Chili Catastrophe: The Airport Food Trend Could Ruin Your Next Flight

by Gary Leff

There’s one food that should never be served at an airport, before passengers get inside a metal tube where their stomachs will be subject to the vagaries of air pressure. It seems so obvious, yet a decade ago Washington’s National airport opened a Ben’s Chili Bowl. Now the idea is spreading.

Ben’s Chili Bowl is a DC institution. It’s been around for over 60 years, hosted civil rights leaders in the 1960s, and President Obama ate there the month he took the oath of office as President in 2009. The Pelican Brief and State of Play had scenes filmed there. It’s a tourist destination. But it’s not good chili.

Then again, neither is this, but United Airlines thought it was a good idea.

Flatulence from goats once caused a Singapore Airlines aircraft to make an emergency landing. (Hot cows caused a similar issue for a 747 near Heathrow.) And a passenger’s gastrointestinal issues caused a British Airways flight to turn around and go back to London. And there’s the famous Delta diarrhea flight.

Usually things don’t reach the point where an aircraft has to declare an emergency, but passing gas on a plane is something that happens on most every flight, every day, because changes in air pressure cause the body to produce more gas.

  • An average person does this 10 times a day anyway. Now multiply that out across a full widebody on a long haul flight and that’s without factoring in changes in altitude.
  • The cause of the odor is sulfur
  • The problem inflight is worse in cabins with leather seats (which traditionally meant first class). Most fabric seat covers are more absorbent.

Beans may be good for your heart, but you shouldn’t eat them before flying or on a plane. Avoid fried foods, cabbage, broccoli and brussels sprouts.

At Washington National airport, don’t do this:

Consider taking gas-x or beano if you’re especially prone to the issue. You can excuse yourself to the lavatory, but there’s often a wait especially in economy — this is to make your fellow passengers feel less awkward about the situation. The flipside though is if your seat mate passes gas, try to ignore it, it’s too easy for tensions to escalate in a plane as it is and there’s really nowhere to go to extricate yourself from an uncomfortable situation.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Do we really want to think about how much gas airplane seats have absorbed over the years? No, we do not.

  2. Gary Leff writes: “And there’s the famous Delta diarrhea flight.” Thank you Gary for helping me increase my limited knowledge of PREMIUM Delta Air Lines diarrhea?

  3. Always sit next to women. Everyone knows we don’t pass gas. Probably because we are smart enough not to eat chili from a trough before a flight. I thought the fabric seats have some charcoal barrier to filter the flatulence.

  4. I don’t think any one wants to mess up their clothes with this. It would be a Very crappy situation

  5. Back in the days when they used to serve coach meals, Alaska would serve bean burritos. We all survived.

  7. Beans, beans the musical fruit. The more you eat, the more you toot. The more you toot the better you feel. Let’s have beans for every meal!

  8. I like canned chili. When I am in the USA, I have it fairly often. In my observation, it does not cause me to have excess flatulence. That being said, other people react differently so they may have more flatulence from chili than I do. I suppose that people could just get the no beans chili.

  9. Meh

    Tons of airports have Mexican, burrito, and taco places that serve plenty of beans. Meanwhile my last several times in Amex lounges they had lots of broccoli & cauliflower dishes and I’ve had lounges & biz class meals serve asparagus.

  10. I really never got the whole chili/Mexican food and the connection to gastrointestinal distress. It reminds me of the South Park episode with Cartman and Chipolaway. Is this really an issue for some, or just an urban-legend type joke?

  12. Always found it strange that most preflight/premium lounges serve bean salads/soup. Sometimes even throwing in a deviled egg or 2!

  14. A tad bit off subject but when visiting Austin, or even just downtown, do not miss The Texas Chili Parlor. Worth the stop however be aware if you’re flying out that day, you will not run out of gas before you get to the airport

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