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Is It Rude to Wear Strong Perfume on a Flight? Man’s Complaint About His Seatmate’s Strong Odour Causes Controversy
We’ll admit it straight off the bat - we hate flying. Not so much the being in the air part, but all the rigmarole that goes along with it. The trek to and from the airport, getting through security, and (worst of all), being stuck in a tiny seat four hours on end surrounded by strangers.
That’s why we can sympathise when one man, detailing his frustrations on Reddit, complained about how the woman who sat beside him on his flight ‘reeked of perfume’.The man in question turned to the popular Reddit forum AITA (Am I The A***ole) to determine whether he had been the one in the wrong for even complaining in the first place.
The post began with: ‘20th hour of travel for me. After a 3 hour delay on my final 1 hour flight, a pretty, preppy young lady sits in the middle seat, me in the window.’
The man sat on the window seat, while the woman sat beside him on the middle seat. Source: Unsplash
‘She already reeked of perfume, but she pulls out a heavily odorific hand sanitizer and slathers herself.’
He continued the post by saying: ‘I am literally sick to my stomach, but hold my tongue, thinking it would wane soon.’
‘It didn't. Minutes later, as I peek out from under my mask to adjust the air vent and she asks if I'll open the blind for her to see.’
‘Yes, I say... but grumpy me lets out ‘your fragrance is very strong.’’
‘’Sorry’, she replies sheepishly.’
‘I pull down my sleep mask to match my COVID mask and bear my stomach sickness in exhausted silence for the rest of the flight.’
The man goes on to say that when the flight landed, the woman approached him to say that he made her ‘very uncomfortable’, and that she had no sense of smell at the time, which might be the reason why she wasn’t immediately aware of the strong smell of her perfume.
The woman added that he should be ‘more sensitive to what other people are going through’.
‘I keep my cool, but tell her she should not use fragrances next time she flies. Honestly, the moment I left the plane, I felt better.’
The woman supposedly wore excessive amounts of perfume on the flight according to the man. Source: Unsplash
The post continued with the passenger asking the Reddit forum if he should’ve handled the situation differently. With almost a thousand comments in total, the responses were very divided.
On the one hand, some commenters sympathised with the passenger’s frustrations writing: ‘It takes a very special kind of a***ole to douse themselves with perfume before a flight. What the actual f*** is wrong with people.’
‘Some people use WAY too much fragrance which makes being around them very uncomfortable. She said she doesn’t have a sense of smell, so she should take it as constructive feedback that she should use less next time.’, another user wrote.
Other users, however, were quick to defend the woman.
‘The flight was only one hour long — at the very least you could have mentioned it politely at the end of the flight.’, a commenter suggested.
One commenter wrote: ‘I 100 per cent get OP’s (original poster) frustration, but I’m not sure what he expected the Perfume Bandit to do. This is like telling someone that they smell bad on the plane. The smell may be offensive, but can they change it?’
To be honest, we’re not sure where we stand on this and can see the frustrations of both sides. One commenter summed up our feelings pretty well: ‘It’s a good point, but telling her only hurt her feelings. She couldn’t smell less strong once it’s on there and she’s on the plane. Hopefully she’ll learn from the experience and will take it easy next time.’
How about you? What do you think about this story? Do you think the man was in the right to complain about his seatmate’s overuse of perfume, or is this just one of those occasions where you have to hold your tongue (and your nose)? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments!
