A Delta Air Lines passenger says she was left stunned when she spotted a bed bug crawling on the seatback in front of her during a recent flight, although a flight attendant didn’t seem too bothered about the unwelcome stowaway.
Understandably, the passenger is now scared that she might end up bringing bedbugs into her own home, should they have hitched a ride on her rucksack or clothing.
Bed Bugs on flight (pic)
byu/calicocatpajamas indelta
“I was on a flight yesterday when I saw bed bugs crawl out of the seat in front of me. I did not know what to do, so I caught it and put it in the vomit bag,” the passenger wrote in a post on Reddit.
“I told the attendant who rolled their eyes and took it. They did not offer any help, and we got bitten several times over the course of the flight,” the passenger continued.
After complaining to Delta, the passenger eventually received $100 as a way of compensation, although the customer was left “disgusted” by the incident and is still dealing with the itchiness of the bed bug bites.
Other commentators were quick to track down the aircraft involved in the incident, concluding that it was a 24-year-old Boeing 737 that had been operating the flight between Greenville-Spartanburg and Atlanta Hartsfield on August 21.
“That whole plane needs to be fumigated to kill those things,” someone commented in response to the passenger’s Reddit post.
Another wrote: “This plane has been flying around ever since. Doesn’t appear to have any extended ground time out of the ordinary for treatment so nothing has been done as of right now.”
“It’s reasonable to think this could have possibly spread to other aircraft at this point.”
Unfortunately, bedbugs on airplanes aren’t unheard of, although getting a photo of one of these critters on a seat is relatively rare. That being said, last October, an American Airlines passenger on a flight operated by regional carrier Republic Airways caught a bedbug after spotting it crawling on their leg.
So fearful of bringing bedbugs into their own home, the passenger said they immediately changed their clothing as soon as they arrived at their destination.
In January, Turkish Airlines admitted that bedbugs are a ‘common problem’ after a New York Times report on an apparent bedbug infestation that affected several of the carrier’s planes servicing routes between its hub and the United States.
Bedbug infestations are notoriously difficult to get rid of – partly because the creatures, whose scientific name is Cinex lectularius, can live for months without feeding and are resistant to common insecticides.
In domestic settings, extreme heat treatment is often the primary method to kill bedbugs, but this method can’t be used on commercial aircraft.
A spokesperson for Turkish Airlines said the carrier was working with Airbus and Boeing to develop new ways to safely eliminate bedbugs on planes, along with traditional insecticides that are already in use.
Delta has a proprietary fumigation system developed. and used during COVID. It doesn’t take long to fog the entire jet. It kills more than just germs, from what I understand and quickly dissipates for passenger safety and comfort
It takes a LOT to kill bedbugs. I once had them in my apartment because the whole complex shared a laundry facility. The pest control people had to come out 5 times. They sprayed in the cracks of floors and the furniture. I had to wash all my clothes and bag them up for two weeks. Just spraying is not nearly good enough.