{"id":925379,"date":"2026-10-12T12:04:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T12:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/925379\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T12:04:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T12:04:17","slug":"qantas-bed-bug-outbreak-flight-from-rome-to-perth-cancelled-after-passengers-report-bites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/925379\/","title":{"rendered":"Qantas bed bug outbreak: Flight from Rome to Perth cancelled after passengers report bites"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Chris<\/p>\n

October 12, 2026 \u2014 5:11pm<\/p>\n

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An outbreak of bed bugs has forced the cancellation of a Qantas flight from Rome to Perth, delaying some passengers by as much as two days.<\/p>\n

The drama began when passengers aboard QF5 travelling from Perth to Rome on October 9 complained of being bitten by bugs. On medical advice, they were given antihistamines, but the plane reportedly ran out.<\/p>\n

\"EconomyEconomy class on a Qantas Dreamliner.<\/p>\n

The return flight, QF6 from Rome to Perth on Saturday, was cancelled and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner booked for cleaning.<\/p>\n

Passengers were given accommodation and rebooked on alternative flights within 48 hours of their original departure, Qantas said.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the airline said: \u201cWe sincerely apologise to customers for the cancellation of Saturday\u2019s Rome to Perth service, which allowed our engineers and maintenance teams to carry out a deep clean of the aircraft after an issue was identified on a small number of economy seats.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA bed bug.<\/p>\n

The Perth-Rome route is a popular non-stop flight that attracts passengers from the east coast who are willing to pay a premium for the direct connection between Australia and Italy. Qantas extended the seasonal flight service from May 3 to October 23, adding 40 extra services and close to 10,000 seats in that time.<\/p>\n

Bed bugs are tiny (about five millimetres). The wingless parasites feed exclusively on blood, preferring human blood, and spread via clothing, furniture and belongings.<\/p>\n

\u201cBed bugs are not believed to transmit diseases to humans,\u201d according to the Victorian government\u2019s Better Health Channel website. \u201cTheir bite typically causes a large, reddened and itchy weal that fades to a red spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bed bug bites are painless, Better Health says, and \u201csome people do not react to the bites, but for others the bites can become itchy and swell into reddened weals [or welts].\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Qantas said its aircraft cabins are cleaned regularly and to an extremely high standard. A deep clean of a plane to rid it of bed bugs requires fumigation, taking the plane out of service.<\/p>\n

The airline said that as a matter of course, Qantas aircraft are disinfected every 50 days as a precaution.<\/p>\n

Still cases of bed bugs on planes are not unheard of.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

In a 2017 example, bed bugs were found<\/a> on a British Airways flight from Vancouver to London. In 2024 passengers on a Turkish Airways flight from Johannesburg to Istanbul reported an outbreak<\/a> of the bugs.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Golf<\/a><\/p>\n

The Better Health Channel reports that \u201calthough bed bugs can harbour diseases in their bodies, transmission to humans is highly unlikely\u201d.<\/p>\n

They are not dangerous, unless a person is allergic to them, the health service said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, their presence can be distressing and their bites can be highly irritating.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day\u2019s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Close\"ChrisChris Zappone<\/a> is a senior reporter covering aviation and business. He is former digital foreign editor.Connect via X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"October 12, 2026 \u2014 5:11pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":925380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,63,105],"class_list":["post-925379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}