Flight forced to turn back after passengers ‘showered’ with maggots mid-air

A Delta flight was recently forced to turn around an hour into the journey after passengers got covered in maggots which had fallen from a suitcase in the overhead cabin, according to multiple media reports.

What we know about the incident

The incident took place on a Delta flight, on Tuesday (Feb 13), which was headed for Detroit, Michigan from the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam.

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“Really lovely to be 2 hours into an 8 hour @Delta to Amsterdam and find out there is rotten fish and maggots hitching a ride with us,” one passenger named Kelce said in a now deleted social media post.

The plane, Delta Flight DL133, turned around and landed back at the Schiphol Airport, according to reports.

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Once the plane landed the passengers were asked to deboard so that the flight could be deep cleaned. According to reports, asuitcase containing fish which had apparently broken open mid-air is believed to be the culprit and was later destroyed.

‘Unfortunate flight’

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Kelce, one of the passengers, said that the Delta staff was able to identify the owner of the rotting suitcase and detained them on the plane after the rest of the travellers had left.

The passengers were compensated with 8,000 air miles, a hotel room, and a $30 meal ticket if they were delayed overnight, Kelce told the Daily Mail.

A passenger identified as Philip Schotte claimed that he was sitting next to a woman who was showered with “at least a dozen maggots,” according to a report by the British newspaper Metro.

“I don’t know what was going through my mind, I was trying to process it. Disgusted is one thing of course,” Schotte said as quoted by Metro.

Meanwhile, other passengers took to Reddit to recall the horror. “So I was on this unfortunate flight lol,” wrote one user who was allegedly on the flight. “My family and I were in the row directly in front of the maggots. The lady right behind us told the flight attendants the maggots were falling on her head.”

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“Ugh. I turned around and they were wiggling around on the seat. They moved us further in front though,” the user added.

Delta responds

“We apologise to the customers of Flight 133 AMS-DTW as their trip was interrupted due to an improperly packed carry-on bag,” Delta said in a statement to The Independent regarding the maggot incident.

It added, “The aircraft returned to the gate and passengers were placed on the next available flight. The aircraft was removed from service for cleaning.”

(With inputs from agencies)