Tips For Air Travel With Environmental Sensitivities (Chemical Sensitivity & Mold Sensitivity)

I have flown by airplane 13 times when severely or very chemically sensitive and mold sensitive. These are my tips for surviving a plane ride while environmentally sensitive.

I’ve also taken another half dozen to a dozen flights while less sensitive.

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Chemical Sensitivities Obstacles

Scents on board:

For those with chemical sensitivities, you obviously will be in close contact with many people who use scented laundry detergent and some who are wearing perfume.

I have had a couple of flights where something scented was sprayed into the air.

I could not locate where it was coming from, it could have been a body spray that someone sprayed in the bathroom or maybe even an air freshener that was sprayed in the bathroom.

It’s not the norm that air fresheners are used in the bathroom on flights, however (though I do think it’s likely they have one for unusual circumstances).

According to CNN Singapore Airlines, All Nippon Airways and Turkish Airlines use signature scents on board. I have not experienced this in any of my flights. The article says they use them throughout the cabin and on towels.

If they hand out hot towels it is likely that they are scented.

It’s also possible that someone refreshes their perfume while on the plane, either in the bathroom or while in their seat.

In the bathroom, the hand soap and toilet water are both scented but I have not seen anything beyond that. However, if you are highly sensitive you may not want to sit next to the bathroom.

If you can afford it, sitting in the very front row next to the door may be a benefit. This way when boarding and deplaning you will have some fresh air, because during those times the plane’s air circulation system (which filters the air) will not be on and it gets very stuffy (it can also get extremely hot in those moments if it’s hot outside).

Scents in the airport:

Most of the airport is usually not particularly scented, many airports have extremely high ceilings, at least in parts (like where you wait to board the plane).

However, it’s common that you have to walk through the duty-free section which includes walking through the perfume section. It is common that there is no other route.

Pesticides:

Note that pesticides are also used, depending on the route, they may be applied to the seat or sprayed in the air mid-flight. This is called “Aircraft Disinsection”.

While there are laws in place about which routes require pesticides, there are also differences between airlines (for example one airline might spray pesticides in the air on the way to Cuba and another might only use insecticides on the seats on that route).

I have been hit with the spray twice, though this was before I was chemically sensitive. In the comments of this post there is a video on what this looks like.

It’s also possible that a plane that was sprayed or has insecticides on the seats was then used on a different route.

The content of the spray used by Air Canada is designated by the World Health Organization (WHO), and contains either 2% Permethrin or 2% d-Phenothrin as of mid-2024.

The spray comes out from somewhere above the overhead luggage bins.

Jet Fuel

Jet fuel has a particularly strong odor, and you are most likely to smell it or at least get a bigger whiff when you board or disembark a plane from/to the ground instead of through the raised tunnel.

Chemical Sensitivity Remedies

Chemical sensitivity remedies are outlined in Substack.

Mold Sensitivity Obstacles

It is rare but possible that the plane seems to be moldy. By “be moldy” I mean have mold possibly growing somewhere in the structure.

This has happened to me once or twice and both times were on very small planes.

Sometimes the airport is very moldy. Miami airport for example has some sections that smell very strongly of mold. I have also seen a lot of water damage in parts of the Houston airport. But I would not say that airports are particularly moldy compared to homes or other buildings.

Mold Sensitivity Remedies

Mold sensitive remedies are outlined in Substack.

Corinne Segura is an InterNACHI-certified Healthy Homes Inspector with certifications in Building Biology, Healthier Materials and Sustainable Buildings, and more. She has 10 years of experience helping others create healthy homes. You can book a consult here.