On our 26Sep10 flight from St Petersburg, Russia, to CDG-Paris, we were amazed to hear the following message broadcast over the intercom: "We are required by regulation to spray the aircraft cabin with insecticide. Be assured that the insecticide is not harmful to humans." Following this brief announcement, a flight attendent proceeded to walk down the aisle with a cannister in hand, spraying a white mist vertically into the air. She walked to one end of the aircraft and then repeated her spraying walk. We covered our nose and mouth and tried not to breathe deeply for a few minutes. I did not detect any kind of chemical odor.

This is the first time I've experienced such an event on an aircraft. Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone know what regulation requires this? Why is Air France the only one who apparently does this?

happens on US-Australia and NZ flights on occasion

"<i>Has this happened to anyone else? . . . . . Why is Air France the only one who apparently does this? </i>"

Happens all the time and AF is definitely not the only airline that does it. (Used to happen in the States too but that ended maybe 30 years ago)

http://www.allergyuk.org/art_aircraft.aspx

Strangely, the only times I've been sprayed on a plane was also Air France. Summer 1981 flying HKG-BOM-DUB-CDG and back on a 747-200C. After arrival at BOM and before they opened the doors, the FA would spray the whole cabin, and they said it was due to Indian regulations. That was 29 years ago.

I've had it done a couple times in the past 5 years.

Once from Mahe - Paris on Air Seychelles.
And once from Nairobi to Zurich on SWISS.

Smelled bad, but not as bad a the nail polish the flight attendants were using on Air Seychelles.

I have flown Air France to Europe or the Middle East 4 times in the last 3 years and never had this experience. My last trip on AF was in March when I flew to Venice, no bug spray then either. The only time this has ever happened to me was when I flew into Australia on Quantas.

I think it's about the destination or origin of the flight rather than the airline.

<<< Air France sprays insecticide in cabin >>>

Where do you expect it to be sprayed?

Perhaps when they check the passengers for seat belts prior to take off, they are also checking for head lice and other bugs, and if they find some, they spray.

I've been sprayed on flights around SE Asia, and maybe upon arrival back in the USA from there. I always fly United or star alliance aircraft... not AF.

That should probably say THE CABIN has been sprayed, not me personally... lol
This was maybe 7-8 years ago??

"...<i> Has this happened to anyone else? </i>..."
Sure, common practice in many parts of the world, used to be mandatory on flights to Australia, but no more in recent years. Just one of those things as far as i am concerned, I'd rather they didn't, but if the alternative is a serious risk of bringing in a devastating bug I'll go along with it. If the bark beetle could have been kept out of Colorado for example (not that I'm saying it was aircraft borne), or something as devastating as that, that would have been worth a quick spray on a plane in my book.

United airlines LAX to New Zealand.

The first time I experienced this was on a flight into Mexico. I was rather shocked. Not every flight into Mexico after that had a FA spraying the cabin but some future flights did but I never knew the reason.

We used to have to do in many many years ago from the Carribean back to the US. My airline also does it from countries in Africa into South Africa.

Yeah, I remember being sprayed when coming in to land in Australia after international flights. I don't think they do it any more - wonder when they stopped doing this, as I haven't had it happen for years now. I never felt bad about it - Australia has such strict quarantine laws that I always just accepted it as normal.

Lavandula

That's right... flying into Cairns.. This happened to me on several of my earlier trips to Australia! Forgot about those. It was typical to have the cabin sprayed before passengers could exit the plane.

"Not harmful to humans."

I'd love to see their documentation of that, particularly regarding people with asthma, allergies, COPD, and infants.

At the very least, they should do it before anyone boards - unless, of course, this is an indirect way of de-bugging their passengers.

EDIT: "particularly regarding people with asthma, allergies, COPD, and infants." -->> particularly regarding people with asthma, allergies, or COPD [or things like CF or other lung diseases], or regarding infants."

Didn't mean to imply having infants was a pulmonary disability, although . . . .

Insecticides will not necessarily cause problems for human beings, even those with medical conditions. Insects can be killed by substances that are largely harmless to human beings … and vice versa.

The spraying is done to prevent very unpleasant insects from traveling from one country to another. I rather doubt that it is completely effective, but I suppose it's better than doing nothing at all.

AnthonyGA, it isn't just the pesticidal chemicals, it's the medium in which they're carried and the propellent. Airborne particulate matter, fragrances, or whatever can be irritants, never mind whether the pesticides are - in fact - toxic.