British Airways cabin crew reacted in horror after spotting a cockroach crawling around catering canisters in the galley of a New York JFK to London bound flight last month. Video taken by the flight attendants showed the bug crawling around a canister which was labelled as being filled with orange juice.
Pest extermination specialists Rentokil says cockroaches are “synonymous with filth and poor hygiene.” Cockroaches can transmit a number of diseases including Salmonella, E.coli and Listeriosis. In very serious cases, cockroaches are also linked with Cholera, Dysentry and Leprosy according to Rentokil.
“BA is taking a serious look at how it happened. It’s a disaster all round,” one source told The Sun of the unwelcome visitor. It’s not known whether there was just one cockroach onboard or a more serious issue with a possible infestation.
Although relatively uncommon, it’s not unheard of for cockroaches to hitch rides on commercial aircraft and airlines have to deal with pest control issues from time to time. A more serious issue can be mice and rats that could gnaw through wiring that effect important aircraft systems.
A spokesperson for British Airways simply noted that the airline was “looking into the matter.”
In 2018, a member of British Airways cabin crew won a payout from the airline after he was bitten by a “venomous insect” onboard one of its planes. A judge ordered BA to pay the flight attendant £13,000 after he suffered a serious infection from the bite which required hospital treatment.
An expert suggested the bite was caused by a brown recluse spider – a venomous spider that is native to North America. The spider must have been onboard the now-retired Boeing 747 for some time because the bite occurred during a flight from London Heathrow to Denver.
The flight attendant’s legal victory came in the same year that British Airways faced accusations of bed bug infestations on some of its aircraft. Criticism of the carrier forced BA to step up its onboard cleaning regime, although a spokesperson explained that lots of airlines and hotels face bed bug issues from time to time and reports of bed bug bites on its aircraft remained rare.
In September, an Air India flight from Delhi to London Heathrow had to divert after an ant infestation was discovered in the Business Class cabin shortly after takeoff.
