Even if this is placebic, for you it works. You've found the magic "pill" so to speak.
Many believe that they have the same relief from high doses of Vitamin C, or from Echinacia, Zinc, and other foods/minerals/herbs.

Honey is a mystery. The FDA may not even allow it to be classified as a "Food" if it were just discovered today, simply because the most they know about it is that it is similar to bee venom in chemical properties. It lasts forever, as Archeologists have found honey in Egyptian tombs, and it was still perfectly fine to ingest.

Perhaps you have stumbled on the cure, well, at least for you.

zicam usually works pretty well for me when i'm starting to feel under the weather...but just staying hydrated and keeping an extra fleece handy helps a lot

Alcohol. Lots of it inflight.

Don't shake anyone's hand, especially that of a CSD
who's just shaken everyone else's hand.

Agree, works for me as well.

Finally, a real solution! It works for me. I tend to complement this by getting very little sleep before trips.

Despite several dozen flights domestic and international flights per year, I only get a cold about every other year and the last time it followed a flight was several years ago.

So there you have it: scientific proof of what to do.

The other things I do are pretty mundane:

1. Wash my hands frequently.
2. Spray some saline and dab a bit of aloe gel in my nose before heading to the airport.
3. Also take echinacea before going to the airport.

Zicam is basically a Zinc suppliment. Zink is thought to be a natural antiviral. So is Lysine, coconut oil, Olive leaf and Creatine. Cold sore sufferers often take these to fight off cold sores. Antivirals are thought to interfere with the ability of a virus to multiply in the body. Your immune system still has to kill the invading virus. A strong immune system is still your best defense.

One thing that usually helps is keeping an upbeat, excited attitude when you're flying. There is a correlation to your excitement with your immunity. Apparently, those who are excited are happy. Happiness in turn prevents sickness -

"R. Veenhoven carried out a scientific study of the effects of happiness on health and concluded that happy people are less likely to get sick."

I was flying back from EZE to MEX during the swine flu scare, and a bunch of the Mexican passengers were wearing these.

Basically, facemasks are essentially useless to prevent the wearer from catching bugs. They do protect others from the wearers' coughs and sneezes, though.

Handwashing and avoiding contact with sick people are the only things that really protect you.

YES. According to some studies I've read beyond the one you referenced, there is a direct correlation between a happy, content and upbeat personality and illness, especially colds and similar virus. Virus keys on stress, when the immune system is weak. There is evidently a direct relationship between a positive outlook and happiness, and a healthy immune system. In a control group exposed to active cold virus directly (placed within the nose of the test individuals), those with happy upbeat personalities were something like 90 percent less susceptible to catching the cold. Only 1 out of 10 succumbed to the virus. Whereas those with a very depressed, stressed out demeanor were 100% susceptible to the virus. 10 out of 10 succumbed to the virus. Interesting.

I agree that this is total quackery.

There is only one way that you can catch a cold: a cold virus living in one person gets transmitted to you.

On a plane, there are basically two ways this happens:

1) airborne transmission: somebody sneezes and you inhale the droplets. this is actually not that common. you need somebody to sneeze or cough droplets into the air and you need to inhale those droplets.

2) droplet contact. somebody sneezes into their hands, touches the tray table or shakes your hand, you touch the tray table and then pick your nose, pick your teeth, or rub your eyes. the virus enters your system via your mucous membranes.

It's hard to prevent #1, but there are some things you can do. what I do is that if I know that somebody has just sneezed or coughed, i put my face away and breathe air away from the "blast" zone. or I hold my breath until the air has dissipated (turn on the vent full blast to dissipate the air). a mask (unlike many of those in Asian countries believe) is essentially useless you use an air-tight mask (such as those for tuberculosis). Regular hospital/surgical masks are completely useless. They are only useful if you put the mask on the sick person, not the healthy person.

#2 is much easier to control: wash your hands. If you haven't washed your hands, don't put your finger in your mouth, nose, or eyes. Don't pick up a sandwich or cookie with your bare hands. use a napkin or the wrapper to pick up the food, and never touch the food with your bare hands. A cold virus living on your hands won't give you the cold; however, once it gets into your mucous membranes, that's when you're toast. Don't ever let the germs on your hands enter your mucous membranes (this includes picking your nose, so wash your hands before you pick or rub your nose).

In reality, the anwer is very simple. Wash your hands; it would cut down on a lot of germ spreading.

Finally, the voice of sense...

If you do find yourself ill after the flight regardless, then my advice is to simply stay drunk until the symptoms pass.

If only it were that simple.

A method that hospitals use to keep nasal passages moist is to put plain KY gel I the nose.