Rotten fish

US plane turned back due to maggots in luggage

A Delta Airlines plane had to turn back due to maggots in the overhead compartment (symbolic image).

(Bild: APA/AFP/Daniel SLIM)

A plane operated by US airline Delta recently had to turn back because of maggots in the overhead compartment. The animals came from a bag of rotten fish and fell onto the passengers. The unappetizing incident occurred on a flight between Amsterdam and Detroit.

The plane was over England when maggots fell out of the overhead compartment about an hour into the flight. According to passenger Philip Schotte, he was sitting next to a woman on whom the maggots had fallen. "At one point I saw her wiping maggots off her chair with a piece of paper. She was very scared." The two then informed the cabin crew.

Here you can see a tweet about the incident.

The crew then found the bag of rotten fish and wrapped it in plastic. Passengers reacted in horror and checked with their cell phone flashlights to see if there were any maggots crawling around.

Rebooking for next flight
The aircraft flew back to Amsterdam due to the incident, and the airline apologized to the passengers. The journey had been "interrupted due to incorrectly packed hand luggage". The aircraft was cleaned and the passengers were rebooked on the next available flight.