The Surprising Thing That Can Get You Kicked Off a Flight

It's a delicate issue in any circumstances, but on a flight it gets particularly awkward; body odours. 

Many airlines have a clause written into their conditions of carriage that passengers who, quite frankly, stink can be banned from boarding the aircraft.

American Airlines, one of the major carriers in the United States, is among them. The airline reserves the right to refuse to transport a passenger, or have them removed from their flight at any point, if they "have an offensive odour not caused by a disability or illness".

A number of other, mostly American airlines have the same rule, including Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, Spirit Airlines, Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines. Puerto Rico's Seaborne Airlines has a similar clause.

And unfortunately, this rule has had to be enforced. 

American Airlines removed a French man from a 2014 flight from Paris to Dallas after several passengers complained about his body odour.

In 2010, Air Canada famously kicked a passenger off its flight from Charlottetown to Montreal for emitting what fellow passengers described as a "brutal" odour.

"As an airline, the safety and comfort of our passengers and crew are our top priorities," an Air Canada spokeswoman told America's ABC News at the time of the incident.

"Therefore, any situation that compromises either their safety or comfort is taken seriously and in such circumstances the crew will act in the best interest of the majority of our passengers."

Well, next time we're flying we'll certainly be diligent with the application of our deodorant.