A flight departing from Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam en route to the US city of Detroit was forced to return after maggots started to fall from the overhead baggage lockers onto passengers seated below. The cause was found to be a rotting fish stored in one passenger’s carry-on luggage. 

Flight from Schiphol to Detroit forced to return after just one hour

The flight was forced to return to the airport in Amsterdam just an hour after departing Schiphol, turning back above the British city of Sheffield. The aircraft’s pilots made the decision to return after a number of passengers reported having maggots fall on them from the lockers above, with one woman having been forced to brush a number of maggots off herself and her seat. 

"I saw that woman doing something, but I couldn't see it very well. At one point I saw her brushing maggots off her chair with a piece of paper. When she noticed that I was seeing it, she told me that the maggots had fallen from the luggage compartment above us. She was quite shocked," a passenger told ANP. 

Rotting fish in cabin baggage was behind the incident

Eventually, the cause of the incident was found. According to The Independent newspaper, the owner of a piece of hand baggage was taken aside by cabin crew upon landing, after a rotten fish was found to be stored in the person’s luggage. 

Delta Airlines has apologised for the incident, and travellers were offered compensation of 8.000 air miles, a hotel room and a 30 US-dollar meal ticket if their delay resulted in an overnight stop, according to the Daily Mail.