Qantas Grounds Plane After Passengers Report Bedbug Bites on Flight

Qantas cancelled a Rome–Perth flight on Saturday, October 10, and took the Boeing 787 Dreamliner out of service for a deep clean after passengers on the previous flight reported being bitten by bedbugs. The airline apologized for the cancellation and said the problem was confined to a small number of economy seats.

What Passengers Reported

The aircraft had operated QF5 from Perth to Rome on Friday, October 9, a journey of nearly 17 hours. According to reports based on the Sydney Morning Herald and the BBC, passengers complained to cabin crew that they were being bitten. They were given antihistamines to ease the itching, but the supply reportedly ran out during the flight.

One woman said, according to US outlets, that she saw bugs crawling on her clothes and along the window. Qantas has not said how many passengers were affected.

How Qantas Responded

The airline cancelled QF6, the return service from Rome to Perth, so engineers and maintenance teams could clean the aircraft. A Qantas spokesperson apologized to customers for the cancellation of “Saturday’s Rome to Perth service,” saying the work followed “an issue identified on a small number of economy seats.”

Passengers booked on QF6 were given accommodation and rebooked on other flights within 48 hours of their original departure time. Some travelers were stuck in Rome for up to two days.

Qantas described the work as a deep clean. The New Daily and The Star reported that the aircraft was also fumigated, but Qantas’s own statements as quoted refer only to a deep clean. Qantas also said it disinfects its aircraft every 50 days and cleans its cabins regularly.

Why Bedbugs Are Hard to Remove

Bedbug expert Dr. Stephen Doggett, quoted by the Canberra Times, said an outbreak may have been on the plane for some time before anyone noticed it, because reactions to bites can be delayed by days or weeks. He added that modern strains are highly resistant to insecticides and that few products are safe for use on aircraft, since some can dissolve aluminum.

Health Effects

NSW Health said bedbugs are not considered a public health hazard and are not known to spread disease. Their bites can cause itching, loss of sleep and, if scratching breaks the skin, secondary infections.

Not the First Airline to Face the Problem

Similar incidents have been reported before. In 2017, British Airways apologized to a Canadian family who were covered in bites after a flight from Vancouver to London, according to the BBC. The New York Times reported that at least three Turkish Airlines flights had bedbug problems between March and October 2024.

What Remains Unclear

Several basic questions are still open. Qantas has said only that a small number of economy seats were affected, so the scale of the problem is unknown. Bedbugs can travel in luggage and clothing, but no outlet has said how they reached the aircraft. The coverage does not say when the 787 will fly again or which flights it will operate, and while Qantas has described accommodation and rebooking, reports do not mention any other compensation for affected passengers. Qantas had not said whether it would change its inspection or cleaning procedures.