Is Wearing Perfume on a Plane Okay?

Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images

For more of the Cut’s favorite fashion, beauty, and home finds, sign up for the weekly Cut Shop Newsletter.

It hit me as soon as I boarded: an unmistakable mix of cotton candy, hot metal, and heady jasmine. Someone on my flight was wearing Baccarat Rouge 540, the unapologetically loud perfume by Maison Francis Kurkdjian that began going TikTok-viral in 2021.

Everyone could smell it. I could tell by the shifty glances the couples shared, their nostrils flaring as they stepped onto the plane. For two hours, airborne from London to Nice, 100-something travelers (minus one heavily perfumed offender) wordlessly bonded over the traumatic combination that is Baccarat Rouge 540 and a confined space.

Despite being a fragrance fanatic, I never wear perfume when flying — an inclination I inherited from my mom, who is sensitive to strong smells. Your scent preferences might seem like a personal choice, but they have the potential to extend far beyond your nose as soon as you step onto a plane, a cramped setting where good manners go a long way.

At first, the sheer unpleasantness of flying on a Baccarat Rouge–scented plane only reinforced my stance. But reflecting on the experience, I realized: There have been many times I haven’t taken issue with, or even perceived, a fellow passenger’s fragrance. Baccarat Rouge 540 has famously powerful projection and sillage (perfume-speak for the degree to which a scent lingers in the air). If it’s an example of a perfume that one should never, ever wear on a plane, there are certainly lighter, subtler fragrances that exist on the other end of the spectrum. (Think: Chanel No. 19 Eau de Toilette, Jo Malone’s Wood Sage And Sea Saltand Maison Margiela’s REPLICA Lazy Sunday Morningall fresh and clean-smelling scents.) So I asked other perfume lovers what they thought.

Want to be emailed when products you’ve saved are over 20% off?

Success! You’ll get an email when something you’ve saved goes on sale.

Yes

Want to be emailed when products you’ve saved are over 20% off?

Success! You’ll get an email when something you’ve saved goes on sale.

Yes

Want to be emailed when products you’ve saved are over 20% off?

Success! You’ll get an email when something you’ve saved goes on sale.

Yes

For Asia Grant, wearing perfume while flying is the “equivalent to farting on a plane.” The perfumer, content creator, and founder of Scent Social Club, a New York City–based perfume tour, instead recommends wearing scented deodorant if minimizing body odor is a concern. Arm & Hammer’s Rosemary Lavender deodorant is “exceptional,” she says.

For others, fragrance can be a comforting preflight ritual. “If the scent helps someone feel better when flying, I am all for it,” says Emma Vernon, host of the podcast Perfume Room. Carlos Huber, founder of niche fragrance brand Arquiste, always works perfume into his travel day: “My favorite thing to do when I’m in an airport is going to duty-free and check out everything that’s on the floor.”

Still, they have some general rules of thumb when it comes to flying fragranced. Vernon recommends fragrances with notes that are “generally likable” — for example, “fresh, clean musk, soft iris, or anything citrus.” (She often opts for “cozy and comforting” scents like Ex Nihilo’s Santal Calling and Sana Jardin’s Vanilla Nomad.) Huber cautions against stronger notes and accords like oud, ambers, resins, woods, or strong florals. “Do something a bit more demure.”

Whatever you do, avoid fragrances with ethyl maltol, a fruity, sugary aroma chemical featured in statement-making scents like Baccarat Rouge 540, Ariana Grande Cloud, and Burberry Her. “It’s a cloying smell,” says perfumer Michael Nordstrand. He notes another universal no-no: “I’ve been on a plane where somebody’s actually sprayed themselves with perfume — you basically end up tasting it. Don’t apply anything on the plane.”

While dosage might seem like something to consider, Nordstrand debunks the notion that more perfume equals more projection. “Five sprays is no different than one spray,” he says. “Applying more to your skin is just applying it to a broader region…it doesn’t mean it will last longer or project more.” That said, fragrance tends to last longer on fabric than on skin. “If you’re spraying your clothes, other people will smell it for longer.”

“There are tons of circumstances where people have told me not to wear fragrance and I wore it,” says perfume critic Audrey Robinovitz, who has flouted patient protocol and worn perfume while undergoing surgery. This time, wearing perfume on a plane ranks relatively low on the list of in-flight party fouls. “I’ve had too many experiences with people bringing fast food on a plane or eating beef jerky in the seat next to me,” she says. “The fragrance I’m wearing could hardly be as intrusive as the other things that I’ve seen passengers do.”

The consensus among the five people I interviewed: In-flight fragrance etiquette is less about wearing versus not wearing perfume, and more about choosing the right scent. Like trail mix is ​​a better plane snack than a can of tuna, a citrus cologne is a better plane perfume than an oud. “(Perfume) doesn’t have to be this bombastic thing,” Huber says. “To say that fragrance is only for situations where you are free to draw attention to yourself is to reduce it to only a tool of attraction.” While Baccarat Rouge 540 remains on the no-fly list, wearing perfume on a plane isn’t always something to turn your nose up at. I’ll be embarking on my next trip with a more flexible attitude towards flying fragranced — and a new pre-flight beauty ritual to look forward to.