Bed bugs are common in dirty hotels and B&B’s, something budget travellers may have discovered when choosing cheaper hostels and accommodation.
People may not realise that they can even find their way into plane seats as well.
Two passengers flying from Canada to London were badly bitten by the creatures on a British Airways flight, shocking online users.
So how can they be spotted on a plane?
Bed bugs can live in anything that has fabric, so bedding, sheets and even plane seats can be infected.
Whilst British Airways stated it was “uncommon”, they can still easily be passed onto seats from clothing and luggage.
Mario Stanchev, a pest control expert at Fantastic Services, told Express.co.uk: “Apart from seeing a live bed bug, there are other ways to tell if in the hotel room or, for example, in the plane you are sitting over has a bed bug “nest”.
A lot of it depends on what time is it: “The peak of activity is usually between 10pm and 6am and they often hide in very dark places that people don’t have the habit of checking.
“Even if you can’t spot the bed bugs, you might, however, see their droppings – small maroon or dark-coloured dots staining the seat or the side of the cushion.
“Look out for small flecks of blood on the seat cushion as well – they might extricate blood with their droppings or when squished.”
Without those signs, you can still check if any bed bugs are present in the seat: “If you see neither of the above signs, but you do notice tiny pale yellow skins (about 1 mm in length) that might look like ones from a human finger, in an unusual place, they are most probably eggs and eggshells from the bed bugs.”
If finding them, passengers should alert the cabin crew so they can move them to a different seat, as well as prevent anyone else from being infected.
The plane would then need to be fumigated to remove them from this.
Passengers can avoid bringing them home from a holiday by not putting their suitcase onto the bed.
They can easily spread into the luggage and the clothes through this, and even if using a luggage rack if it is made of fabric.
It is best to put it on a hard surface to prevent them from spreading.
