A respectful request and gentle reminder

[delilah]

Be aware of strong odors that you may carry onto a plane with you. Some people are really sensitive to certain smells. I get eye irritation from certain strongly odoriforus gums. The person behind me on my flight yesterday from Orlando was loudly chewing such a gum. My eyes were tearing, and I couldn't read, and I couldn't sleep because of the smacking. I was relieved when they brought around the beverage cart, because then the person behind me gave up their gum. Not something I would confront a person about, but just a way to help keep everybody comfortable in close quarters.

 

[Lewisc]

Chewing gum helps some passengers cope with ear pressure due to changing altitudes.

I don't know of any commercially available gum that is so odoriferous as to be generally an issue with others.

Some, a few, people can't fly for a variety of reasons.

 

[maxiesmom]

I usually try to be very aware of something that may annoy others, but it sounds a bit like you are hyper-sensative to noises and smells. I don't think you will have any luck keeping people from chewing gum on airplanes. I know I have to to keep the pressure in my ears equalized. Have you considered earplugs to at least help with bothersome sounds? And if the smells bother you to that extent, maybe a face mask?

As long as airlines allow people to have food and chew gum, I think you are going to need to be a bit more proactive in dealing with the smells and sounds of it.

 

[ancestry]

Sorry that this is a problem for you. But I must be honest, I was a bit shocked by your request. I though you were going to ask people to tone down their perfume or cologne.

I have never been able to smell someone's chewing gum from a row behind me and I have a very sensitive nose and am too very sensitive to smells. If they were sitting next to me most definitely but not a row away.

I also agree with Lewisc. Many people have ear issues with the pressure changes. Chewing gum is a way to deal with that.

While I feel for your sensitivity and discomfort since I too become ill around strong scents (i.e. perfumes/colognes, and certain foods) I do find your request to be a bit unreasonable.

 

[Wadecool]

Be aware of strong odors that you may carry onto a plane with you. Some people are really sensitive to certain smells. I get eye irritation from certain strongly odoriforus gums. The person behind me on my flight yesterday from Orlando was loudly chewing such a gum. My eyes were tearing, and I couldn't read, and I couldn't sleep because of the smacking. I was relieved when they brought around the beverage cart, because then the person behind me gave up their gum. Not something I would confront a person about, but just a way to help keep everybody comfortable in close quarters.

You didn't even mention the people who have chronic flatulence. There's nothing worse than sitting down next to someone who has one (or more) in the chamber. That makes for a long flight.

 

[crashbb]

Sorry that this is a problem for you. But I must be honest, I was a bit shocked by your request. I though you were going to ask people to tone down their perfume or cologne.

I have never been able to smell someone's chewing gum from a row behind me and I have a very sensitive nose and am too very sensitive to smells. If they were sitting next to me most definitely but not a row away.

I also agree with Lewisc. Many people have ear issues with the pressure changes. Chewing gum is a way to deal with that.
While I feel for your sensitivity and discomfort since I too become ill around strong scents (i.e. perfumes/colognes, and certain foods) I do find your request to be a bit unreasonable.

Third this.

And, I find chewing a "bubble gum" (like Hubba Bubba) works better than the "chewing gum" (like Dentyne) that I normally chew. I could even see that "smacking" would help a bit.

Sorry, but though I am careful not to bring in smelly food or wear tons of perfume, I have never worried about my gum (and, to be frank, probably never will).

 

[dioxide45]

I think the issue is more with common manners. Had the person been chewing the gum with their mouth closed rather than smacking and chewing like a cow chews grass, then the odors probably wouldn't have been as bad?

 

[Lewisc]

I think the issue is more with common manners. Had the person been chewing the gum with their mouth closed rather than smacking and chewing like a cow chews grass, then the odors probably wouldn't have been as bad?

The OP identified the issue

I get eye irritation from certain strongly odoriforus gums

. It sounds like the OP is (super) sensitive to a particular brand/flavor of gum.

 

[dntd]

The problem with allergies is that it's a free world. I'm highly allergic to a lot of things,but I understand some times it's just impossible for everyone to know what will bother strangers.

 

[robinb]

I thought this thread was going to be about bringing smelly fast food onto the plane.

I think the issue is more with common manners. Had the person been chewing the gum with their mouth closed rather than smacking and chewing like a cow chews grass, then the odors probably wouldn't have been as bad?

I'm not so sure that chewing with your mouth closed will "pop" your ears as well as chewing with it more open.

OP, I'm sorry that you had a problem with a strong smell from the gum. I'm sure that the person behind you had no idea that it was bothering you. I figure minty fresh breath beats stinky coffee breath, but apparently that isn't always the case.

 

[goofy4tink]

Not sure why anyone would think that open mouth chewing of gum is better for ear popping than closed mouth chewing.....just silly. To the best of my knowledge it is the act of swallowing that helps clear those ears. Good manners are welcome everywhere.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Be aware of strong odors that you may carry onto a plane with you. Some people are really sensitive to certain smells. I get eye irritation from certain strongly odoriforus gums. The person behind me on my flight yesterday from Orlando was loudly chewing such a gum. My eyes were tearing, and I couldn't read, and I couldn't sleep because of the smacking. I was relieved when they brought around the beverage cart, because then the person behind me gave up their gum. Not something I would confront a person about, but just a way to help keep everybody comfortable in close quarters.

If your reaction was that bad, you should have nicely asked this person to dispose of the gum. They had no idea that their gum was so problematic for you. I don't have any sympathy for someone who won't "confront" someone else about something like this, yet feels the need to complain anonymously. Next time, just ask.

 

[robinb]

Not sure why anyone would think that open mouth chewing of gum is better for ear popping than closed mouth chewing.....just silly. To the best of my knowledge it is the act of swallowing that helps clear those ears. Good manners are welcome everywhere.

Yawning opens the ears too and you can't yawn with your mouth closed. I guess it might be considered "silly", but was thinking of a combination of chewing and yawning to keep the throat open.

 

[dioxide45]

Yawning opens the ears too and you can't yawn with your mouth closed. I guess it might be considered "silly", but was thinking of a combination of chewing and yawning to keep the throat open.

The mere act of chewing isn't what causes ones ears to pop, it is the swallowing that does this. Chewing gum stimulates saliva, which causes one to swallow more often. This is why gum is very effective on an airplane. Yawning is another action that can help to pop ones ears.

I would agree that asking someone to not chew gum on an airplane is a little extreme. It is possible that it was a new fresh piece of gum which made the scent stronger.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I get eye irritation from certain strongly odoriforus gums. The person behind me on my flight yesterday from Orlando was loudly chewing such a gum. My eyes were tearing,

Perhaps you could make it a habit to carry a couple of varieties of tolerable-to-you gums (spearmint, fruity) and hand a stick or two to anyone chewing gum that causes this bad reaction in you?

 

[andymattmom]

I thought this was on body odor or perfumes also. I flew from PHX to IND while pregnant with my first son. I sat near a person who had body odor and covered with perfume. OMG I thought I was going to get sick from the smell---crowded flight and no place to move. You couldn't tell I was pregnant. Talked to a lady while waiting to get off the flight...she commented on odor and smell first.

I am not a perfume wearer as it really bothers me....can't do the perfume counters. It is difficult to travel and some people just don't think what they are doing would bother others around them.

Can't imagine what gum smells so strong but I dislike the loud smacking...but person probably didn't even realize it.

 

[honeymo78]

For me, swallowing only relieves part of the pressure in my ears, particularly during descent. Stretching my jaw either with yawning, open mouth chewing, and some odd looking faces helps as well. I might chew gum on the plane but mainly so I look less crazy with my jaw movements.

 

[bumbershoot]

I don't know of any commercially available gum that is so odoriferous as to be generally an issue with others.

I've found that most of the artificially sweetened ones (which is most), and especially the newer ones are HIGHLY smelly.

Why people have come to think that breath should be *minty* I have no idea...especially since chewing actual mint gives very different breath than chewing mint flavored gums.

My son was once given gum during a landing when his Earplane fell out and he was freaking out so badly he threw up (just before the "sit down" light went on omg) (should also note that by the time we got home we realized that he was very very sick, which wasn't obvious as we were leaving Disneyland)...while it was nice to have a different smell covering up what I couldn't clean up before the light went on, it was VERY very strong.

 

[bdcp]

I have never, ever noticed the smell of someone's gum. Sorry, but I think it's gotten out of hand with what people think they can ask of others. It's definitely not a reasonable request. I would think if the smell of something like gum bothers someone how do they deal with the smells that are all around them all the time, the ones that you can really smell? Gum loses it's smell and flavor intensity very, very quickly so I doubt this is a real problem. What else can we possibly complain about that other people are doing "to us"?

 

[TDC Nala]

I've heard of sensitivity to odors in close quarters - some perfumes make me sneeze and once in awhile I am sitting next to someone who has doused themselves with one on the Metro. In fact I thought this thread was going to be about perfume or cologne - but chewing gum? That is not something I would have considered people would be hypersensitive to. And gum is generally used by airplane passengers to assist in keeping their ear canals open.

I would never have considered that the odor of chewing gum would cause an irritation, nor would I now be aware what kind of gum does that. To my knowledge nobody sells flavor-and odor-free chewing gums. I'm not sure that by posting here you can relieve the possibility that someone might chew the type of gum that bothers you on your flights. If we can't figure out what kind of gum bothers people, then the alternative is that the OP is suggesting passengers should not chew gum on a plane at all - and it does help those whose ears get blocked.