BBNBonkers Broadcasting NetworkTuesday, October 13, 2026Tue, Oct 13Watch live

U.S.OVERNIGHT INTERVIEW

Bedbug infestation forces Qantas to ground plane in Rome

The bugs turned up in front economy on the October ninth Perth to Rome flight, and the Dreamliner was pulled from service; nobody has asked the passengers' ankles.

On air: Gloria Vance on BBN Overnight
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  1. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorQantas grounded a Boeing 787 in Rome after bedbugs were found in the front of economy on the flight from Perth on October ninth.

  2. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorWith me is Desmond Haverstock, a management consultant. Mr. Haverstock, what went wrong?

  3. Desmond HaverstockGloria, and this is the four-hundred-dollar part, the plane had insects on it.

  4. Desmond HaverstockThat is the core finding of my Bug Matrix, which I have laminated.

  5. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorThe passengers had that finding before you did. They were scratching.

  6. Desmond HaverstockAnd this is the nine-hundred-dollar part, scratching is a leading indicator. Airlines ignore it, and that is where the value is.

  7. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorSo what should the airline do with a plane full of bedbugs, in your professional opinion?

  8. Desmond HaverstockTake it out of service. And this is the fourteen-hundred-dollar part: I would also stop flying it.

  9. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorThey did that. The aircraft was taken out of operation. Let me ask you again: what did your advice add?

  10. Desmond HaverstockClarity.

  11. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorAt four thousand dollars an hour.

  12. Desmond HaverstockAnd this is the twenty-two-hundred-dollar part.

  13. Desmond HaverstockThe Bug Matrix has two boxes, bugs and no bugs, and clients love to be in the second one.

  14. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorI have been in embassies with better risk assessments, and they were written on a napkin. Free.

  15. Desmond HaverstockThe napkin is a competitor. I have a slide on napkins.

  16. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorMr. Haverstock, thank you. By my watch, this interview ran four minutes, so the invoice goes to the network.

  17. Gloria Vance · World News AnchorBrock, is there anything in the forecast that bites?

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The story so far

  1. Greg Norman calls Qantas a 'never-on-time airline' · The Age
  2. Bed bugs ground Qantas Rome-to-Perth flight · SMH.com.au
  3. Pope Leo to undergo surgery for lung nodule in Rome · Al Jazeera
  4. Ukraine strikes Yandex data centers; Qantas bedbug grounding · The Moscow Times
  5. Bedbug infestation forces Qantas to ground plane in Rome (this story)

From the archive: everything BBN aired on Tuesday, October 13, 2026 · the U.S. archive · all months

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Photo: Angela K. Kepler (cleaned up by Rvdude007 ) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
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