Marcel Antonis/EPA/Shutterstock/File
This file photo shows a Delta Airlines plane at Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam.
CNN
—
Already wary of unruly passengers and real-life snakes on planes, wary airline passengers are considering yet another unlikely possibility of in-flight chaos. maybe. And it's a nasty one:
Maggots.
Yes, creepy creatures that feed on foul-smelling food and waste have joined the pantheon of things that can change the course of a plane or ruin your travel plans.
On Tuesday, Delta Air Lines Flight 133 departed from Amsterdam, Netherlands, bound for Detroit, Michigan. But an hour into the flight, the Airbus A330-300 was forced to return to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport after maggots reportedly fell from an overhead bin onto passengers, according to Detroit TV station FOX 2 (WJBK). I had to.
The station interviewed Philipp Schott, a passenger from the Netherlands who now lives in Iowa, who told a woman sitting next to him that he saw more than a dozen creatures.
“She was freaking out. She was just trying to fight off the maggots. … I don't really know what was going through her head. I was trying to process it – “Of course I was disgusted. I had to wait there until help actually arrived,” Schott told police.
Schott said crew members eventually found the maggots in a passenger's bag, which contained rotting fish wrapped in newspaper. He told the station that the bags were moved to the back of the plane and it was announced that the plane would return to Amsterdam.
Schott told FOX 2 that he boarded another plane several hours later to fly to the United States.
CNN has not independently verified the details of Schott's account.
Flight 133 was in the air for just 1 hour and 49 minutes, according to data from flight tracking website FlightAware.
Delta Air Lines confirmed to CNN that the plane had to be turned back, but did not specifically address questions about the maggots.
“We apologize to the customers on AMS-DTW 133 whose travels were interrupted due to improperly packed carry-on baggage,” Delta Air Lines said in a statement to CNN Travel. “The aircraft returned to the gate and passengers were placed on the next available flight. The aircraft was removed from service for cleaning.”
Perishable food items, including fish, are not prohibited on board “unless they violate the destination country's agricultural regulations,” according to Delta's website.
