Travel

Indonesian Flight Delayed After World's Smelliest Fruit Angers Passengers

At a Glance

Durian is an exotic fruit notorious for its noxious smell.
Two tons of the fruit was in the cargo hold of an Indonesian airliner.
Some passengers 'physically clashed with crew members' before the airline removed the fruit.

An Indonesian airliner was delayed for at least an hour at Sumatra's Bengkulu International Airport this week after passengers passionately complained of a noxious smell in the cabin.

Turns out the smell originated from two tons of durian that were in the cargo hold of the Sriwijaya Air flight. Durian is a thorny fruit notorious for being the world's stinkiest.

Its smell has been described as a combination of "onion, turpentine and raw sewage" and is eaten raw, cooked or used to flavor a number of traditional Southeast Asian dishes and candies.

Considered a delicacy, durian is banned from many hotels in Southeast Asia. While it is also prohibited on public transportation in many countries, some airlines will allow the fruit on board as long as it is packaged properly.

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According to the BBC, the passengers aboard the flight bound for Jakarta made such a fuss about the smell, including a few who "physically clashed with crew members," that the airline eventually relented and removed the smelly fruit from the cargo hold.

Passenger Amir Zidane said in a Facebook post that he boarded the plane and could smell the fruit. When he complained to a flight attendant, he was told the smell would dissipate once airborne. He was also told he could fill out a complaint form.

Instead of taking the flight attendant's word that the smell would disappear, he rallied the other passengers.

"I yelled at the other passengers, 'Who on this plane wants to fly?'"

"They all chanted back, 'Not us!'" Zidane told the BBC.

Apparently, the mini-mutiny convinced the airline to remove the durian and the plane continued to its destination.