Delta flight returns to Schiphol when maggots start falling on passengers

A Delta plane from Amsterdam to Detroit in the United States had to turn around due to maggots in the cabin on Wednesday. The maggots crawled out of a bag with rotten fish inside, which was placed in the overhead compartment.

Philip Schotte, a Dutch passenger on board the Delta Air Lines flight, sat in the middle of the plane next to the woman on whom the maggots fell. “During takeoff, I noticed the woman was doing something, but I couldn’t see it very well. At one point, I saw her wiping maggots off her seat with a piece of paper. When she noticed I saw it, she told me the maggots were falling from the overhead compartment above us,” he told RTL Nieuws.

The woman warned the cabin crew, who immediately checked where the maggots were coming from. “When they opened the luggage compartment above us, about 10 fell on the woman and the empty seats between us.” According to Schotte, the owner of the bag said there was fish inside. “Everyone who was sitting near the bag pinched their nose shut.”

The crew wrapped the bag in plastic and took it to the back of the plane. Above the United Kingdom, the pilot made the decision to return to Amsterdam. Schotte does not know whether the bag's owner started his trip in Amsterdam or transferred via Schiphol.

He does find it interesting that rotting fish and maggots made their way onto a plane unnoticed. “I can imagine that the bag also smelled unopened, and the fact that it was not noticed is remarkable to me.”

Another passenger named Kelce told DailyMail.com that Delta staff detained the bag’s owner on the plane after the rest of the passengers got off. “Really lovely to be 2 hours into an 8-hour @Delta to Amsterdam and find out there is rotten fish and maggots hitching a ride with us,” she said in a post on X that has since been set to private.

On Reddit, several passengers complained about the smell. Others complained about the inconvenience of having to be rebooked onto other flights. "I was on this flight. They rebooked my flight from Amsterdam to Atlanta, but my connecting flight has disappeared from their system, so I am just stuck in Atlanta," one wrote.