Are you prepared for a smelly seat mate while traveling?

How would you handle it or what do you have to get you through the time?

i.e. how do you deal with the smell?

I would ask the FA to reseat me. I then would have to judge whether the BO is so bad that I would trade my bulkhead aisle seat for the middle seat in the 2nd to last row.

I agree, asking the F/A and then checking reseat options is good. If you notice it in enough time (like before take off) you should alert the F/A and the agent. They may have to remove the passenger.

I was once working a flight (SFO-JFK) in which a passenger went in his pants. He was a very distinguished looking gentleman and was silently horrified. We actually turned the plane around and went back to the gate to allow him to shower etc and fly later. Anything could be rearranged (meetings etc.) to avoid embarrassment.

^^^ Impressive!

I would ask a cabin crew member discreetly if it is bad enough.

Or, I just hope that I suddenly develop a bad enough hay fever to nullify my sense of smell.

Goldbond powder offer it to the person with BO, I use it for foot odor myself

Well, since you asked...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-c...ody-odour.html

Have you seen that happen? I didn't think they had the right to do that. Would they remove a passenger who bathed himself in cheap aftershave?

Could that have been because he was sick? I can't imagine how furious other passengers must have been for their flight to return to the airport from which it took off. All of the connections lost? Wow.

Air curtain. But only if it's slightly offensive. Reseating for the truly offensive.

Of course the FA/airline has the right to remove someone who smells offensive.

Sounds like the SFO-JFK event happened on the ground, so returning to the gate was an acceptable delay. Had they been airborne, I'm assuming they would have continued on to JFK and tried to make the man as comfortable as possible in the back of the plane or whatever.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing too. No way they would turn the plane around after lifting off just because a pax wet himself?

proudbird didn't specify the type of waste.

I don't think I'd last very long next to someone who shat in their trousers

Once on a flight LAX-TPE, about 2 minutes after we took off on this 15 hour flight is when I noticed the severity of the problem with a passenger seated two rows back. I am sure those seated immediately next to him must have noticed sooner but apparently no one said anything and once you leave the ground LAX-TPE, unless someone is in danger of dying, you are pretty much committed to being in the air for the next 15 hours no matter what. It was BAD. Really bad. The flight was full too. I just resigned myself to the reality and hopelessness of the situation. Shortly after the FA's got out of their jump seats and started moving about, apparently they became aware of the problem too and before you knew it a FA walked quickly down the aisle and discreetly let loose a spray of some industrial strength air freshener just as she passed him. Hardly a perfect solution but the stuff was remarkably effective at partially masking some of the smell. The flight attendants were very discrete about it but every 15 minutes almost on some kind of schedule for the whole rest of the 15 hour flight one or another of them would walk quickly down the aisle from the mid galley to the back galley with a quick spray of the air freshener right as they passed that passenger.

I always carry deodorant with me. If I was ever in this situation I would offer it to the smelly seat mate.