Reports of passengers encountering bedbugs on multiple Turkish Airlines flights have recently surfaced. Travelers have recounted how they spotted the parasitic bugs on the carrier’s aircraft, with some even posting pictures of bug bites.
Turkish Airlines enjoys a huge network internationally. In fact, the carrier recently set a Guinness World Record, earning the title of “Most Countries Flown by an Airline.”
Bedbugs on Turkish Airlines flights
A report by The New York Times has highlighted instances of passengers finding bedbugs on Turkish Airlines
flights. Some even said that the flight attendants dismissed their concerns about the pests.
One of the passengers, Patience Titcombe, said that she was traveling from Johannesburg to Istanbul last March when she encountered the bug. When she got up to use the lavatory, she noticed a small insect on her seat. Titcombe was about to flick it when her friend alerted her that it was a bedbug.
Photo: JetKat | Shutterstock
When the flight attendant was made aware of the situation, she got rid of the insect but also dismissed the passenger’s concern about it being a bedbug. Titcombe told The New York Times,
“I had to strip down at the airport and change clothes because I have kids — what if I brought bedbugs home?”
In October, another passenger named Matthew Myers, traveling to San Francisco from Istanbul with his girlfriend, said that the passenger seated next to him tapped him on the shoulder to warn him of the bedbugs on his seat and also of the ones falling from the ceiling.
The passenger said that many other travelers on the flight asked to move their seats when they discovered bedbugs. In fact, one of the passengers even moved to an empty flight attendant jump seat as more bedbugs were seen falling down.
One of the flight attendants reassured the passengers that she had filed an official complaint regarding the incident. As compensation, Myers was given a 10% discount on future flights until the end of last year.
Photo: EvrenKalinbacak | Shutterstock
In another instance, a passenger named Kristin Bourgeois, traveling from Washington, D.C. to Istanbul, said that she saw bedbugs crawling around on the plane. The New York Times quotes her as saying,
“Before departure, I noticed a bug crawling on my blanket. When I found another on the pillow, I realized it was a bedbug.”
Simple Flying has contacted Turkish Airlines for comments and will update the article when we receive a response.
How are airplanes cleaned?
Airplanes undergo periodic cleaning that should ideally keep bugs and insects of all sorts away. When an airplane touches down, it is often cleaned either by a dedicated cleaning crew or, sometimes, by the cabin crew itself before the next flight.
This usually includes cleaning the galley areas, lavatory cleanliness, and trash removal. However, airplanes also undergo a more thorough overnight cleaning that also includes properly cleaning passenger seats.
Photo: M101Studio | Shutterstock
Then there’s deep cleaning, which requires an aircraft to be grounded temporarily as it involves removing the seat areas to clean the inner areas of the seat, compartments, cabinets, and storage areas. Sometimes, specialized equipment are also used to facilitate a deep clean. Simple Flying has written about this in detail in the article below.
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What Are The 3 Different Ways An Aircraft’s Interior Can Be Cleaned?
Aircraft can be given anything from a lightning-quick surface clean to a deep clean, which involves taking the seats out to acces the inner workings.
Turkish Airlines’ huge network
Turkish Airlines has a huge international network, spanning 131 countries across all six continents. It was recently recognized by Guinness World Records,
earning the title of “Most Countries Flown by an Airline”
after it launched a new route to Santiago, Chile.
Photo: EvrenKalinbacak | Shutterstock
It now has 26 destinations in the Americas, 15 of which are in the United States alone. Some of these include popular destinations, such as New York JFK, Washington Dulles, Los Angeles International, San Francisco, and Miami.
Turkish Airlines also operates 45 weekly flights (up to seven daily) between Istanbul and London Heathrow Airport. This is an important route that sees up to 26 daily flights. Simple Flying’s route analyst, James Pearson, has discussed this in detail in the article below.
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Up To 26 Daily Flights: The Huge London-Istanbul Market Explored
Peak summer flights have risen a considerable 55% compared to before the pandemic in 2019.