Flight AK1516 left Kota Kinabalu at about 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 18 and was scheduled into Shanghai's Pudong International Airport around 3 a.m. the next morning.
Passengers began posting accounts of the flight on Chinese social media on Aug. 19, Shanghai's Xinmin Evening News reported.
A passenger surnamed Zhuo, seated with his wife across the aisle in the same row, told Jimu News the smell reached them 40 to 50 minutes before touchdown and woke passengers in the rows ahead and behind.
The woman appeared to be in her 40s, he said, and sat in a middle seat between two boys of around 10.
"It was just before 2 a.m. and we were all asleep," he said. "She hurried toward the toilet carrying a bag, and then a strange smell came out."
