ROMULUS, Mich. (WXYZ) — A Delta Air Lines flight heading to Detroit was diverted back to Amsterdam on Tuesday after maggots allegedly began falling on a passenger from the overhead storage.
Philip Schotte, who's from the Netherlands but also now lives in Iowa, was on that flight. He says they were about an hour into the trip when he noticed something going on with the woman next to him.
"She was doing something on the empty seat next to her and I couldn't immediately see because the arm rest was blocking my view, but she kept doing it, so I kind of peaked and saw eventually there were maggots on the chair,” Schotte said.
In total, Schotte says he saw about a dozen maggots falling onto their row from the overhead storage bin while he and the woman next to him were buckled in.
“She was very freaked out," Schotte said. "Especially when I saw a maggot fall on her, she got especially freaked out.”
He and the woman then waited to get the attention of flight attendants who were also still buckled in.
“The staff opened the overhead luggage before both of us left. At that point, several more maggots immediately fell out,” Schotte said.
Moving five rows back, they watched as a passenger came forward to claim his bag, and staff looked inside.
"As soon as the bag was opened, I could see everyone around pinch their nose because there was clearly a foul odor coming from this bag,” Schotte said. "The passenger explained when he opened it there were fish in there. That’s the only word I heard from as far back as I was sitting, just the word fish. So I knew at that point there's rotten fish in there, a bunch of maggots are coming from it.”
Schotte says the pilot then announced he was turning the plane around due to maggots on the plane.
In a statement, Delta said:
"We apologize to the customers of flight 133 AMS-DTW as their trip was interrupted due to an improperly packed carry-on bag. The aircraft returned to the gate and passengers were placed on the next available flight. The aircraft was removed from service for cleaning.”
“In hindsight, I think turning the plane around was the right decision because I was five rows back and by the time we got to landing, one of the maggots had made its way to my row," Schotte said, "I can only imagine what it would've been like had we been on that plane for seven more hours.”
Schotte said he was able to rebook a new flight and made it safely back to Des Moines 25 hours later.
