My cousin's wife has a lung and immune disorder and can no longer fly. But when she could fly she was ordered to wear a mask. Her doctor actually works at a children's hospital, and gave her a bunch of masks with bunny rabbits on them.

She got on the plane with my cousin. He decided to wear a mask, too, to make her feel less self-conscious. So there they were, two adults wearing bunny-rabbit masks. Oddly enough, the third person seated on their row got up and moved, so they had plenty of room.

Point being, sick or not, if you wear a mask you are more likely to get an empty seat next to you!

Please forgive me if I give you a medical tip. Whenever I get a cough, it causes a problem with a hiatal hernia, so that stomach acid comes up and tickles my vocal cords and makes me cough. There is no way to know this cough is any different from a cough caused by colds. It literally will not go away. So when I get a cold and cough, I end up having to take Prilosec for a couple of weeks and then the cough goes away. (The stomach acid problem really strongly mimics cold symptoms!).

Also, there is a prescription cough medicine called Tessalon Pearls (benzonitate) that does absolute wonders for me. It is essentially like taking a novocaine pill. The gelcap dissolves in your stomach and then comes back up and coats the areas that get tickled and make you cough. Really great stuff, and a Godsend for me since my body will not process codeine.

Good luck, and I think it was very courteous of you to ask about the mask.