I’m a flight attendant — here’s our emergency hack for covering up passenger poop smells

It’s used when an odor is brewing.

If you have ever been in an airplane’s lavatory and noticed a bag of coffee beans or grounds on a shelf, as one puzzled Reddit user did on their flight, chances are it hasn’t spilled out of a passenger’s carry-on.

Instead, and in a world where bouts of uncontrollable diarrhea are bringing down airplanes, the aroma-filled baggies are a flight attendant’s greatest, TSA-friendly weapon against smells on a plane.

“Coffee contains nitrogen, which helps neutralize odors in the air quickly and safely,” according to El Dorado Coffee Roasters. “It actually can help absorb other smells in the environment as well.”

In some cases of true stink from a bathroom, flight attendants will also brew exceptionally strong coffee as a deterrent.

The tactic has been used on Norwegian Airlines, according to The Sun.

The flight blog, ViewFromTheWing had a reader submit their own experience with this outside of the plane’s facilities as well.

The traveler brought a rather odiferous bag of Chik-Fil-A onboard and when a flight attendant came by to collect his garbage, “crushed up a bag of coffee grounds, opened the overhead bin, and placed the bag directly over my head.”

On another Reddit thread, a former airline worker commented that this tactic is typically extended to passengers who reek of BO as well.

“If you see coffee filter bags hanging anywhere [it’s] because someone smells like open a-s somewhere on the plane.”