A Delta flight had to turn around after maggots fell from a passenger’s suitcase onto another passenger.
The incident, which occurred on Delta Flight DL133 from Amsterdam to Detroit on Tuesday, caused the plane to make a U-turn around an hour after takeoff, Daily Mail and Fox 2 Detroit reported.
Philip Schotte, a passenger from the Netherlands who was on the flight, told Fox 2 Detroit that he witnessed the maggots fall on a passenger from a suitcase in the overhead compartment.
“She was freaking out,” Schotte told the publication. “She was just trying to kind of fight off these maggots.”
“I don’t really know what was going through my mind. I was trying to process it – disgust is one thing of course,” Schotte said. “We had to wait there for help to actually come.”
Flight attendants were then able to locate the source of the maggots: A suitcase that contained a rotten fish inside, according to reports.
The fish was wrapped in a newspaper and taken to the back of the plane, Fox 2 Detroit reported.
The flight was diverted back to Amsterdam shortly after, the report added. Another passenger on the flight told the Daily Mail that a man who claimed the fish as his own was detained on the plane while the rest of the passengers departed.
It’s not known if any further action was taken against the passenger, the reports said.
Travelers who were delayed overnight because of the incident were compensated with hotel accommodation, a $30 meal ticket, and 8,000 air miles, the passenger told the Daily Mail.
Representatives for Delta did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment. However, a spokesperson for the airline confirmed that the flight was interrupted due to an “improperly packed carry-on bag,” in a statement obtained by Fox 2 News.
“The aircraft returned to the gate and passengers were placed on the next available flight. The aircraft was removed from service for cleaning,” the spokesperson said.
The incident, while bizarre, is significant — it follows a pattern of flights being canceled or delayed due to safety hazards or medical issues on board.
A Delta flight traveling from Atlanta to Barcelona, Spain, in September had to turn around after a passenger had diarrhea in the aircraft’s cabin.
“This is a biohazard issue,” a pilot told air-traffic control in an audio recording shared to X. “We’ve had a passenger who’s had diarrhea all the way through the airplane, so they want us to come back to Atlanta.”
In February 2023, a United Airlines flight traveling from San Diego to New Jersey was grounded when a passenger’s portable battery pack caught fire 10 minutes after takeoff. Four people were treated at hospital for smoke inhalation, The New York Times reported.
The Independent reported that an American Airlines flight traveling from Miami to Barbados in October 2022 had to be evacuated and some crew were sent to hospital after a “strong chemical odor” coming from hand luggage led several people to feel unwell.
