Maybe I would politely ask for a seat “well within the non-coughing section” as my mother used to request when we’d fly to Barbados in the smoking days for a seat “well within the non-smoking section”

Tongue in cheek of course, but she could legitimately say back then she was allergic to cigarette smoke… and some people are allergic to sicknesses… I’m not saying they should be prevented from flying, but if there’s someone near you filling the air with whatever they have, it’s not unreasonable to ask to move away from it.

In these days where every restaurant asks you if you have a food allergy, and planes will forego services over peanuts (literally,) it does seem a little strange to just look the other way when someone is properly infectious. But here we are…

And finally, I was unwittingly such a passenger in March 2020 when I flew from Paris to São Paulo. Coughing in the lounge, coughing in the plane… had already booked flights and apartments and had nowhere realistic to stay until I got down there… never once crossed my mind I had COVID as no one was taking it seriously until about a week later… But I probably did as I tested positive for the antibodies a couple months later when those tests were developed. Hindsight being what it is, I’m still not sure what I’d do. Both my own and my family’s experience with hospitals is that they tend only to make things worse with additional infections you certainly didn’t have before… If I am away from “home” whatever that is for me these days, I’d be urgent to get back to wherever I could care for myself with the least of inconvenience to others, even if that means a few hours in 1A. But I’d probably be apologetic and do my best to protect others, including a mask and if possible some distance.