Itchy flight ends in pain for British man

  • 26/09/2016
Paul Standerwick was covered in bed bug bites after his flight (PaulMLPIFA / Twitter)
Paul Standerwick was covered in bed bug bites after his flight (PaulMLPIFA / Twitter)

A man who says he was attacked by bedbugs on a British Airlines flight was only given a £50 (NZ$90) voucher for his pain.

Things went from bad to worse for Paul Standerwick, after his flight from Heathrow was delayed for 24 hours in late July.

He was travelling to the US with his wife and his two young sons for a family holiday.

But once on board, Mr Standerwick says he was bitten more than 100 times by bugs.

And it turns out other passengers had been moved from the same seat.

"It wasn't until after we landed, actually, that someone tapped me on the shoulder and said the people sitting in the seats we moved to were moved on after they complained about bed bugs," Mr Standerwick told the Mirror.

The dozens of bites, spread across his neck, back, shoulders and legs, quickly got infected and Mr Standerwick says he's still got scars.

"Where I was bitten lots of times in one place there was what looked like large bites the size of a 50 pence piece."

Mr Standerwick says the airline gave him a £50 voucher for his itchy troubles.

While not a "compensation person", he says that's not good enough.

"I don't like that attitude. All I want is a proper apology. I paid for a premium service, and what I got was the complete opposite."

Another Twitter user, Ed Coke, says he was on the same flight and also got bitten.

When he complained, British Airways responded: "No other passengers have reported the same symptoms", Mr Coke says.

A spokesperson for British Airways has now apologised for the incidents.

"We have said sorry to our customers for their experience and appreciate it must have been upsetting," she says.

"We work hard to provide the best possible experience for customers on our flights and we're sorry that on this occasion we haven't met our customer's expectations."

Newshub.