I know what it’s like to be on a flight during dinner time. My flight was only three hours long, yet it departed at 8 p.m. By the time we landed, collected our luggage, and reached the hotel, it was very late. So yes, I understand why someone might need to eat during a flight.
However, hundreds of people are sharing that cabin. Nobody can open a window, step outside for fresh air, or move to another room when a smell becomes unpleasant.
That brings us to a viral video involving two chicken thighs, salt, pepper, garlic powder, a passenger eating Cheez-Its, and a sentence that generated a fierce debate about airplane etiquette.
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What Happened on the Flight?
Lauren Wall was traveling to Atlanta after work and had a flight scheduled around dinner time.
She brought two baked chicken thighs from home, seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. During the flight, a man sitting in front of her reportedly complained loudly that the food smelled.
Wall recorded herself eating and shared the moment in a TikTok video. The text on the video was:
“Eating chicken thighs on the plane and a man eating Cheez-Its in front of me screaming, ‘It stinks, but I finished them in peace bc the way I feel in my body is more important than some random guys uncomfortability with salt, pepper & garlic.”
At the time I checked, the video had more than 2 million views, approximately 106,600 likes, and over 2,200 comments.
And this brings us to a familiar travel question: just because you can do something, should you? The comments fell into several clear groups. All the comments are as they were written, not edited.
For Some People, Food Smells Can Cause Real Physical Symptoms
Several commenters explained that strong smells don’t merely annoy them. They can trigger nausea, headaches, sensory overload, or anxiety.
“people can wear ear plugs or put a sleep mask but smell is the only sense you can’t cover up or ignore. Be considerate”
“Food smells make me nauseous and sometimes vomit so be ready for that embarrassing spectacle to unfold”
“as someone with sensory issues amd a chronic illness that cause nauseous… this is so rude and inconsiderate.”
“Okay I used to not care…. but someone ate something stinky the other day and as a pregnant person- I almost threw up sooooooo. Idk”
“the smell of food that isn’t mine on a plane where there’s limited air circulation makes me sick, please be considerate of others and eat at the gate”
“as someone with plane anxiety, there is nothing worse than the suffocating stinky food smell when on the plane. we’re all stuck with that air just circulating 😭”
Not every passenger will react this strongly to a food smell. Yet the person opening a container can’t know whether someone nearby is pregnant, has a migraine, struggles with nausea, has sensory sensitivities, or is already anxious about flying.
Others Thought the Caption Promoted Selfishness
For another large group, the debate was about the idea that one person’s comfort should automatically take priority over everyone else’s.
“The entire world is getting more selfish by the minute”
“The way you feel is 100% not more important than being considerate to those around you sorry”
“nah garlic on a flight is fucking selfish as shit”
“We used to call this being selfish”
“Eating food that stinks in closed quarters is not cool”
“That’s rude AF – you, not him.”
“These comments didn’t go like she thought they would”
“Changing your perspective to become more selfish is the opposite of growth”
“Mind you there are healthy foods with mild scents”
“As a teacher I tell my students they can eat snacks in class, but it’s airplane rules. Nothing too smelly or distracting. Everyone gets it. You would not 😂”
“I read my preschoolers a book called “what if everybody did that?” I think you should read it too”
“garlic on a plane is pretty wild”
Several of these reactions focused less on the chicken and more on the wider message: personal growth shouldn’t require treating other people’s discomfort as irrelevant.
One Comment Took Her Argument to an Extreme
One person responded with an intentionally exaggerated comparison:
“Love this girly! I’ll be pissing all over the floor on my next flight because I’ve gotta do what’s best for me. It’s not good for my body to hold it if the bathroom is occupied”
Obviously, eating chicken and urinating on the cabin floor aren’t comparable actions.
The comment used an absurd example to challenge the underlying logic. If “what is best for my body” becomes the only standard, almost any inconsiderate behavior could be justified.
Other People Couldn’t Understand Why Chicken Was Controversial
The criticism wasn’t unanimous.
Several commenters defended Wall or questioned why people were treating ordinary chicken as though she had opened a container of raw fish.
“It’s just chicken guys??? Surely cheezits are stinkier than chicken anyway?”
“i’m confused why would chicken thighs stink”
“guys chicken?? They literally serve that on the plane what are we mad about”
“I’m confused because do you guys not eat meals on international flights? Why is chicken thighs controversial”
“who tf doesn’t like the smell of chicken..??”
The garlic is where I see a bigger issue.
Her Later Explanation Adds Important Context
Wall later explained the situation to People. The later explanation wasn’t included in the original video.
She said she had been rushing to catch the flight after work. Because she didn’t know whether she would have enough time to buy something at the airport, she packed leftovers instead.
She also said she didn’t immediately open the container after boarding. She waited until the cabin crew began serving drinks and snacks.
Before eating, she reportedly asked the passenger beside her whether the food would be a problem. The seatmate joked: “Only if I get a bite.”
Asking the person seated beside her was considerate. (I was actually thinking what I would have answered…)
However, one passenger’s approval can’t represent everyone who might smell the food. Odors don’t remain within the boundaries of one seat.
Garlic Powder Still Smells
Wall explained that the chicken had salt, pepper, and garlic powder on it. I use garlic powder from time to time too, and I can confirm that you can still smell it. The fact that it comes from a container rather than a freshly chopped clove doesn’t make the odor disappear.
Personally, I avoid eating dishes containing garlic before going out or when meeting friends somewhere. The smell can remain on your breath, and reheated or room-temperature garlic-seasoned food can still have a noticeable aroma. That doesn’t mean garlic should be banned from public life. I simply wouldn’t choose it for a meal I planned to open in a confined cabin, especially when I had other possible options.
Being Comfortable With Being Different Doesn’t Make Every Choice Appropriate Everywhere
Wall told People she hoped the video would reach people who are afraid to make different choices in social situations. Her examples included taking personal food to a restaurant or choosing not to drink alcohol while going out.
I’m completely comfortable with not drinking.
I rarely drink alcohol because I don’t particularly like it. But when I go out, I can order lemonade, a mocktail, soda, juice, mineral water, or another nonalcoholic option. I’m still purchasing something from the business where I’m spending time.
Bringing your own meal into a restaurant… I wouldn’t do that. Restaurants earn money by selling food and drinks. Unless someone has a medical condition, severe allergies, dietary requirements the restaurant has agreed to accommodate, or food for a baby or small child, arriving with an outside meal may create a problem for the business.
Choosing not to drink and bringing your own dinner into a restaurant aren’t equivalent examples of personal independence.
What Passenger Surveys and Medical Research Actually Tell Us
A 2023 KAYAK airplane-behavior survey found broad opposition to strong-smelling food in aircraft cabins.
The survey was conducted online between June 7 and June 12, 2023, among 1,000 adults from the United States and Canada who had flown during the previous three years.
According to the results, 92 percent thought passengers shouldn’t bring smelly food onto a flight.
The survey also asked about specific foods:
76 percent opposed someone eating an entire pizza.
84 percent opposed bringing BBQ ribs.
91 percent opposed raw fish.
Chicken wasn’t included among those examples.
These figures reflect passenger opinion. They aren’t scientific evidence, official airline regulations, or proof that a particular dish will bother every traveler.
Medical studies give some context to the comments about headaches and nausea. In one prospective experimental study involving 158 people with primary headache disorders, researchers exposed participants to odors and recorded their reactions.
Among the 72 participants with migraine, odor exposure triggered a headache attack in 25 people, or 34.7 percent. It triggered nausea in five, or 6.9 percent.
Neither reaction occurred among the 86 participants with other primary headache disorders.
The study didn’t examine chicken or garlic specifically. It does show why a passenger saying that certain smells can trigger a migraine or nausea shouldn’t immediately be dismissed as overly sensitive.
Pregnancy can add another complication.
A 2020 case-controlled study involving 124 pregnant women compared 62 women with hyperemesis gravidarum – a severe form of pregnancy-related nausea and vomiting – with 62 gestation-matched controls.
The participants were exposed to 16 selected smells. Nausea or vomiting responses were significantly more likely in the hyperemesis gravidarum group for 10 of those 16 odors.
Again, this doesn’t mean every food smell will make every pregnant passenger ill. It confirms that odor-triggered nausea is a genuine experience for some people.
Nail Polish Shows That This Debate Isn’t Only About Food
Food isn’t the only source of strong cabin smells. The discussion around using nail polish on a plane raises the same shared-space issue.
Nail polish and nail polish remover have strong chemical smells. At home, another person can leave the room, open a window, or ask you to use the product somewhere else.
A passenger sitting beside you at cruising altitude has none of those options.
My husband can’t stand the smell of nail polish, even at home. At least there, he can move to another room. Imagine having no escape from it for the remainder of a flight.
The question isn’t whether the person creating the smell likes it or finds it tolerable. The people around them are also breathing that air, and their reactions may be very different.
This Wasn’t the First In-Flight Food Debate
Another passenger previously went viral after making fresh pasta during a flight.
She brought out flour, water, a bowl, and a gnocchi board before mixing, kneading, cutting, and shaping the dough at her seat.
She didn’t cook the pasta. The activity was part of a content series built around making pasta in unusual places.
Reactions focused on the flour, hygiene, possible mess, and the decision to turn an airplane seat into a miniature food-preparation studio.
As with the chicken discussion, many viewers returned to the distinction between an item being permitted through airport security and its use being appropriate inside the cabin.
Passengers Keep Turning Cabins Into Personal Spaces
Food is only one part of the wider argument about how people behave when they’re sharing an aircraft.
We have seen a man occupy a plane lavatory for close to an hour to complete a 5K, passengers place bare feet where nobody wants to see them, and enough avoidable incidents to leave many travelers saying they’re sick and tired of airplane behavior.
Each incident is different, but they generate similar reactions.
The cabin is a shared public space. It isn’t a private kitchen, bathroom, gym, beauty salon, bedroom, or content studio.
Conclusion: I Would Have Chosen the Protein Bar
I don’t think eating a meal on a plane is automatically rude.
People have medical needs, dietary schedules, long journeys, delays, tight connections, and flights that leave at inconvenient hours. Passengers need to eat.
The food choice is still worth considering.
A protein bar, sandwich (non-smelly), crackers, fruit, or another mild-smelling option can solve the immediate problem without filling several rows with garlic, fish, eggs, or another strong odor.
When I took that three-hour flight departing at 8 p.m., I knew dinner would otherwise be extremely late.
I ate in the airport lounge before boarding.
I also had a protein bar in my purse in case I became hungry during the flight. Food was eventually served onboard, but even if the airline hadn’t provided anything, I would have eaten the bar.
It wouldn’t have been as satisfying as a hot meal or two chicken thighs.
It would have solved my hunger without making the passengers around me part of my dinner.
TikTok source: You can see her video here.
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Violeta-Loredana Pascal is a communications expert, business mentor, and the founder of Earth’s Attractions and PRwave INTERNATIONAL. A pioneer in the Romanian digital PR landscape since 2005, she holds a degree in Communication and Social Sciences from SNSPA Bucharest. Violeta is a senior trainer at AcademiadeAfaceri.ro, where she leverages over 20 years of experience to teach professional courses in PR strategy and workplace productivity. By blending high-level business consulting with a passion for holistic travel and wellness, she empowers solopreneurs to overcome procrastination, build profitable brands, and design a life of purposeful adventure.
