A worried mother spoke out and warned fellow parents after the seats on a long-haul flight left her daughter covered in itchy bites.
Heather Szilagyi was traveling from Canada to Slovakia together with her 7-year-old girl, Molly, when the pair was seated on bug-infested seats.
Ms. Szilagyi, who had been working in the hotel industry for several years, immediately recognized the tiny insects that were crawling on the seats and the TV monitor.
“It was nine hours of knowing that I was probably going to get bit, but not being sure,” the mother said, explaining that she and her daughter have a severe reaction to bug bites.
While the mum pleaded with a flight attendant to change seats, her request was turned down as there were no other free seats available on the sold-out flight.
“It was about half-an-hour to an hour into the flight I saw one. It was coming out of the back of the TV screen,” Heather told The Sun.
“Our food came out and I went to put the tray down on my lap. I saw what was maybe a flax seed – but it started moving – it was a bug.”
For the next nine hours, Heather did her best to stay calm and not move around too much.
“But there wasn’t really anything I could do about it,” she added. “I was surprised I was able to relax — but what can you do?”
After the airplane landed, the mother and her daughter quickly exited the aircraft and disinfected their belongings to prevent the insects from spreading.
Ms. Szilagyi also spoke about the incident on social media and shared a picture of her daughter who was left covered in bites following the flight.
“Me and my daughter are both really sensitive to insect bites, so she was just covered all over. I’ve still got a really infected one,” the mum added.
While the Canadian resident was unable to get in touch with British Airways through phone calls, she gained their attention after her post went viral.
Allegedly, the airline apologized to the pair and offered them upgraded seats for their return flight to Canada.
“We have been in touch with our customer to apologize and investigate further,” British Airways shared.
“British Airways operates more than 280,000 flights every year and reports of bed bugs onboard are extremely rare. Nevertheless, we are vigilant and continually monitor our aircraft.”
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