United Airlines passenger discovers that her flight is crawling with ants

A United Airlines transatlantic flight was infested with ants. Photo / 123RF

A passenger on a United Airlines flight traveling from Venice, Italy, to Newark, New Jersey, was already airborne when she and other travelers discovered a creepy, crawly infestation that made snakes on a plane look welcoming.

Their flight was swarming with ants, and passenger Charlotte Burns' reaction was one of pure social media genius - she live-Tweeted the whole saga.

"On the plane from Venice to Newark, when a large, fat ant walks over my pillow, minutes later, another fat little bug hurries over the television screen. Then another one—on my arm!" Charlotte Burns tweeted on her nearly 10-hour ant-infested journey to the US.

On the plane from Venice to New York when a large, fat ant walks over my pillow. Hmmm. That's odd.

— charlotte burns (@charlieburns) June 17, 2019

Burns revealed, through an epic 35-tweet documentary, her experience of alerting the flight attendants as soon as she spotted the first few insects, who proceeded to ask her to wait for inspection after take-off. The passenger then continued to tweet that once airborne, she was asked to wait until after the meal service.

Another passenger on the transatlantic flight told Burns he had seen a "parade" of ants in the overhead compartment.

When a flight attendant finally came to inspect the ant situation, he "rocks up, armed with … a flashlight and a wet cloth. Sure, ant-mageddon might be undone with a lemony rag, why not," Burns quipped.

Me and the middle aisle guy are standing up like we are the ant enforcers while the senior cabin crew guy rocks up, armed with... a flashlight and a wet cloth. Sure, ant-mageddon might be undone with a lemony rag, why not.

— charlotte burns (@charlieburns) June 17, 2019

After inspection of the overhead compartments, the source of the ants was found in a carry-on bag of another passenger. The bag owner pulled down his bag "and ants ants ants spill out, running in every which direction,' Burns wrote.

The owner of the bag, she continues to tweet, "is using his hands as little tweezers, picking them off one by one. Cabin guy is using sterile lemon wipes."

Burns continued to tweet the flight attendant stated that the bugs "came from his bag. They weren't on the plane."

This is where things start to get more inept. They open the suitcase ON THE SEAT! why? Ants running everywhere and guy in front is using his hands as little tweezers, picking them off one by one. Cabin guy is using sterile lemon wipes.

— charlotte burns (@charlieburns) June 17, 2019

United Airlines told PEOPLE, "we were concerned by the experience a customer reported on United flight 169 from Venice to Newark. We had been in contact with the crew during the flight, where they advised the ants were isolated from a customer's bag in the overhead bin, and was contained to a limited area of the cabin."

The statement continues: "The airplane landed at Newark this afternoon and has been taken out of service for extermination. We followed proper protocol by notifying customs, immigration, as well as agriculture, of the issue."

Once Burns arrived in Newark, her ant nightmare was not yet over as she revealed an image of an ant bite on her Twitter account.

And I definitely got bit *shudders* pic.twitter.com/WjL5uNfygo

— charlotte burns (@charlieburns) June 17, 2019

She also treated her luggage in a Zapp Bag, a device that's intended to kill bed bugs and other insects by heating them.

United Airlines has been in the spotlight on social media for passenger grievances. In January this year, a Hong Kong-bound flight had a medical emergency which resulted in passengers being stranded in the freezing cold for 16 hours.

A passenger also announced around the same time that he was going to sue United Airlines over what he alleges was a coverup of an incident where the pilot was almost "sucked out" of the plane.