I've had two of these experiences:

The first was LAX-EWR on the Sunday night of Labor Day weekend in 1999. I was in F and was overcome by the "aroma" of 3 boarding pax. I turned around and looked toward the rear of the plane as they moved through it, and I swear it looked like one of those old Looney Tunes cartoons with Pepe LePew. Remember how flowers would wilt as he walked by? Pax were wilting as these 3 walked by. The 3 pax found their seats at the rear of Y, and it wasn't long before someone came up front and complained about the smell. A family sitting near them followed with their belongings and said they could not tolerate the smell for over 5 hours. Finally, the lead FA said "that's it" and marched to the back of the plane. A few minutes later, she returned with the 3 offending pax (pun intended). Apparently, she told them they had excessive carry-on bags and would have to take flight the next day. As one of the pax complained about having the be in NYC the next morning, the FA said "the gate agent will take care of you," passed them off to the gate agent, and closed the door behind them. As she did, the plane erupted in applause.

The second was Sept 2003 on an IAH-LAX flight. The pax in front of smelled as though he had never bathed. My partner and I discreetly mentioned it to a FA, who offerered to move us. We were in an exit row on the 757, and no other good seats were available. Given the choice between 31" pitch with fresh air or the exit row with unfresh air (I am 6'5"), I took the latter. The FA came back a few minutes later with a can of air freshener.

The absolute worst olfactory experience was when some nitwit seated behind me on an ATL-DFW flight decided to polish her nails en-route. Between the turbulance and the nail polish I nearly filled an airsick bag. . .

Almost hate to bring this up as a "brit" myself, but.....

I took the family home to Scotland this summer. We caught iah-ewr which was fine, then EWR-MAN, which was not. The flight was oversold, we had to re-check-in, even in the line the smell was bloody awful. You can imagine the plane.....

The climate in the UK is such that people do not sweat much, so they do bathe but don't often use deodorant. Anyway, thank god I still had my elite drink coupons..........took the edge off!!!!

Only thing worse are flights to France.....

Just wondering - why doesn't crappy perfume ever seem to bother the person wearing it, only those around them?

I can see how some people just can't control themselves - "if one dab of perfume smells good, a whole bottle will smell great!!", but how come these people seem to be totally immune to the fact that they're using way too much?

Once, a few years ago, I had a passenger who had a *serious* odor problem. I don't know what her situation was, but the agent apologized and said that she was on her way to the US for medical treatment (we were leaving Honduras, I think?).

It truly was horrid, though...the entire cabin reeked. Of course, every seat was filled, so I couldn't move anyone. Everyone was very polite though, thankfully. When the offending lady fell asleep, I passed extra blankets to her seatmates. They all asked for cup after cup of coffee, trying to mask the smell.

Ugh...the woman was so nice though. She knew it was a problem, but carried herself quite graciously despite it all. Very sad...

IMHO any perfume can turn to "crappy perfume" if enough of it is applied.

On the show Airline they gave him old SWA shirts (if memory serves right - funny show BTW).

:D :D :D

EmailKid

Wow, only six posts in three years! :cool: Your words certainly carry weight as being important to you, and this experience undoubtedly made a significant impression.

For the benefit of anyone who may experience such nail-polishing boorishness while in the air, such situations are a most appropriate reason to use the flight attendant call button.

Once read something about this - the person applying it goes numb from it - something about the nose accepting it and moving on. I know I'm totally destroying the science behind what I read about it, but it has to do with the nose protecting you - it's why if you've ever done it, you can't tell, either.

I was coming back from a 4-day Jungle Run in Belize, was going Belize-IAH-EWR... Walked in to the President's club in IAH, went up to the front counter, and said, "Hi, I just got back from a 4 day jungle run in Belize... I was wonder..."

"Here's the shower key, sir. Enjoy."

"Was I that noticable?"

"Um, well, kinda."

Embarassing. :) Good news was I was incredibly clean when I got out of the shower, and the flight to EWR was great. :)

-Peter

Heavy smokers
 

I've had several awful experiences sitting next to folks who seem to have had to smoke a whole pack of cancer sticks prior to boarding the plane. Talk about a reeking odor that makes you want to vomit. I'd take the perfume bather over that tobacco soaked wad anyday.

What's even worse is people who smoke a great deal and drink tons of coffee. I had two employees that I couldn't get within 5 feet without being overcome. They just can't smell it!

Wow....I was the FSM on that Flight
 

Wow, oh wow...I remember this flight very clearly (especially since I was the lead on the flight):

The customers were elderly and apparently suffered from alzhiemers (although the family wasn't aware that the father was declining, but did know about mother). They had been boarded via wheelchairs and aisle chairs; shortly after the main cabin started boarding, customers and crew approached me stating that there was a horrible smell coming from the couple. Long story short, they both had deficated in their pants (why the crew from the Paris flight didn't notice is beyond me); the station didn't want to off load them and tried to force us to taking them (thus causing the delay). After much discussion, they were removed, the seat cushions and covers replaced and we departed for DEN.

It was a very sobbering experience in dealing with the elderly. I realized how many of us would rather ignore them, then help them.

I hope this clarifies the situation.

But was the Mexican dead before they ate it? La siguiente vez que comas muerto, asegurate que ya este frio...

My high school journalism teacher's coffee breath once made me throw up. I was filling ill anyway, but she had me cornered in the newspaper office and that totally set it off. :eek:

On a more FT-minded note... I recently read about how the 7E7 will enable much higher cabin humidity since the composite construction won't corrode as easily as today's metal planes. This was billed as a Good Thing, since the dryness of airplane air is so unpleasant. But I wonder if the increased humidity is going to lead to a serious increase in aromatically challenged passengers, since in my experience humidity seems to exacerbate BO. Maybe the 7E7's humidity won't be enough to make a difference, but I wonder if Boeing has thought about this...

I assume this is a dig at French hygiene. If so....I like it!!!