This sounds like an absolutely awful flight, and I can’t help but wonder just how widespread this issue was…
In this post:
Family sues Delta & KLM over bed bug infestation
On December 18, 2025, a lawsuit was filed against Delta and KLM, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia. This involves a trip that a family living in Virginia took on March 21, 2025, as they traveled on Delta from Roanoke (ROA) to Atlanta (ATL), and then on KLM to Amsterdam (AMS) and then Belgrade (BEG).
The family of four (a father, mother, and two sons) booked their tickets via Delta, and even redeemed Delta SkyMiles, which is why Delta is also a defendant in the lawsuit. While they used miles for their flights, they claim the tickets had a face value of $8,800.
The family claims that they flew in business class, but that’s not the case. Instead, they flew in KLM’s premium economy cabin. We know this based on the pictures they posted from the cabin, based on the seat numbers they were in (12H & 12K, and 14H & 14K), and because they claimed they were seated immediately behind first class (which KLM doesn’t have).
Approximately two hours into the flight, the mother felt like bugs were crawling on her, and she had been bitten. So they immediately alerted the crew, who allegedly urged the family to keep their voices down to avoid “panic” on the airplane.
Somehow everyone in the family was bitten by the bed bugs. The family claims that before landing, the crew urged them not to say anything about the situation to others, or else they may miss their connecting flight to Belgrade. However, the family did later learn that the crew at least reported the situation to the airline.
Upon landing in Amsterdam, the family placed their belongings in plastic bags (provided by the KLM crew), and then took their connecting flight to Belgrade.
Family demands $200K for suffering, ruined trip
When the family arrived in Belgrade, they washed all their clothes in boiling water. The father then called a friend who is a doctor, to ask about the best way to treat this. He ended up purchasing topical solutions to assist with itchiness and discomfort.
However, the recovery process was slow, and the bites produced large welts, especially on the children, including on their necks, torsos, legs, and arms.
The family claims that due to visible marks on their skin and unrelenting itchy feelings, they weren’t able to enjoy their vacation, and the marks didn’t even begin to fade until after they returned home. To this day, the mother has scars on her lower back where she was bitten.
Per the lawsuit, “the Plaintiffs have suffered personal injuries, rashes, discomfort, itching, pain and suffering, inconvenience, anxiety, mental anguish, anger, fear, humiliation, and embarrassment.” They’ve also incurred medical expenses, and have had to dispose of clothing. As a result, the family is requesting damages of $200K.
My take on this wild bed bug situation & lawsuit
I think the pictures speak for themselves — clearly this was an absolutely wild bed bug infestation. That being said, am I the only one who is curious about the logistics here, given that all four people seemed to be impacted.
Did the other passengers seated nearby not report similar issues, or how was it that this situation was just isolated to them? You’d think there would’ve been total chaos in the cabin if this were a widespread problem.
Furthermore, these blankets were presumably all cleaned at a facility in Atlanta via a third party handler, so one wonders how widespread the bed bug infestation was. Presumably this could’ve happened on any airline, and wasn’t due to any particular negligence on the part of KLM (which of course doesn’t absolve the airline of responsibility, but…).
I imagine some people will take issue with how the KLM crew handled this, though practically speaking:
- I suspect they wanted to avoid panic in the cabin because the flight would’ve then likely diverted, and I’m not sure that would’ve been in anyone’s best interest
- The crew likely told them not to say much about this in Amsterdam, so that they wouldn’t be denied boarding on the connecting flight to Belgrade
Now, arguably the crew wasn’t looking out for other passengers by taking that approach, but I do see where they were coming from, and don’t think that approach was out of laziness, or anything.
Whatever happened, it was no doubt absolutely terrible for the family, and I can see how it ruined their trip. What’s fair compensation in such a situation, though? I dunno. $200K seems a little steep here, but I also get that the issue here is that the airlines have otherwise been unwilling to settle, so they’re going all-in on a lawsuit that’s for a substantial amount.
Bottom line
A family had a pretty unfortunate transatlantic KLM flight, as they were attacked by bed bugs. Bed bugs do sometimes make their way into airplane bedding, though it’s kind of shocking how all family members had this issue, while there are no obvious reports of there being similar issues among other passengers.
The family’s trip was ruined, which I can understand. They’re now requesting a $200K judgment for the ruined trip and suffering, among other things.
What do you make of this KLM bed bug lawsuit?
Bet they are a sweet fluid made of fruits that is commonly drunk...
Weird story..I wonder if they brought the bugs on the plane themselves as a plan to sue the airlines.Impossible the other passengers sitting nearby would not be affected..
Only the 2 piglets got bitten ?
I wonder if they got (not) bitten elsewhere and they were encouraged to do a get rich quick scheme against the airlines?
Because it's really improbable that they have been bitten that severely and nobody else would have experienced anything. Presumably the blankets used for the cabin all came from the same facility as well.
The pictures also .. they look like contact dermatitis from jewelry or detergent. From what I know about bed...
I wonder if they got (not) bitten elsewhere and they were encouraged to do a get rich quick scheme against the airlines?
Because it's really improbable that they have been bitten that severely and nobody else would have experienced anything. Presumably the blankets used for the cabin all came from the same facility as well.
The pictures also .. they look like contact dermatitis from jewelry or detergent. From what I know about bed bugs, they're not going to come out of the upholstery and aggressively crawl around to the top and front of these passengers. In the dozens?? And a super aggressive species of bed bugs that ignores all the other customers? /S
This bite patterns look extremely much like where the collar of their clothes would be... Hmm.
Also the inconsistency in which cabin they were in versus what they said, how they represent the the cabin crews actions, etc.
"Sue everybody" (aka Delta) also smacks of American style "get rich quick".
So no, I don't believe them.
Not impossible...but it does seem weird that an infestation this severe would affect just those 4 seats...and all 4 of them. Also very hard to believe with the commotion this would cause and the photos being taken that this would go unnoticed by the rest of the plane. Also infestations of this magnitude don't typically happen overnight and I would expect a history of people being bit in at least one of those seats in...
Not impossible...but it does seem weird that an infestation this severe would affect just those 4 seats...and all 4 of them. Also very hard to believe with the commotion this would cause and the photos being taken that this would go unnoticed by the rest of the plane. Also infestations of this magnitude don't typically happen overnight and I would expect a history of people being bit in at least one of those seats in the past couple of weeks.
Also, the bed bug bites I've seen on people never looked like this and never appeared immediately but as someone with super sensitive skin, I would concede people react differently to things.
I think if the flight attendant reported it and the plane was inspected and cleaned after the flight they would have a report on whether an infestation was detected. A pest control person would be able to determine this. They must have an inspection protocol.
If this is proven real, I say give them the $200k. I don't think it's exorbitant...I would be traumatized if something like this truly happened to me. and if someone was left physically scarred they should get paid.
Followup...the fact that the airlines are refusing to settle...and let's face it...$200k is nothing to Delta to avoid this kind of PR...makes me think they feel it's bogus and they can win in court. If that's true....I'm glad they are fighting it so people will know this isn't real.
Talked to a doctor friend this morning who told me that bedbuds bites are quite small, like small dots and it takes more than 24 hours for these dots to grow that big. Meaning that they got bedbugs before the flight !!!
I think they already had the bedbugs - if the photo of the four is accurate and not a 'stock photo' - they clearly are very covered up at the areas that were affected by bed bug bites. A little suspicious if you ask me - most people don't dress so 'buttoned up' on a flight. Maybe this was planned as a ruse to make money.
Bed bugs are some of the most easily spooked. So the idea that there travelling across taxis, buses, public transport to get to the airport is wild. They would have been on first flight of the day or most likely the longer route with KLM. I must be the only one wishing they get paid, not 200k but something for the inconvenience caused.
Not to diminish this atrocity, but… gotta ask… for the business class passengers… did they at least still get their delft blue house? Asking the important questions here…
What if the bedbugs weren't onboard and the family brought them ?
bedbugs were only located on their seats but none other
I got the same feeling. Unless other passengers come out with the same symptoms I also think the family could have had them.
If this is the fault of the airline, in the US you sue for 200.000. In Europe you’d get the tickets refunded…
Anyway, I agree with the lawyer, they probably brought the bugs from home and try and blame the airline. Proving otherwise will be difficult.
Just a reminder the when you are bit by bed bugs, that doesn't mean that the bed bugs were already in place there. They could have a infestation at home/hotel, and they traveled with you on clothes or bags. Since this is not widespread, it could have been they brought with them from where ever they were, or previous passengers that used the seats brought with them, but then I would assumes the previous passengers...
Just a reminder the when you are bit by bed bugs, that doesn't mean that the bed bugs were already in place there. They could have a infestation at home/hotel, and they traveled with you on clothes or bags. Since this is not widespread, it could have been they brought with them from where ever they were, or previous passengers that used the seats brought with them, but then I would assumes the previous passengers would have complained too. While it is possible to have infestation on the transportion vehicle, it is rare. They are more likely to have infestation on homes/hotels, and where it is warm.
I fully agree with this - I do smell something fishy about this claim from this family. If the seats were already infested, other pax in the plane on both in-outbound should have had the same experience as these bugs can jump, and in Premium, that's one easy task.
Hopefully KLM will make sure a thorough investigation is done including the background of this family.
(I myself have had this experience before at a hotel, so I can understand the trauma of this)
Yay - bring your own bed bugs and win big compensation !
The lawsuit mentions a “bug infestation on the plane “ which must be proven. This is more of a story than a lawsuit. Maybe the family can receive $50,000 which will be enough to cover their vacation next year. American begins service to Roanoke in 2026. Perhaps they can give British Airways a go.
There have been many bedbug incidents on BA.
The fact that 1) only this family was bitten; and 2) these people can't even correctly identify which cabin they were sitting in, makes me think this is a load of crap.
Did they bring them on board from another flight???
May have been brought from home or wherever they were before the flight at home Uber or taxi. Suspicious the bugs were only on that families seats and no where else. You would think even one other person would have been bit.
Usually bed bug bites take a while to show and feel. If they didn't feel them until they were on their flight, the source of the bed bugs likely wasn't the flight.
Correct.
1 compensation demanded by u s passengers is very negligible commensurate with no of passengers and the amount of pain and suffering and damages to the skin and the cost of medical treatment, when the pax are going on vacation to foreign countries for enjoyment with children. it is atrocious
they should ask $ 200 k for each passenger by filing the law suit in a federal court for
jury trial. juries will...
1 compensation demanded by u s passengers is very negligible commensurate with no of passengers and the amount of pain and suffering and damages to the skin and the cost of medical treatment, when the pax are going on vacation to foreign countries for enjoyment with children. it is atrocious
they should ask $ 200 k for each passenger by filing the law suit in a federal court for
jury trial. juries will recommend bigger amount of compensation and boost it
presence of bed bugs may be due to
insufficient cleaning and fumigation by the
pest control company i know klm is not a
good airline to travel. in order to deter k l m
from repeating same mistake in future
k l m should be forced to cough up big amount to this family. if i were there in their
place i will do same thing to them
passengers should stop travelling by delta and klm and start earning mileages on other
carriers. the children are very handsome
and they are having very good presentable look i like them
Was that you who called me about Medicare Plan last Night from India?
I hope KLM and Delta fight this. Facts are odd. I assume they will assert the family brought the bugs on or we already infected. Otherwise it would be more widespread. Also there are likely international airline laws that cap any liability that may exist well below these amounts. I hope they lose and Dleta/KLM counter sues them and their ambulance chaser for defamation.
There are a lot of grifters in the world and...
I hope KLM and Delta fight this. Facts are odd. I assume they will assert the family brought the bugs on or we already infected. Otherwise it would be more widespread. Also there are likely international airline laws that cap any liability that may exist well below these amounts. I hope they lose and Dleta/KLM counter sues them and their ambulance chaser for defamation.
There are a lot of grifters in the world and no one should ever believe what is reported as it is rarely the full truth
Highly localized infestation and extremely selective feeding patterns for these bed bugs. Nope, not suspicious at all. Truly above board and believable [cough]
The "inconvenience, anxiety, mental anguish, anger, fear, humiliation, and embarrassment" part made me outright lol, and that's not a hyperbole. Grow up. It's unpleasant, but on the scale of crap that can happen in your life it's an inconvenience at most.
In any case, we live in this world alongside insects. I don't see how airline is responsible for evolution of our ecosystem. No matter how many precautions you take, if another passenger infects the...
The "inconvenience, anxiety, mental anguish, anger, fear, humiliation, and embarrassment" part made me outright lol, and that's not a hyperbole. Grow up. It's unpleasant, but on the scale of crap that can happen in your life it's an inconvenience at most.
In any case, we live in this world alongside insects. I don't see how airline is responsible for evolution of our ecosystem. No matter how many precautions you take, if another passenger infects the flight with bed bugs, they're gonna spread.
Did the other passengers seated nearby not report similar issues, or how was it that this situation was just isolated to them?
This is the million dollar question. If it was isolated to just the family more likely than not they are the source of the bed bugs
Little suss that only this family was affected.
finally someone who can read.
It's definitely worth investigating further to see if they unknowingly brought them onto the aircraft and explore all possibilities.
It may have just so happened that the flight is where it occurred, but not the true root cause.
15,000 Skypesos as a courtesy gesture and they'll be made whole.
Very odd that the bedbugs were only on the 4 seats. If other passengers had been bitten surely one would have noticed the scratching or even a commotion.
I’d think that this family brought the insects on board either from their previous flight or from somewhere at the airport.
Then not being able to differentiate between business & Premium Economy which was surely printed on their tickets or boarding passes gives the story an odd taste.
"The crew likely told them not to say much about this in Amsterdam, so that they wouldn’t be denied boarding on the connecting flight to Belgrade"
Awesome, spread it to another aircraft.
Considering that nobody else on the KLM flight seemed to be bitten, one can only wonder if the bugs were picked up at home, considering that bedbug welts usually don’t appear for quite some time.
This happened to me on an american domestic flight. I think this is more common then we realize, given how easily spread this creatures are and how infrequently airplanes are taken out of service.
In my situation, I didn’t realize I had started to itch until I was walking through baggage claim… and even then it took me getting to my hotel before the full realization kicked in… I had been eaten alive while...
This happened to me on an american domestic flight. I think this is more common then we realize, given how easily spread this creatures are and how infrequently airplanes are taken out of service.
In my situation, I didn’t realize I had started to itch until I was walking through baggage claim… and even then it took me getting to my hotel before the full realization kicked in… I had been eaten alive while I was resting on the plane during my early early morning flight.
But unless you catch it in the moment and find the bugs for photos… good luck having any kind of claim.
200K is ridiculous, however given how rare it is to catch the bugs in the act on the airplane…. 200K might help send a message to clean their planes up for the rest of us.
The pictures are pretty bad. But why would there be humiliation and embarrassment?
On a side note, on my BOM-AMS flight from October, my seat won't stay reclined. It will recline but as soon as it flattens, it'll start to go back up again. An FA tried to fix it but didn't work, finally he was able to do something that made it stay flat but I was told not to touch recline buttons...
The pictures are pretty bad. But why would there be humiliation and embarrassment?
On a side note, on my BOM-AMS flight from October, my seat won't stay reclined. It will recline but as soon as it flattens, it'll start to go back up again. An FA tried to fix it but didn't work, finally he was able to do something that made it stay flat but I was told not to touch recline buttons until I am ready to seat up again. No apology from the crew or KLM. Not a big deal, at max inconvenience but considering what I paid, I think I at least deserved an apology
The humiliation and embarrassment comes from being a family of tourists out in public that look like they may be carrying a transmittable disease. People are going to stare at you and avoid you. Can you imagine going to the beach or using a hotel swimming pool?
Nobody is showing much skin at the end of March in Belgrade. It's still chilly, and rather windy.
Couple notes:
(1) Delta is a *defendant*, not a plaintiff.
(2) I imagine Delta/KLM will drag their relevant vendor(s) into the case, in the event the bedbugs are tied to the blanket launderers or whatever (you'd have to think DL/KLM would have an indemnification clause in that contract, but I'd have no idea whether or not it was enforceable here).
(3) $200k is a pretty low claim, all things considered.
(4) There's...
Couple notes:
(1) Delta is a *defendant*, not a plaintiff.
(2) I imagine Delta/KLM will drag their relevant vendor(s) into the case, in the event the bedbugs are tied to the blanket launderers or whatever (you'd have to think DL/KLM would have an indemnification clause in that contract, but I'd have no idea whether or not it was enforceable here).
(3) $200k is a pretty low claim, all things considered.
(4) There's no way this was limited to just this family. But I imagine KLM isn't in the business of providing their passenger information to other passengers, so identifying any of them would be its a whole discovery fight. So unless the family got the contact info from other passengers during the flight, I imagine they'd have a hard time getting that info.
Disclaimer: While I am a lawyer, I am not a Virginia lawyer, so some or all of this may not be relevant in that jurisdiction.
Also, getting a photo of the bedbugs on a KLM napkin is just *chef's kiss.* What a Plaintiff's Exhibit #1 lol.
Where are you practicing and do you take these cases?
Just a comment on the lawsuit amount. The asking price is always overstated in a lawsuit. Realistically it gets lowered later during litigation and or settlement. You never ask for the amount you get or else you won’t enough.
KLM has in cabin rats and now this? -- ugh. Air india vibes
Two factoids to bear in mind.
1, Aircraft fly to various locales. This aircraft might have recently been in a locale where bedbugs are prevalent.
2, The family was probably sitting in adjacent seats so it is understandable that the family might have been more likely to be affected.
While the family were all in a relatively small space, bed bugs will generally only bite 3 times and that means this was a massive number of bugs. I see no way that it could have been confined to just these four and every one of these four.
Wait, KLM struggling to do basic pest control and sanitation? That surely has not happened before no?
Ben, I still remember when you insisted than having their lounge in AMS swarmed with mice was completely normal and therefor they were still deserving of receiving four stars! Is that perception changing now?
YIKES, Delta! (and KLM)
What about the other pax? I don't think that it's only limited to this family of 4?
Lucky is very very carefully suggesting this is fraud (with plausible deniability). I tend to agree.
1 compensation demanded by u s passengers is very negligible commensurate with no of passengers and the amount of pain and suffering and damages to the skin and the cost of medical treatment, when the pax are going on vacation to foreign countries for enjoyment with children. it is atrocious
they should ask $ 200 k for each passenger by filing the law suit in a federal court for
jury trial. juries will...
1 compensation demanded by u s passengers is very negligible commensurate with no of passengers and the amount of pain and suffering and damages to the skin and the cost of medical treatment, when the pax are going on vacation to foreign countries for enjoyment with children. it is atrocious
they should ask $ 200 k for each passenger by filing the law suit in a federal court for
jury trial. juries will recommend bigger amount of compensation and boost it
presence of bed bugs may be due to
insufficient cleaning and fumigation by the
pest control company i know klm is not a
good airline to travel. in order to deter k l m
from repeating same mistake in future
k l m should be forced to cough up big amount to this family. if i were there in their
place i will do same thing to them
passengers should stop travelling by delta and klm and start earning mileages on other
carriers. the children are very handsome
and they are having very good presentable look i like them
the reason for flight attendants telling the affected pax to make an issue while onboard was to avoid bad publicity for the airline that is wrong
it amounts to telling pax to suffer themselves and not to do publicity or
hue and cry on board other pax will watch the drama this incident will affect the revenue of KLM
I don't know how a trial is going to determine if the bedbugs were already on the plane or if the family brought them in. You would think that if other passengers were affected, it would have been reported. I'm thinking the plaintiffs are suing for a low enough amount that the airline will simply settle this even if they believe they were not at fault. The article mentions a sweater covered by the bedbugs...
I don't know how a trial is going to determine if the bedbugs were already on the plane or if the family brought them in. You would think that if other passengers were affected, it would have been reported. I'm thinking the plaintiffs are suing for a low enough amount that the airline will simply settle this even if they believe they were not at fault. The article mentions a sweater covered by the bedbugs and this was obviously brought it by the plaintiffs. I'm not going to speculate if the plaintiffs did this intentionally to defraud the airline but it woudl take a special kind of parent to subject your kids to something like for money.
The passengers would not have this many bites in a flicht from Atlanta to amsterdam .Secondly everyone is not allergic to bedbugs bites. This infestation would have started somewhere else. As a retired exterminator have dealt with bedbugs in my 47 year career