Last Friday night I was on Alaskan LAX-SEA (AA codeshare) in economy (3-3 config, aisle seat) and besides being annoyed that terminal 6 did not have TSA-Pre yet, everything was going swimmingly (Alaskan BR is not too bad) until we got to the gate in SEA.

As the seatbelt light went off, I got up to get out my carry-on. A guy sitting in the middle proceeded to do the slightly comical crouch-stand position and was leaning over my seat, which I barely took notice, until he started coughing. Not just a dry cough, but the deep, phlegmy kind. With one hand on the backseat of the row in front of us, and the other on the armrest, it was a full-on germified assault in my direction.

When doing heavy traveling, and have to face customers, the worst thing that can happen is getting sick. So I turned to him and said, "dude, you need to cover your mouth when you cough."

The look I got was a crazy cold stare. Then he said, "That makes no difference." I then said, "You're not serious are you?" He just kept giving me that crazy stare.

I then said, "You are acting like a kindergartner," and I proceeded to show him how to cough into the elbow-pit, and said, "you are going to get people sick."

The guy looked like he wanted to start a fight right there.

Is this just a case of pax stupidity (his part), or over-annoyedness (my part), or should I just have taken the germs and been on my way? Ever have a sickly person next to you and just quietly took the germs on?

Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity.

Passenger stupidity - but there may not have been any germs headed your way, either. Some people with deep, productive coughs just have a chronic problem (such as asthma, or a smoker's cough) and aren't contagious. And most of the time, the germs that actually make you sick are the ones you picked up on your hands by touching something (like a doorknob) that an infected person just used.

Agreed - I wonder if the guy next to him (window seat guy) touched the armrest .

I'm definitely no doctor (heck, I haven't even been to one in years), and even with bronchitis you can't tell if it's contagious or not by symptoms alone.

In any case, instead of a nice meal being my priority, I had to go immediately into preventative medicine mode. It was really a downer.

I hate that so much! At least in some countries, people have the decency to wear masks when they are sick. Not sure how effective any technique is over the passenger just staying home. Good thing your flight wasn't very long.

I'd point the air vent down in front of me to blow away any contaminant possibly coming my way.

I opened this thread as I misread the title as 'the cougar'

a cougher would make a cougar tougher altogether

Coughing with open mouth tends to make the air in the vicinity filled
with tiny water droplets.

Avoid inhaling until the "dust" settles and don't put your hands anywhere
near your face.

Ah yes, the joys of dealing with obnoxious and inconsiderate behavior.

So, would it then be correct or mostly correct to surmise that if someone with a deep phlegmy cough coughs directly on you on around you, your chances of becoming ill (if they are) are minimal at best?

Personally, I think the polite thing for anyone with a cough to do is cover their mouth with a handkerchief or sleeve (if only as comfort to the rest of us who don't know the cause of their cough) and if they must travel in a confined and crowded environment like an airplane, take something (if possible) to control or minimize their cough.

Or should the entire subject just be ignored because of the possibility that many of these phlegmy coughers are coughing due to something other than illness? Better to say nothing than risk being rude, right? And if they are coughing due to some illness, we should take comfort in the fact that most germs are spread by contact with infected surfaces rather than infected sputum in the air around us.

Right.

They are lower than you'd expect.

Of course. But anyone who spends significant time working with the public soon realizes that there are a significant number of folks out there who must have been raised by wolves. If you want to give them a lecture on politeness, go ahead - but they're going to ignore it, because they don't care.

If you really want to avoid getting sick while you are traveling in a developed country, the single most important step to take is to wash you hands frequently. Everything else is of secondary importance.

Not to mention minimizing the splatter.

I'm fond of the "cough into the handkerchief, examine the inside, feign a distressed look and then put it away" routine.

Meh. If I spent the day telling folks what they were doing wrong, I would be a really busy guy.

All good points you make, artemis. While the chances of our being infected by airborne sputum may be less than we think, they're still not ZERO, am I right?

And then there's the rudeness factor. I'm all for speaking up as the OP did because even though the cougher - assumedly an adult - may be too craven to know or care about the impact of their actions on others, the chances of them ever changing their ways are exactly ZERO if we just sit there and take it, masking inaction with concern over offending or making the assumption that speaking up won't matter either.