By Susan Carey
Beyoncé's latest perfume is called Rise, "the scent of
empowerment." Lady Gaga, Pharrell Williams and Jennifer Aniston
have signature scents, too. So does Delta Air Lines.
Delta's offering is Calm, an eau d'aeroport that it sprays in
airplane cabins and infuses in the hot towels it gives out in
premium classes. It has been spreading Calm for about two years,
joining a handful of other carriers vying for olfactory distinction
by developing their own individualized odors. The fragrant fliers
include United Continental Holdings, Turkish Airlines and Air
Canada's low-cost rouge operation. Spain's Iberia is close to
launching its own aroma, and Alaska Airlines is working on one.
The companies don't plan to bottle their scents for retail, but
they do see a commercial value in them. United marketing manager
Mark Krolick says its new fragrance, provisionally called
"Landing," in concert with improvements like new lighting and
redesigned gates, "will create a more relaxing environment. A good
experience engenders brand preference, which probably will result
in more booking," he says. Airlines also say they aim for subtlety,
so passengers who are sensitive to scents won't recoil.
Then, there are more practical considerations. "We were trying
to improve the smell of our lavatories, to be honest," says Mike
Henny, Delta's director of customer experience. The airline had a
vendor of lavatory amenities suggest some scents, and employees
chose Calm, a lavender-and-chamomile mixture, which also is
diffused when passengers use the lavatory soap dispensers.
Given the grind that air travel has become for millions of
people, with ever smaller seats and endless new fees, the moves by
airlines could be likened to putting perfume on a flying pig. But a
bigger problem might be getting customers to notice.
Phil Nickinson, a Pensacola, Fla., website editor who flew
75,000 miles on Delta in 2014, says he hasn't noticed a thing, even
though "I have a wife and a daughter, and I'm good at smelling
sweet things." He gives Delta credit for trying something small to
make travel nicer, "even though they're packing us in like
sardines. But me, as a guy, I don't base my conscious buying
decisions on smell." Mr. Henny said the airline wants its customers
to be "as comfortable on board as possible, and have a positive
association with their experience on Delta."
Fragrances increasingly have been in vogue among hotels and
retail chains in recent years. Studies have shown that the sense of
smell is closely linked to the brain's limbic system, which is
responsible for emotion, memory and motivation. Proponents say a
scent can elevate shoppers' impressions of a store and cause them
to stay longer and spend more money. A scent also can conjure up
positive memories of being in a Ritz-Carlton lobby, thus helping to
increase bookings.
Rachel Herz, a Brown University experimental psychologist and
author of "The Scent of Desire," says there isn't a lot of research
on aviation aroma. The airline rationale--calming people down is a
little uncertain, she says. "You could introduce a scent to elevate
my mood and possibly distract me from all the hassles I'm going
through," she says. "But I don't think it's going to make people
feel in control, because the scent is being imposed on them."
Indeed, flying fragrances risk a backlash from people with
asthma and allergies, also, sufferers of what is known as multiple
chemical sensitivity, says Aileen Gagney, an environmental program
manager at the American Lung Association in Seattle. Ms. Gagney
says she gets migraines and has breathing problems if subjected to
someone else's perfume, lotion, or hair spray. "I can't even
imagine a signature scent in an airport," she says. "I'd put a
cloth over my face."
Airlines say they are proceeding cautiously and eliciting
passenger feedback. "We're not going to lay it on thick," says
Halle Hutchison, Alaska's director of brand and marketing, of her
airline's testing. "We're not selling clothes or a lifestyle here."
Putting atomized diffusion machines on aircraft seems to be a
no-fly zone, carriers say, because it raises licensing and
inspection issues with safety regulators.
And some carriers have shelved their perfume plans. Qantas
Airways had a scent in some of its airport lounges but snuffed it
out in favor of the food smells generated by its chefs whipping up
fresh meals in the clubs. British Airways entertained the notion,
and then thought better of it.
Still other carriers say it's just what they need. Turkish
Airlines in 2013 came out with "TK 1933," a nod to its airline code
and the year it was founded. The scent, whose 29 ingredients
include lemon grass, ylang-ylang oil and bergamot, was created by a
Turkish fragrance house. The airline says quantitative research
showed TK 1933 produced feelings of "trust, peace, happiness,
serenity and pleasure."
Fatma Yuceler, Turkish Airlines' general manager in Los Angeles,
says the idea isn't to entice passengers to buy more tickets.
"Turkish Airlines is really aiming to be a big brand, but all the
big brands have a perfume," she says. "The point was to address all
of the five senses in a brand. We were missing smell."
Singapore Airlines was a pioneer of jet scent. It started
spraying its signature "Stefan Floridian Waters," a mélange of
rose, lavender and citrus, on its hot towels more than 30 years
ago. The company recently tried applications of the same perfume in
a Singapore ticket office. But it didn't proceed, worried that a
terrestrial scent machine might not be able to replicate the
onboard experience, a spokesman said.
Michael Gore, managing director of an engine business near
Manchester, England, and a Singapore elite flier, says he's a fan.
"If I was blindfolded, I'd instantly know it's SQ," he says, using
the airline's code. But can he describe the aroma? "I honestly
can't tell you what it is," he says.
Rune Raunow, a Danish IT sales director and Turkish Airlines
frequent flier, says he can recognize that airline's aroma,
particularly in its lounges, and likes the whole "multisensory
idea." But he, too, says it's hard to say what it smells like, and
would "never, never pick an airline based on the scents."
United is just beginning to introduce its fragrance, a medley of
orange peel, sandalwood, cedar and leather, developed by a
Charlotte, N.C. scent marketing firm called ScentAir. Landing has
landed at a few locations at United's O'Hare Airport hub in
Chicago, including airplane boarding bridges. On a recent morning,
a diffuser machine had just been installed on the wall near a
potted plant in the lobby of one of its four United Club lounges.
Marlene Tolbert, a supervisor in the club, says she thought it was
"a pine smell for the holidays." But her colleague Linda Chrobak
disagreed. "I can smell the orange," she says.
Jim Curry, a Chicago police officer walking his beat in the
terminal, popped in to greet the women. "I like it," he says of the
scent. "It's not bold. You're not walking into a lemon tree. When
you have lemon, you know they're trying to hide something."
Write to Susan Carey at susan.carey@wsj.com
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