Caught headcold on EK209
 

This was my first time flying Emirates, on a rt flight from EWR to Athens, and I was very impressed, the seats are comfortable and the food above average. However, the circulating air exiting the overhead vents was at full blast, so much so that while sitting in the window row and I had to close a vent in the middle row. Mid-flight I started sneezing, coughing and really congested and concerned about the pain that I was about to suffer during landing as my ears were already hurting as I could not equalize (it actually it didn't get any worse). I noticed other passengers sneezing and coughing while waiting at the baggage pick up area. Today is the second day of my illness, after leaving work early yesterday.

Did circulating the air at full blast contribute towards spreading sickness? Can I trust that Emirates changes the air filters on schedule, it doesn't seem that they're cutting corners, or are they?

Change of climate + packed cabin = bad luck. I don't know that anyone here can provide info on air fiktet maintenance but I doubt that is the issue, I fly 40+ EK flights in Y every year and never have been sick as a result of one (or shortly after one).

Contrary to that, some of us span the globe multiple times a year. We are exposed to viruses and bacteria from many different places, often sleep deprived from work and travel yet rarely get sick.

Whilst the filters could be a contributing factor there is just too many variables. Especially because the incubation period of colds varies by strain. So think back to whose hand you shook 6 days ago for example. Could it have been someone with a cold?

I would echo and what skywardhunter said and add that last August I woke up sniffling and sneezing, went to work, flew BOS-DXB-NBO and arrived "healed" :D

Definitely! Luckily I was fine during the entire 7-day trip to Athens and Israel. The reason I question the air venting at full blast is that I often complain that there's not enough air and ask the fa to tell the pilot to boost the air, and this the first time I got sick right after flying (mostly long-haul) for the past 40 years.

I imagine asking the pilot to "boost the air" raises a smile or two. How do the FAs reply to your demand?

I did 12 flights in December on a mix of BA & CX. On the 4th or 5th I got food poisoning. Went from minus climate to barely above freezing to tropical then back to barely above freezing. Had a 10 day break from flying then the last two flights. On the last one, a fellow passenger in the same row, was coughing, sneezing and snottering to his hearts content and the inevitable happened. I started sneezing the next day and the inevitable winter cold took full hold.

I wonder if if I should blame BA rather than my fellow passenger who unselfishly spread his germs about the cabin?

In all seriousness, hundreds of humans in a crowded and confined environment coming from a departure point in the midst of winter, there were were bound to have been one or two who boarded with a common cold and unselfishly shared their germs. The risks of public transport.

Hope you get better soon.

S

If you caught something on the flight the incubation period is in most cases longer than the flight, so won't manifest on the flight.

I see a lot of posts on this forum where people have genuine grievances against the airline and have every right to complain.

This is not one of those cases.

Traveler contracts common, highly transferable communal illness

Details at six..

Let us know how many skyward miles you get.

I don't demand, I beg! I am a pretty good passenger and very careful to treat the FAs with gloved hands. The pilots boost the air for while then go back to starving the cabin of air, saving the airline some money, I guess.

What does "boost the air" mean? Do you mean increase the air conditioning (i.e. make it colder? warmer?)

Airplanes don't have to pull over to fill up on air, nor is air charged at $1/litre or whatever, I assume you refer to fuel saving, which would be extraordinarily insignificant. Regardless, the cabin temperature is not controlled by the pilots, but rather by the cabin supervisor with the touch-screens in the cabin, with each "section" of each cabin being individually controlled. If your request ever gets to the pilot they're certainly having a laugh at it

The quantity of air in the cabin, since you appear to refer to that as well, is static, and very carefully controlled, as this determines the pressure altitude of the cabin, usually 3000-6000ft.

I suspect you probably had a cold before you boarded and the cabin conditions exacerbated the symptoms.

Actually, he does have a point, but not today though...
 

Back in the 1990's Northwest Airlines had an experimental program for fuel saving across the pacific. They would shut down one (or two I can't remember) engine bleeds and one of the Packs (Air conditioners) during cruise. I remember riding jumpseat on a few of those flights with a friend of mine. The pilots specially briefed the cabin crew that they would be shutting down the pack and to call the cockpit if it got too "stuffy" in the back. Well, that was the old smoking days on the Tokyo Run so this program failed miserably, predictably, and quickly. After one summer trial, the air was not switched off any more!

In any event, this was back on the old 747-200 with a flight engineer that had a bit more granular control over these systems. On today's aircraft this would not be possible, as the air systems are all computer optimized. So the bottom line is there is no "boosting" nor "starving" of the air supplies. It's running all the time regardless.

If that's the case then the FA did me a disservice, I complained about the excessive amount of air blowing straight at me and she pointed to the ceiling, said it was the a/c and continued on her way. It was so uncomfortable that I even placed a jacket over my head. I was seated on row 19.

On occasions when I asked to "boost the air", the cabin felt hot with no air coming out of the overhead vents.

And you closed the adjustable air vent that was blowing at you?

Is this true for the old 767s that AA flies?

​​​​​​Yes, even after I reached over and closed the air vent in the middle row the air was still bowing on me, I remember searching for its source but did not find it.

I'm pretty sure most colds have an incubation period of longer than eight hours or so.

The middle vents in Y can be a bit misleading - if you are sitting in say D, sometimes it’s air flowing from the vent above F/G that’s blowing on to you (e.g. other pax have moved them for much the same reasons as you!)

If it is MERS, I'd hate to think what the US government would do to the ME3.

Yes they do. Often in the region of 2-5 days for the 'common cold' viruses. Only influenza viruses have really short (average) incubation periods of about 1.5 days for influenza A and about half a day for influenza B (mostly caught by children).

You can see the science here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4327893/

I'm no expert, but believe that most modern aircraft do allow the pilots some control over the recirculation fans. These do not control cabin pressure or temperature but how much fresh air is used from the packs. This essentially robs the engines of some of the air used to generate thrust, and therefore increases fuel consumption. It can make a significant difference, somewhere between 1-3% if I remember correctly.

Maybe a pilot or engineer can chime in if I'm way off base, but in any case I can't imagine that recirculation fan settings is something that pilots would routinely have to adjust. I remember reading somewhere that on some aircraft there is just a NORMAL and a HIGH setting. At the end of the day there is some merit to the idea of fresh vs dirty air onboard aircraft. I think the cockpit receives no re-circulated air at all, and the people at the back near the outflow valve get to breathe in all the 'dirty' air. Besides, there are other possible sources of air contamination onboard aircraft besides fellow passengers...for those who may not be aware, google 'aircraft toxic fume events' or similar.

It's so funny when people piece together some random ideas and play engineer/scientist. FWIW, the people who got sick on the EK flight to NY are believed to have contracted flu in Saudi Arabia.

You didn't understand Sydtogla 's sarcastic comment which implied that, if MERS was to be blamed, the US administration would gladly use this excuse to freeze all ME3 operations to the US.