper claimed that just after boarding the plane, it became apparent someone had spilled rice across the cabin floor.

After the crew member noticed, they demanded the culprit clean up their mess.

In a Twitter thread posted as the situation unfolded, Ms Schaper said: “Just boarded the plane and somebody spilled food. The flight attendant screamed ‘who spilled rice?’ and is walking up and down the aisles. They are refusing to leave the gate until someone cleans the rice.”

In a second tweet, Ms Schaper named the incident #RiceGate and added: “The people in my row and I now have the giggles and she’s looking at us suspiciously.”

Updating her followers about the live aircraft action, Ms Schaper typed in a follow-up tweet: “Update: they are still refusing to leave until the rice has been cleaned. They are sending out for a broom. #RiceGate”

She also attached a video, in which the flight attendant can be heard apologising for the delay and saying that as “I don’t think you wanna walk through it”, the mess needs to be taken care of before the flight is able to leave.

In another tweet, Ms Schaper says the flight attendant had begun reprimanding the passengers.

“Rice is getting cleaned but she is MAD. She has let us all know that we were not raised right and she is disappointed in all of us,” Ms Schaper wrote.

There was then a further delay to the flight taking off once the rice had been cleaned up as “another loud angry woman went to the bathroom during #RiceGate and we still can’t take off because she is not at her seat,” Ms Schaper shared.

“My row mates have nicknamed this flight the Voyage of the Damned,” she added.

In a final instalment, Ms Schaper tweeted: “Update: there were a few bumps so they didn’t give us beverage service. I think it was punishment. #RiceGate @SouthwestAir.”

Underneath this last social media post, a Southwest Airlines spokesperson issued an apology for the lack of refreshments offered.

One user commented that the incident was similar to another situation onboard a flight this week, in which a baseball star was furious with United Airlines for asking his pregnant wife to clean up their children’s spilled popcorn.

The Independent has contacted Southwest Airlines for comment.

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