A Delta flight busted a U-turn after maggots dropped from a passenger’s suitcase onto other passengers on Tuesday, Feb. 12.
According to the Daily Mail, Delta Flight DL133 was headed to Detroit from Amsterdam. In the overhead compartment was a suitcase full of raw fish. The compartment broke open, and the suitcase of fish began leaking maggots on the passengers below.
The aircraft had to turn around and return to Schiphol. Passengers were instructed to depart, and staff members cleaned the cabin thoroughly. Flight attendants brought the suitcase to the plane’s rear and placed it in a bag to burn.
The outlet heard from a passenger named Kelse that Delta later identified the owner of the repulsive suitcase full of fish and detained the person once the aircraft emptied.
Kelse added that Delta compensated delayed overnight passengers with 8,000 air miles, a hotel room and a $30 meal ticket.
Passengers who experienced the horrific event took to Reddit, an anonymous forum platform, to detail their experience.
“My family and I were in the row directly in front of the maggots,” a user named nisha_16 wrote. The lady right behind us told the flight attendants the maggots were falling on her head. I turned around, and they were wiggling around on the seat. They moved us further in front, though. One of our carry-on bags was right near the disgusting one, so at the end of the flight, when I went to get it after checking it over thoroughly, the passenger in question was still sitting there and didn’t exit the plane.”
The user said she spoke with the lady who had maggots on her head, and the lady revealed she expressed concerns about the suitcase to a flight attendant before takeoff, but no one did anything.
“A lot could have been avoided if this was addressed so much sooner,” the user wrote. “Not sure why it took about an hour or whatever that anyone properly took action and the decision was announced to turn around.”
A source for Fox2Detroit named Philip Schotte explained the fish was wrapped in newspaper, and the man to whom the suitcase belonged stood and claimed it.
Schotte said the maggots fell on a woman next to him, who began to freak out.
“She was freaking out,” he said. “She was just trying to kind of fight off these maggots.”
What happened to the culprit is unknown, and the passengers are safe. Schotte wonders why the fish and maggots weren’t caught by security.
