Family sues airlines after bed bug swarming on Europe-bound flight: 'UNRELENTING ITCHY FEELING'

A Virginia family is suing two airlines after they say they were savagely bitten by bed bugs on a flight earlier this year.

The family of four from Roanoke, Va., filed a complaint against Delta Airlines and its partner KLM Royal Dutch Airlines on Dec. 18, alleging that their flight to Serbia was infested with the pesky bugs.

The family say in the lawsuit that the bites resulted in “raised and itchy welts, lesions, and rashes across their torsos and extremities.”

One photo included in the complaint shows Dr. Romulo Albuquerque, his wife Lisandra Garcia, and their two sons, Benicio and Lorenzo, happily posing for a selfie aboard their KLM flight.

But others pictures show the boys’ necks, chests and backs covered in red lumps.

The family flew Delta from Roanoke to Atlanta, where they caught their connecting KLM flight to Belgrade with one stop in Amsterdam.

When the biting began

They claim the insects began crawling on them on Flight DL 9667 during the Atlanta-to-Amsterdam stretch, according to the suit.

“Approximately two hours into the flight, Mrs. Garcia began feeling like bugs were crawling on her and that she was being bitten,” the complaint states, according to People magazine.

“It was at this point that she realized that bugs were crawling on her light-colored sweater.”

Warning from flight attendants

The family alerted flight attendants who allegedly told them to stay quiet so as not to alarm the other passengers.

“Prior to landing in Amsterdam, the flight attendants again urged Dr. Albuquerque and Mrs. Garcia not to tell anyone about the infestation because, if they did so, they would miss their connecting flight to Serbia,” the lawsuit alleges.

Crew members gave the family plastic bags to stash their alleged contaminated items, the complaint added.

“Due to the visible marks on their skin and unrelenting itchy feeling,” the four family members “were unable to enjoy their vacation,” according to the suit, adding that the marks “did not begin to fade until after the Albuquerque family returned” home to Virginia.

What the family is suing for

The Albuquerques used Delta’s SkyMiles program to purchase their seats on the KLM-operated flights, the filing noted.

The filing said the bites ruined their family vacation and caused humiliation, embarrassment, anxiety, discomfort, inconvenience, medical expenses, and loss of clothing and personal items.

They are seeking $200,000 in damages.

The family’s attorneys told People magazine that “neither Delta nor KLM have made any settlement hours.

Delta issued a statement to the publication: “As this pending litigation eventually states, the allegations at issue relate to flights not operated by Delta Air Lines. Delta will review the complaint and respond accordingly in due course.”

KLM told the Independent that the airline was “unable to comment on the specific allegations at this time” but would address the matter in “the appropriate legal channels.”

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