Most people would expect to find bedbugs in questionable hotel beds, but few would expect to find them on a plane. However, travelers flying British Airways from Vancouver in Canada to London last month experienced just that. Images of bedbug bites were posted to Twitter, while British Airways apologized, offering the returning passengers an upgrade.

Bed bugs spotted on British Airways plane

CTV Vancouver quotes Heather Szilagyi, who was on the British Airways flight with her fiancé and daughter in September. Szilagyi spotted movement next to her television screen on the back of the seat in front of hers.

As she is employed in the hotel industry, Szilagyi quickly realized it was a bedbug.

She said she tried to grab the bedbug but it moved too quickly, going back to its hiding place behind the TV screen. However Szilagyi said she spotted more of the bugs during the flight, including at a time they were being served meals.

Szilagyi said she had alerted one of the flight attendants, but as the plane was full, the group couldn’t be moved to different seats.

Szilagyi said the cabin crew member apologized, but didn’t appear to be surprised by the discovery. She went on to say she was facing nine hours on the plane, knowing she could be bitten and there was nothing she could do about it.

Szilagyi said they tried to sleep and did manage to get some relaxation. However, on arrival in London they were catching a connecting flight to Slovenia, and once they arrived at the airport she found they were “covered” in bedbug bites.

One bite is apparently still infected.

Travelers try to avoid the same plane for their return journey

As reported by the Independent, as the group couldn’t face the possibility of being on the same British Airways plane for their return journey, Szilagyi called British Airways to check their reservation details, but the line was busy and they were unable to get through.

Worried about getting bitten by bedbugs again, she went on to tweet images of their bites to British Airways.

Passengers offered an upgrade on their return flight

The airline went on to apologize for the unfortunate incident, upgrading the group to business class for their return journey. British Airways went on to make a statement about the incident, saying the airline operates more than 280,000 flights each year, but incidents involving bedbugs are “extremely rare.” They did say they are always vigilant and regularly monitor their aircraft.
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