Bedbugs, Cimex lectularius, are tiny vampiric asshole insects that come out at night to feed on blood. According to reports from travelers, these bugs are infesting Turkish Airlines planes, and the company doesn’t seem all that bothered by the bugs. Despite photographic evidence that the bugs were on their planes and further evidence they were bitten, affected travelers say Turkish Airlines dismissed their concerns, or denied them altogether, according to reports from The New York Times.
One passenger who witnessed bugs falling from the plane ceiling was offered a 10 percent discount on future travel with the airline. His flight was in October and the voucher expired in December. Another was offered a handful of frequent flyer miles.
These bugs live in soft materials like seats, carpets, and clothing. These tiny bugs can fit in all kinds of small spaces, and they can easily invade your luggage in the overhead compartment. They also multiply pretty quickly. Hundreds of passengers leaving a plane with bedbugs and presumably many of them going to hotels afterward, means a destination city can be riddled with bedbugs within the week.
It is incredibly difficult to rid your home (or hotel) of bedbugs, but it’s even more difficult to get them out of an airplane. Rob Tuck, president of Jet Research, told NYT the process and it is both time consuming and expensive:
“You’ve got to get it to a maintenance base, because not every location is a maintenance base,” said Mr. Tuck.The process typically takes two to five days and can cost airlines between $75,000 and $125,000 when accounting for lost revenue and treatment expenses. “They do have a bit of a protocol to work from,” Mr. Tuck said. “You’ll pull the airplane out of service and you’ll bug bomb it.” But without a spare aircraft available for long-distance routes, airlines face difficult decisions, particularly when passengers report infestations mid-journey.”“The struggle here for an airline is very complex,” said Mr. Tuck. “To take an aircraft out of service, that’s not chicken feed. But the desire to have a good cabin experience comes from the top.”
Turkish Airlines planes have reportedly been riddled with bedbugs throughout 2024, with some reports going back as far as March. The company operates around 400 airplanes between more than 300 destinations, including multiple daily flights between the U.S. and Turkey. If you’re flying Turkish, maybe make sure to seal all of your clothes in plastic bags inside your luggage, and change into clean clothes when you get to your destination airport. Good luck out there, I guess.
