My trip to Hong Kong commenced with a red eye flight from Los Angeles to Atlanta on Delta Air Lines. Unfortunately, I had a smelly seatmate who had horrific body odor…
Soap Was A Foreign Object To My Smelly Seatmate On Delta…
Living in Los Angeles, I’ve had a lot of seatmates over the years that have smelled like skunks….marijuana use is widespread in the City of Angels…
But it has been many years since I’ve had a seatmate with very bad body odor (the last instance I can recall was on Ukraine Airlines from Kyiv to New York many, many years ago).
I boarded my Delta flight and took my assigned seat; a window seat in economy class. Toward the end of the boarding process, an older couple in their 60s boarded and took their seats next to me; the husband in the middle seat and the wife on the aisle.
Immediately, I got a whiff of the husband…soap was clearly a foreign concept to him. I reached up and turned on the air vent and then turned toward the window.
By this time, the aircraft door had closed and we were pushing back. Sadly, fumes were still wafting over to me…it was really disgusting.
But, I was not going to delay the flight (and jeopardize my onward connection to Seoul) over a smelly seatmate. The flight was packed…every seat was taken…so it’s not like I could have even taken a middle seat further back (I don’t fly Delta often but was not surprised that about 40 standbys were cleared onto this flight…I guess a lot of employees have to commute to Atlanta).
While I cannot sleep in economy class, I had a productive flight working thanks to free high-speed wi-fi and Fever Tree club soda (very premium, Delta!).
I’ll have more details about the flight in my full review…today I just wanted to focus on my seatmate.
Oh, and I got a trading card!
Hey folks, it’s really courteous to bathe before you travel, especially in economy class. Thankfully I can count on one hand the number of incidents I’ve had like this over my two decades of flying, but that did not make my redeye to Atlanta any more bearable…
You should let the passenger know. The passenger may not be aware of it.
Shouldn’t his wife have let him know?
Maybe she has anosmia? (loss of smell)
At least twice in my life, someone has had the courage to tell me that something was wrong. Once, I had dried mucus on my nose (boogers). Another time, my buttons were buttoned incorrectly. I was grateful for the advice.
Maybe that retarted girl set it up to punish you for flying out of your way from LA to Atlanta instead of directly to Ching Chang land to eat some dog or cat.
Yea, I know, the plane would have flown with or without you but you still made the ‘tard cry with your vanity trip.
What retarded girl?
Hello Matt. There’s a viral story on body odor, “Olfactory oppression”, you may find amusing.
Some people are not aware of it, including their spouses. My father, RIP, had a strong odor of cigarettes to his dying day and my mother tried to give me his suits but they stank.
In regards to the proselytizing seatmate on the Kiev-NYC flight, you should have told him you’d worship whatever God he believes in if he could hit the washroom and just do a babywipe clean on his upper body and underarms in particular.
In a civilized society, we should have people who try to avoid stinking, of course, but also be able to communicate our discomfort in a way without feeling like The Bad Guy.
Phew, your breath stinks. Please don’t speak anymore.
Just a note on the 40 standbys…. a quirk of Delta’s app/list. All of the Basic Economy people who don’t get a seat assignment til the gate show up in the app on the standby list (it’s really more of a “needs seat assignment” list).
I have heard people use the term “nose blind” when it comes to family oders. We had someone in our circle with horrific body oder. When I mentioned it, the parents said they didn’t notice it, that they had gone “nose blind” to it.
Along with bathing before travel, wear clean clothes, please. Body odor saturates fabric, and this includes heavy jackets that are often overlooked.
I had this on a long-haul AF flight once. It was one of the things that got me to stop flying international economy. Pro tip: ask the FA for one of the coffee pads and hold it under your nose.