Bed bugs can be a major problem. They thrive in the wiring looms and complex mechanical motor systems of modern airline seats, especially the flatbed types in t

Bed bugs can be a major problem. They thrive in the wiring looms and complex mechanical motor systems of modern airline seats, especially the flatbed types in the higher classes. I have personally experienced a bed-bug-ridden long haul flight London-Brazil. Aircrew told me mine was not an isolated incident (flatbed sleep, middle of the night bedbug attack inside my collar). One of the issues is that certain highly effective fumigants are illegal in most countries, and those that are not are seeing developing resistance. You need powerful fumigation to get into all the tiny little areas of a very complex machine that is an aircraft. Some airlines, I am told, will wait for the aircraft to fly to a country where fumigant policy is more "relaxed" and give the plane a full dose poisoning there.