I was on the Qantas bed bug flight from hell – they crawled over our clothes, blankets and up our legs and the airline ignored our warnings

DAILYMAIL.COM • 2h ago

By MAISY RAE – NEWS REPORTER 22:01 13 Oct 2026, updated 22:20 13 Oct 2026

Passengers reportedly woke to screams aboard a Qantas flight as bed bugs crawled up their legs, across their belongings and along the aircraft’s windows.

The infestation was detected on October 9 after travellers on flight QF5 from Perth to Rome complained of being bitten mid-flight.

Qantas later cancelled the return service from Rome to Perth on Saturday and took the Boeing 787 Dreamliner out of service for a deep clean and fumigation.

But passengers have now claimed they first alerted Qantas staff to the bed bugs hours earlier, during the Sydney-to-Perth leg of QF5, and were horrified when the aircraft continued on to Rome.

‘They were crawling over our belongings, our clothing, our Qantas blankets, and they were even crawling along the window,’ passenger Hailey Bagnall told 9News.

‘On the way to getting our bags, the bugs just kept coming.

‘They were in my husband’s shoes, crawling up our legs, crawling on our jumpers.’

Other travellers also complained of being bitten during the gruelling 17-hour flight to Italy.

‘I was woken by screaming, a baby saying “buggies” – some were sick,’ another passenger said.

Affected passengers were given accommodation and placed on alternative flights within 48 hours of their original departure.

A Qantas spokesperson said the cancellation gave maintenance crews an opportunity to deep-clean the aircraft.

‘We sincerely apologise to customers for the cancellation of Saturday’s Rome to Perth service, which allowed our engineers and maintenance teams to carry out a deep clean of the aircraft after an issue was identified on a small number of economy seats.’

Qantas said its aircraft were cleaned regularly and disinfected every 50 days as a precaution.

The Perth-to-Rome route is a popular non-stop service for the national carrier, which extended its seasonal schedule until late October by adding 40 flights and almost 10,000 seats.

Measuring just one to five millimetres, bed bugs are tiny, wingless insects that feed on human blood.

They can quickly spread by hiding in clothing, furniture and personal belongings.

Bed bugs are notoriously difficult to eradicate once they take hold, often requiring extreme heat, freezing, chemical treatments and fumigation.

Their bites can cause itching and swelling, although the insects are not known to spread disease.

‘Bed bugs are not believed to transmit diseases to humans,’ according to the Victorian Government’s Better Health Channel website.

‘Their bite typically causes a large, reddened and itchy weal that fades to a red spot.’

The health authority said the bites themselves were painless, while the severity of the reaction differed between people.

‘Some people do not react to the bites, but for others the bites can become itchy and swell into reddened weals (or welts).’

It is not the first time the blood-sucking pests have disrupted an international flight.

Bed bugs were found aboard a British Airways service from Vancouver to London in 2017, while passengers on a Turkish Airlines flight from Johannesburg to Istanbul complained of an outbreak in 2024.

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