That’s one of those situations everyone dreads and no one wants to be the bad guy about.
Airlines absolutely can deny boarding for hygiene reasons if a passenger’s condition causes a health or safety issue or seriously impacts other passengers. Extreme odor can fall under that, but the bar is surprisingly high. It usually has to be judged as disruptive to the cabin or a potential health concern, not just “unpleasant”.
In practice, crews are very reluctant to offload someone purely for smell unless it’s truly overwhelming and multiple passengers complain loudly before doors close. Once airborne, options are basically zero. On the ground, it comes down to the captain’s discretion, often after input from ground staff and cabin crew.
What you described, people covering their faces, staff reacting, other passengers warning crew, honestly sounds like it might have crossed that threshold. The fact they tried to isolate him in the last row suggests the crew knew it was a problem but opted for mitigation instead of denial. That’s pretty typical BA risk management behavior.
The uncomfortable truth is airlines are terrified of discrimination complaints, especially if the passenger could be perceived as homeless, mentally ill, or otherwise vulnerable. So unless it’s airtight from a policy standpoint, they’ll usually choose to inconvenience dozens of passengers rather than risk one very serious complaint.
It’s gross, unfair to everyone around, and one of those edge cases where policy and common sense don’t always line up. Anyone stuck near that for 8 hours would have every right to be upset.
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