There are many complaints from Turkish Airlines passengers about being in the seats of its aircraft.
Last March 36-year-old Patience Titcombe was traveling from Johannesburg to Istanbul and when she got up to go to the toilet she saw the insect on her seat.
“I went to throw it away. But my friend stopped me and said: “That’s a bed bug” says the passenger. He called the flight attendant, who got rid of the bed bug and tried to reassure them. When she complained to the travel company they denied the existence of bed bugs, despite her photographic documentation. Patience then uploaded the photos to social media, leading to other passengers who had a similar experience to hers, reports the New York Times.
In October, two other travelers reported finding bedbugs on the airline’s flights. On October 5, Matthew Myers and his girlfriend were flying from Istanbul to San Francisco when the 28-year-old said the passenger sitting next to him tapped him on the shoulder to show him there were bedbugs in the seats and others falling from the ceiling.
“Many passengers were asking to be moved to other seats after finding the bedbugs,” he said. In fact, one of them went and sat in the flight attendant’s seat, who informed him that she had filed an official complaint during the flight.
Bed bugs are a burning and recurring issue in . In late 2023 Paris experienced a widespread outbreak at the height of the annual Fashion Week, when bed bugs were spotted on public transport and elsewhere. In the same year, South Korea launched a nationwide prevention campaign targeting transportation hubs.
The cost for the airlines
Bed bugs live in mattresses, bedding, carpets and clothing and can easily be transported in luggage.
They typically bite at night, leaving clusters of bumps on the skin that can cause itching, redness, swelling and burning. They are also difficult to get rid of, with people having to seal all their belongings in plastic bags or endure multiple fumigations.
Removing bed bugs is a major challenge for airlines as planes often move between climate zones. Grounding an aircraft to deal with bed bugs is a major undertaking, according to Rob Tuck, president of aviation consultancy Jet Research.
The process usually takes 2-5 days and can cost airlines between $75,000 and $125,000. The problem is made worse by the changing routes and the different climate zones that the aircraft fly into.
