Qantas plane grounded after passengers on long-haul flight report bed bug bites

Getting bitten by bed bugs is bad enough, but having to endure an outbreak on a 17-hour flight? Now that’s a nightmare scenario.Some Qantas passengers had misfortune of experiencing just that on a plane travelling from Perth to Rome on Oct 9, reported the BBC.This led to the flight from Rome to Perth on Oct 10 cancelled, as the airline embarked on a deep clean of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.The passengers on the Oct 9 flight were given antihistamines – which are often used to treat allergy symptoms – but the medications on the plane reportedly ran out, Australian newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Oct 12.The Herald quoted Qantas as saying that passengers who were affected by the flight cancellation were provided with accommodation. They were also rebooked on other flights within 48 hours of their original departure.“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 identified on a small number of economy seats,” a spokesperson for the airline was quoted by the newspaper as saying.Qantas said it cleans its plane cabins regularly, and an aircraft is taken out of service during a deep clean to remove bed bugs as it requires fumigation.The airline added that it disinfects its planes every 50 days as a precautionary measure.Qantas first launched its non-stop service from Perth to Rome in 2022, making history as the first non-stop flight between Australia and continental Europe by any airline, according to its press statement in September 2025.The Herald said the Perth-Rome route is popular with passengers who are willing to pay a premium for the non-stop flight.According to Singapore’s Health Hub website, bed bugs are most active at night when they feed by piercing the skin and drinking the blood of humans or animals, with each feeding lasting between five and 10 minutes.Their bites are extremely itchy and appear as clusters of red bumps over exposed areas. While the bites do not transmit diseases and rarely trigger allergic reactions, their saliva contains an anaesthetic and anti-clotting agent, which causes intense itching.Despite commonly associated with unhygienic surroundings, bed bugs are not drawn to dirt and grime; bed bugs have been found in five-star hotels in New York. Instead, they are attracted to warmth, blood and carbon dioxide.