Bed bugs at airport gate kick off summer of travel hell

Bedbugs were cleared for landing in Hawaii last week.

SFGate reported that Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport had to close down and sanitize three gates after a swarm of bedbugs were spotted inside Terminal 2 — home to airlines such as Delta, United, American and Southwest.

Soon after the initial report on May 29, the Hawaii Department of Transportation ordered staff to “remove items they thought had attracted the bugs.”

A Southwest Airlines manager spotted more bugs — and even captured one — the following day, prompting another cleaning of the terminal.

This time, gates E5 through E7 were shuttered as carpets were cleaned at high temperatures and a nontoxic spray was used to put the bedbugs to sleep for good.

Sections of carpet were also yanked from the floor, WITN reported.

HDOT will continue closing the gates — they are currently open — from time to time over the next few weeks to check for possible infestations, according to the outlet.

“Bedbugs are transmitted from place to place as people travel,” according to Hawaii’s Disease Outbreak Control Division.

“They can be in the seams and folds of luggage, overnight bags, folded clothes, bedding, furniture or anywhere else they find a place to hide.”

The Environmental Protection Agency also warns that a post-COVID travel surge may be causing more frequent infestations of bedbugs around the nation — such as at the Oahu airport, which sees 73,000 inbound passengers per day, SFGate reported.

“Experts believe the recent increase in bedbugs in the United States may be due to more travel, lack of knowledge about preventing infestations, increased resistance of bedbugs to pesticides and ineffective pest control practices,” according to the EPA.