“Trust Me, It’s Not Contagious”: Should Air Canada Have Taken This Passenger at Her Word?
Jennifer Billock April 26, 2018
A woman with a shingles rash was recently removed from an Air Canada flight because crew thought she was contagious, even though she had already seen a doctor and told the flight attendant she wasn’t contagious; the airline then forced the woman to go to an emergency room before letting her fly.
Jeanne Lehman, a Canadian woman attempting to fly from Halifax to Toronto, was recently removed from her flight due to a rash on her face. The rash was a result of shingles, a non-contagious condition, which she had on her forehead and around her eye. She had already been to a doctor in Halifax who told her she wasn’t contagious.
When Lehman arrived at the airport for her flight, she asked the flight attendant to give her a window seat because she was feeling self-conscious about her face. She told the flight attendant she wasn’t contagious, but after only a few minutes on the plane, the flight attendant, wearing a mask and gloves, escorted her off.
“Then she said to me, ‘You are contagious. You said you are contagious, so I cannot leave you in the plane. Just follow me,’” Lehman told CBC News. “Then I said to her, ‘First of all, I’m not contagious. You don’t have to scream it like what you’re doing right now.'”
The crew on the place then made announcements to the rest of the passengers that someone with a contagious disease had been on the plane. Crew disinfected the seat and then deplaned all the passengers.
Air Canada then took Lehman to the emergency room, where she was, again, pronounced to be not contagious. Lehman and other passengers wonder why airline staff didn’t try harder to understand the situation.
“Yes, have safety of people in heart,” Lehman told CBC News. “This is very normal. I don’t blame that. But the thing is, they should have another type of protocol. They are not doctors.”
[Photo: Shutterstock]
You’re Reading
Shingles is contagious to people who have not previously had chickenpox. (CDC website)
Tough call. As RQD said, shingles itself is not contagious, however the virus that causes shingles can be passed and shown up as chicken pox. It is particularly dangerous for young children (not vaccinated against chic pox) and pregnant women. It is super contagious at the onset and until the blisters start to heal. Once the rash is scabbed over, you are no longer contagious. Given the severity, and the public setting, note from the doctor would have been smart. I liken this to boarding a plane just after having gone through chicken pox. If the passenger said "i just had chick pox" and they looked still fresh, then im sure there would be some concern. Best to proceed with caution in this case since there was no note. Imagine the backlash if a pregnant mom, or infant came down with chicken pox - everyone would be screaming "why did the airline take her word for it?"
The mistake she did was to alert the FA before hand, and making a point that she was not contagious (!). Just enter the plain as everybody else and take it easy, and you will fly even being contagious. Stories like this even encourages this behaviour, and until the airlines change policies, sick people will sit next to you all the time.
Shingles cannot be passed from one person to another. However, the virus that causes shingles, the varicella zoster virus, can spread from a person with active shingles to cause chickenpox in someone who had never had chickenpox or received the chickenpox vaccine.
The loud announcement and sharing of medical information is not appropriate. Does Canada have an equivalent of HIPAA?