BED BUGS!!!
 

I have been severely bitten on the head, neck, hand and abdomen on a Business Class seat from JFK to LHR on 12/21. I was able to kill one of the bugs on my pillow before going to the bathroom to remove/inspect all my clothes and caught another one hiding under my shirt's collar. I immediately reported the infestation, showed the bites and the dead bed bug to the flight attendants. One of them went to the seat with a flashlight and came back horrified saying he saw a lot of "mites" on the seat and instructed not to go back there, as if I would. They proceeded to file an on-board report and said that I would be contacted in 48 hours. I also filed a complaint online with pictures, including a picture of the on-board report, and I'm appalled that no one from customer service has even acknowledged the case. It's a complete lack of respect to their customers. I wonder what one must do to get British Airways attention and hopefully avoid something like that from happening to other passengers.

Not sure what you are expecting here? You should get a form letter apology once the holiday season backlog clears but I don't think BA or any carrier promises bug free planes.

You will likely get a call or letter, and perhaps some form of compensation in a Avios...

However, it takes time. I would say 3-4 weeks minimum. Just leave it for now, they will get back to you

They may not explicitly promise bug free planes, but no reasonable passenger would consider that an insect infestation in their seat is acceptable. I am not convinced that Brzlian1 is due compensation, but he is due (i) an apology, (ii) a statement explaining what BA are going to do to ensure it does not happen again, (iii) recognition that the experience was unacceptable and (iv) a prompt response. :)

Welcome to Flyertalk Brzlian1 and welcome to the BA Board, it's good to see you here, though obviously the circumstances aren't so good. This is a nuisance with air travel, it's very difficult to eliminate, not least because these creatures are so resilient that they can be found in the cleanest of homes. It's certainly not the first report we have seen in this forum, and other airline forums have had reports too from time to time.

However you not hearing from Customer Relations probably owes more to the limitations of BA's IT than anything else, so what I would do is call Customer Relations on the usual BA telephone numbers - there will be an option for complaints after travel is completed - and talk to them there, they may be able to retrieve the information, either immediately or after a few days. Best to call in the UK afternoon time, Monday to Fridays.

Might be useful to know which seat and flight in case the problem still exists.

What planet are people on? This is utterly disgusting and if it had been me, I'd be mortified. BA absolutely need to get back to the OP and offer a fulsome apology, but also significant compensation. If it were me, I'd have expected the offer a free Club World flight as recompense.

Whilst clearly it's not within BA's control, its distressing and they need to make this right. To the OP, give them one more week, and if you've got all of the photos, go to the media.

While I think the media is overkill - I fully appreciate the risks of bedbugs. One of my colleagues encountered an infested room on a business trip and they got into his suitcase. Before he realised it (he didn't have major reactions to the bites) his house was infested. And while he didn't react - his wife did. He was dealing with it for weeks and it cost him thousands of dollars to rectify with bug killers, cleaning and (in the end) furniture replacement. About one month after his challenges started - I had a bad experience in Argentina which only really manifested itself after a further week. Because of the way the bites can take a while to surface and what happened to my colleague - I was searching our bedroom for weeks after for signs they had come home with me.

I wonder what BA (and other airlines do) when a seat becomes infested. I have never heard of an aircraft being taken out of service due to bugs.

On another note, it turns out Parliment is also infested by blood-sucking parasites.

Usually the one where BA can do no wrong.

When you google "British Airways Bed Bugs" a few articles and threads came up, eg

1) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.ade08b1d9546 ;

2) https://www.flyertalk.com/articles/b...-infested.html ; and

3) https://www.flyertalk.com/articles/b...ic-flight.html .

I don't agree with the general comment on this thread about "they can't be helped". They can be helped with proper cleaning. When I googled "Qantas Bed Bugs" I couldn't see anything specific that came up.

Cleaning wise for avoidance, who knows when they came on? Someone might have inadvertently brought them on the day before and no airline will be cleaning a plane every time it lands to a level that remove all dirt or bio matter. Even regular deep cleans can't catch something that occurs between them.

AIUI, QF has a specific approach to Australian disinsection requirements which may, as a side effect, have the consequence of reducing the risk of bed bugs. I think that the approach is or has been controversial, so there are reasons why other airlines might not follow suit (and I believe that generally they don't).

Bed bugs do seem to make an appearance on other airlines as well as in hotels at all levels - so it doesn't seem to be a BA-specific thing. There's probably been much discussion of this in previous bed bug threads.

This has to win the "most absurd comment of the year award", and today it's only the 4th of Jan!

"Sorry sir, but nowhere do we promise that planes are free of bed bugs. We also don't promise that there aren't venomous snakes on-board, so you may want to keep an eye out next time you fly with us."

I would normally advocate more cleaning for this sort of problem. The hotels in the cities with lots of tourists, like New York, Orlando, seem to be able to deal with infestations.
However, for the cruzified BA, more cleaning requires the expenditure of money, so it won't happen.