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.
You mean Greta? Got to give her some credit for the brand she has managed to build for herself.
Just curious Matthew, are there no standards for the comments on your blog at all? I’ve been reading this blog for a long time and it seems like the comments here have really gone downhill in the last year. Perhaps my few clicks don’t matter to you much in the grand scheme of things, but it’s getting rather hard to justify clicking into posts already knowing some of the comments that are likely going to be posted.
Which comment(s) do you take offense to?
Well, we know your not illiterate and there’s only a handful of comments. So try a huge go over and see which comment applies to your question. If ur still in question, we know the answer.
Re: “Which comment(s) do you take offense to?” The comment was a direct reply to (nasty, racist, bigoted, moron, bullying) Dave Edwards whose posts are invariably offensive. His (or her) clicks should not mean that much. Even with his keyboard diarrhea (frequency), you’re probably overall losing clicks and traffic by allowing him a platform. Many people have probably abandoned this blog in order to avoid his nonsensical driveling BS.
Wow. I thought better of you. My mistake.
My bad. Didn’t mean to be snarky. I responded from the backend system and didn’t see you were responding to Dave Edwards.
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.
You’re leaving a vapor trail yourself. And I know who you are and still forgive you.
Jemima Puddleduck?! One of my daughter’s favorite books.
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.
Matthew, a quick comment related to the trading card you received. There was a time (way back when) when Delta put postcards of their aircraft in the seatbacks for passengers to take home. The one I took during a flight in my younger days was of the Delta Convair 88o when it was part of their fleet, and I still have it. So, did I date myself a bit too much, lol?
You never forget those flights.
I suggest bringing a car scent tree to open and sniff on occasion just in case moving forward or a travel sized cologne.
Or maybe a gas mask! 😉
What do you do if you have a smelly rider?
@ Matthew — Maybe just a paper mask? I’m sure most people have tons of these sitting around their house post-COVID. Of course, that requires that you carry them with you when you travel (I don’t).
Spray couple times of fragrant hand sanitizer!!! That I would do!!
I mean this politely and not in a snobbish way, but I am surprised that you’d take a redeye in economy. Tbh I’m at an age where I’ll do just about anything to avoid it, including forking out for FC or connecting somewhere else. Aka – if a red eye in economy is needed to try a first class product, I’d rather just go on a mediocre business class the whole way…
But good for you for stomaching it!
My thought process was that I’d work the entire flight and then board the 15.5 hour flight to ICN and sleep…and that is what I did. Minus the smelly seatmate, the plan really worked well and allowed me to spend the entire day Sunday with my family.
Another reason to always fly in business (1-2-1 only) or first.