Stuck by someone stinky on a plane? What to do

If you find yourself with a stinky seat neighbor, open the vent above you and point the airflow straight down.
Wearing a mask can also help.
Avoid being smelly by having good overall hygiene yourself.

(This story was updated to correct a misspelling/typo.)

For many travelers it’s a nightmare scenario: You board a plane for an hourslong flight, and when your seat neighbor arrives they are, for lack of a better word, stinky.

Courtney Enright, an associate director for Ernst & Young, was so scarred by such an incident that she has vivid memories of it more than two decades later.

“It was a while ago, like 20 years ago. August 2003. I was going from Atlanta to Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Thankfully, it was a short flight,” she told me.

Soon after taking her window seat near the back of the plane, she realized there was going to be a problem.

“All of a sudden, this gang of a college football or softball team came barreling on. They were still in uniforms,” Enright said. “The girl that sat next to me, I was like, ‘Wow, she must have literally just come from the game.’ She did not smell like she had just taken a shower.”

Like many flights in 2024, Enright’s flight all those years ago was full, and she was unable to move.

“I remember trying to shrink myself toward the window, move toward the window. I put my air vent on full blast. I remember trying to take shallow breaths through my mouth,” she said.

Airline professionals told me that they try to mitigate such situations as best they can but that Enright did the right things.

If you ever find yourself with a stinky seat neighbor, here’s what you should (and shouldn’t) do. And a few tips on avoiding being the odiferous traveler yourself.

What to do if your seat neighbor smells

With flights as full as ever, it can be tough to get your seat moved, but there are things you can do to help cope if you’re sitting near a smelly traveler.

“When you have a situation where you’re in your seat and it’s a nuisance smell, for lack of a better term, due to hygiene issues, what I would highly recommend is you open the eyeball vent above you and point the airflow vent straight down in front of you,” Laura Einsetler, a captain at a major U.S. airline and author of the Captain Laura blog, told me.

Susannah Carr, a flight attendant for a major U.S. airline and a representative for the Association of Flight Attendants, said wearing a mask can also help.

“Throw one of those disposable masks in your bag. Even if you’re not afraid of germs, that can be a barrier to one of those smells,” she said.

Enright said that’s something she would do in her own travels.

“I still have an N95 mask in my backpack. I don’t wear it anymore on planes, but I’d probably put it on to see if it helped,” she said.

Carr added that many flight attendants put a dab of Vicks VapoRub under their nose during trash collection or use essential oils like peppermint to help shield themselves from smells in the cabin.

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How flight crews can help

Carr said that if you’re stuck next to someone smelly, it’s a good idea to let the flight crew know. But you should avoid doing it from your seat.

“I always suggest not addressing the issue right next to the person you’re traveling with. We’re still in sort of a tense era of travel,” she said. “Rather than risking causing someone offense, when safe, when the seatbelt sign is off, if it’s something you’ve noticed in the air, slide on back to one of the gallies or catch us in one of the aisles away from the person you’re sitting next to.”

Enright agreed.

“What I would not do is I would not say anything to that person, because there’s nothing they can do at that point, and I’m not interested in starting an international incident over it,” she said.

Flight attendants will usually try to reseat you, but Carr acknowledged that can be difficult when a flight is full.

“As a flight attendant, we’re going to do everything we can to make all of our passengers as comfortable as possible,” she said. “Unfortunately, the planes are really full these days, so that’s not always an option.”

Still, there are other ways the crew can help, including lowering the temperature in the cabin, which Carr said she has found helps keep smells from spreading.

Einsetler added it’s best to try to alert the crew before departure, if possible. If no other seats are available, they may be able to help you get accommodated on a later flight.

“If it’s that strong of a visceral reaction, you want to do something as soon as you possibly can,” she said.

How to avoid being smelly when you travel

The best thing to do is just to have good overall hygiene.

“I just really want people to understand that they’re in tight proximity to others, so showering before your flight, washing your body, washing your hair, brushing your teeth, flossing, it’s all really important, not only for yourself so that you’re less prone to acquiring things like extra bacteria or viruses or things like that, but also that you’re cognizant of the people around you,” Einsetler said.

It’s also a good idea to avoid bringing smelly foods on planes, and counterintuitively, not to wear any fragrance when you travel, because your favorite cologne or perfume could be offensive or even cause an allergic reaction for someone else.

Enright, who still travels often for work, said it’s easy for travelers to forget that basic good hygiene is all that stands between them and being the worst seat neighbor.

“Remember that person could be you,” she said. “Wear clean clothes on the flight. Maybe take a shower if you have a chance. Don’t bring that stinky meal with you. Don’t douse yourself in perfume − someone could be allergic. Whatever you do, please don’t take your shoes off.”

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