American Airlines Passenger Feels Something on Their Feet, Makes ‘Horror’ Discovery

An American Airlines passenger was left in “absolute horror” after they discovered what was crawling on their foot during a flight.

The passenger, using the handle Straight_Ad_5935 on Reddit, explained that they were on an American Airlines flight from Salt Lake City, Utah to Miami, Florida when the incident occurred.

‘Never before seen’

“At some point during the flight, I felt something crawling on my foot (since I was wearing sandals),” the original poster (OP) told Redditors.

“When I looked up, to my absolute horror I saw two cockroaches directly in front of me.”

The OP shared two pictures, apparently from the flight, saying that they were able to catch one of the cockroaches before the second climbed over to the seat in front of them.

“I can’t imagine from what part of the world these roaches must of boarded the flight. This is extremely unacceptable,” the OP continued.

“In my 15 years flying, I’ve never before seen roaches on a plane until now.”

User Straight_Ad_5935 noted that they were unable to feel comfortable for the rest of the flight after their discovery and questioned if they should bother submitting a complaint to the airline.

In a statement to Newsweek via email, a spokesperson for American Airlines said, “We are aware of this concern and are investigating.

“We have no other similar reports, but out of an abundance of caution, we are deep cleaning the aircraft in question. We regularly perform such deep cleans of our aircraft interiors.”

Flyers Respond With Outrage and Horror

Amid more than 100 comments within two days online, a Reddit user replied to the OP to urge, “This is absolutely worth reporting ideally to the [flight attendant] on the flight.

“Once the pilot writes it up, the aircraft will get routed for roach treatment, which is actually a proper treatment done by Orkin and not just some grocery store traps.”

Other commentators described how they would have reacted if faced with the same situation.

“The speed in which I would fly out of my seat hurdling babies, the elderly or any other fool unfortunate enough to be in my way,” a pundit declared.

Some remarks reflected deep discomfort: “I’d simply pass away if I saw roaches on my flight,” admitted one person.

“I absolutely hate them. I’d have a breakdown. Ugh.”

A self-identified former American Airlines flight attendant claimed that roach infestations on the planes are “very common,” adding that, “Chances are it’s already been reported—it’s just not bad enough to take out of service.

“On wide body aircraft, planes would often get taken out because of bed bugs in the crew bunks.”

Roaches Join Long List of Inflight Hygiene Complaints

This isn’t the first complaint about American Airlines hygiene to surface online. A Reddit post about a moldy in-flight meal led to widespread concern and an official response.

According to Newsweek the airline said: “We take huge pride in our food and beverage offering and that meal, which was salmon with vegetables, clearly does not meet American’s quality standards…our team is fully investigating this.”

Another Newsweek story covered another hygiene incident, where a passenger became outraged after their seatmate placed their bare feet on the food tray.

Back on the roach Reddit post and the OP was offered words of advice from an amused contributor: “Shut up… otherwise, AA will charge you an in-cabin pet fee.”

Newsweek has contacted Straight_Ad_5935 for comment via Reddit.

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