Throughout the week, our team shares articles they’ve stumbled upon that may interest our readers, even if they might not otherwise merit a full post. Here are some of the posts we found interesting this week: Bedbugs in business class, Riyadh to Doha rail, and unexplainable mystery planes…
GROSS: KLM Passengers File $200k Lawsuit For Bedbug Bites On Infested Aircraft
We’ve seen bedbug accounts before (like the time Turkish Airlines had to deal with three separate bedbug claims), but this time the bedbugs upgraded themselves to Business Class for a KLM flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam. Apparently, these entitled little stowaways did quite a number on the passengers they shared their Business Class cabin with, leaving their seatmates covered in bites. Upon landing at their final destination, the family visited a pediatrician and confirmed their welts as bedbug bites. Even with an official diagnosis for identifying the bites, bedbugs are typically pretty elusive to catch by eyesight, and with bites not always showing up right away, it can be hard to pinpoint where the bites actually come from. But in this case, the family literally saw them crawling around, were able to photograph them, and even catch some of them with a KLM napkin. While the flight attendants were quick to encourage this family to keep quiet about the issue during the flight to avoid causing panic, KLM may have to face the music now to the tune of $200,000, as the family has now filed a lawsuit. I imagine the image of a KLM napkin filled with squished bedbugs will go a long way.
Saudi Arabia–Qatar High-Speed Rail Aims to Boost Tourism and Cut Emissions
Future travelers may have the ability to transit from Riyadh to Doha on a 2-hour high-speed train. But don’t get too excited – this isn’t expected to be operational until 2031. Even so, I love the idea of train transit options to help alleviate the demand on short haul flights. The EU is also hoping to expand rail options for cross-border travel like this as well.
A Boeing 737-200 was delivered to the Kolkata Airport for Indian Airlines in 1982, where it served as a freighter for India Post before being grounded and stored in a remote bay in 2012 – a normal enough life for a plane, I would guess. But then… thanks to some clerical chaos during the period of time when India was state-run, the plane was forgotten and accidentally eliminated from paperwork for 13 years. When the Tata Group purchased Indian Airlines in 2022, there was no record of the plane on the asset list. This may sound like a pleasant surprise when this “asset” was discovered…but when Kolkata Airport authorities discovered the plane in late 2025, it came with a hefty unpaid parking bill of about $120,000. Luckily for the Tata Group, the party responsible for the oversight was Air India, so they were responsible for settling the bill on this “ghost asset”.
We’re going to stay on theme here with yet another story of, not missing planes, but mysterious, unexplained planes. As this article eloquently describes, Kolkata Airport wasn’t the only airport with this bizarre issue. In the article, it says:
Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad had taken out an advert in The Star politely asking the public a question no major airport should ever have to ask. In plain print, beneath three photos of jumbo jets, it basically said: if these Boeing 747s are yours, please come and get them.
The advert gave a 2-week notice after which time the three Boeing 747-200F aircraft would be sold or disposed of according to KLIA’s discretion. In this case, the planes had only been sitting for more than a year when the advert went out, but unfortunately, the resolution was not quickly forthcoming, and the planes sat for another few years. In 2020/2021 the planes were finally dismantled or otherwise dealt with. One of the planes, in fact, now sits outside of Freeport A’Famosa Outlet in Melak where it serves as a little novelty shop/lounge for Coach.
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