I had to fly BOM-EWR-IAH while sick (two illnesses at once--a nasty GI bug and what a doctor friend ended up diagnosing as pertussis; odd, as I'd had my Tdap only 2 years before).
I did make every effort to cover my mouth or cough in my elbow or at least not at other people in my row, but there's only so much you could do. And yes, I also ended up using my airsickness bag.
Don't like it? Then tell UA they should have waived the change fee. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to pay a $300 change fee plus a $1,500 fare differential just to spare you all some germs. I'm a nice guy, but that's not fair to expect of me to pay.
A little common sense in the airline industry when it comes to these types of situations would go a long way.
That said:
[mod hat on]
This really isn't a topic specific to Alaska Airlines, so I'll move it to the general-interest travel forum, aka TravelBuzz. Please continue to follow it there.
jackal
Moderator, Alaska Airlines forum