A flight from Gatwick Airport caused chaos onboard after insects began falling from the ceiling. Shocking footage from the Canadian AirTransat plane show pest control officers spraying seats with pesticide. The incident took place yesterday afternoon and resulted in the flight to Vancouver being delayed for 24 hours. Horrified passengers took to Twitter to share the drama from the disgusting episode.
“My flight is delayed because they found BUGS on it. I swear to God, if those were food for something that escaped…” passenger Jenna Sullivan tweeted.
Another flier wrote: “Beetles literally fell from the airplane ceiling onto passengers.”
Sullivan also shared a photo similar to the bugs she spotted on board, writing: “They were brown beetles with wings.”
She told MailOnline that a flight attendant told the man next to her to kill one insect when it fell on him.
“Most of the bugs seem to be at the back of the plane, but others on board said they saw them running up the main aisle,” she said.
After cabin crew were alerted to the problem, pest control officers from the airline boarded flight TS177 at Gatwick to spray pesticide on the seats.
The pilot then decided the problem was serious enough for all passengers to disembark.
The flight was initially delayed for seven hours before it was cancelled completely.
Passengers were put up in hotels and given vouchers for food – although many complained their accommodation was too far away.
Air Transat told Express.co.uk: “The safety and comfort of our passengers is of paramount importance, and we are sorry for the delay to our flight to Vancouver which was due to the need to fumigate the aircraft.
“Passengers were provided with hotel accommodation and meals, and we regret any inconvenience caused by the delay to their journey.”
In related airline news, 18 Britons were kicked off a British Airways flight to Heathrow after one man allegedly threatened to blow up the plane.
The comment resulted in the 18 passengers being led away by security and banned from re-boarding, a full-search for explosives on board and a two-hour delay for those remaining on board.
The flight was due to take off from Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel when the alleged threat was overheard.
It’s also claimed that other members of the all-male group of passengers made anti-semitic comments regarding other fliers on the flight.
Another passenger who had been on the flight said he believed the bomb threat was “ill-judged humour,” according to The Independent.
