Coping with sick passengers
 

Hey everybody! I'm a longtime lurker and first-time poster.

This week I was waiting for takeoff on a 6-hour domestic flight and overheard a woman on her phone in the seat directly behind me. She said those two words that strike dread into any flyer: "I'm sick."

She mentioned that she had just connected from a long international flight and sounded optimistic that she was getting better. An hour later, she couldn't stop coughing. I'm talking about hundreds of coughs per hour. I don't have any indication it was something exotic, but it was at least a cold or flu. I felt terrible for her and nervous for me.

There's been an assortment of FT threads on handling coughing, sneezing, hacking and wheezing passengers. Many suggest offering some tissue so they're reminded to cover up. Others point out the obvious precautions: hand washing, sleep, lowering intensity of workouts, vitamin c, hydrating, etc. There was also some discussion of masks and debate over how effective they are. Some don't think they help the wearer, but if the wearer is sick it may protect others. I happened to have an N95 surgical mask in my bag and wore it while I was sleeping. It wasn't very comfortable to wear for hours, but it gave me some (potentially false) peace of mind. Maybe I should have offered it to her, but there was no wifi and I didn't get the idea until I finally got on FT after we landed.

It's 2014, isn't there something more effective that flyers can do to stay healthy when fellow passengers are sick?

Coping with sick passengers
 

Studies show that usually people get sick from the things they touch aboard a plane, not from being in proximity to someone who is sick.

Coping with sick passengers
 

I for one continue to suffer acute nausea every time I see a $misek video before takeoff...

Oh you have no idea how much I hate this. For some reason, I am always seated next to the guy that can't stop coughing, sneezing or blowing his nose. I catch things easily so I dread this everytime I fly.

I've flown on 40 legs this year, and I have a 100% (yes, 100%) rate of either being seated directly next to, in front of, or behind a sneezing/coughing person. My string of bad luck is getting laughable, except I'm down with a summertime cold right now after sitting directly in front of a child with one on Saturday. Many times, I'll be next to the one sick person in F or one of only three or four in Y actively hacking (and I've diligently observed the plane away from my seat to confirm this isn't just paranoia), but they have invariably ended up next to me.

The best reaction I've seen was on a May SFO-EWR leg where the guy directly in front of me was coughing up a lung. The guy next to him kept saying, "christ!", "you've got to be kidding me!" every time the guy coughed, until he finally had enough, stood up and said, "this is b.s." and stormed back out the jetway to get a seat assignment change away from the sick guy.

This time of the year it could just be allergies. They've been hitting me pretty hard for the last 4 weeks.

If she was behind you, you're probably OK because air flows front to rear in the cabin.

More air travel builds immunity. Had the same thing happen SSA-MIA. She wouldn't f ing stop hacking, right next to me in J. I turned the air vent to blow "away" and kept my fluids up, all with high alcohol content.

Get your flu shot, get sleep and don't worry too much about it.

i think that although some air is bleed air from outside, a considerable amount of the cabin air is recycled. just packed full of germs. to be safe, one should get a bubble, and an oxygen bottle. do not use a nitrogen/oxygen mix, as one can get bent from that.

Stay at home? :)

Use Clorox wipes to wipe down everything in the immediate
vicinity of your seat.

Avoid touching anything that is not in the immediate vicinity
of your seat and then touching yourself.

And then there are the airborne germs one may breathe
after the sick person has sneezed, coughed, etc. These can
travel a long distance so you are not safe even separated by
a seat or two.

You might cut your risk by wearing a mask but there is some
debate on that.

If you decide to wear the mask you need to decide when to
start wearing it... on the taxi ride to the airport? ...inside the
terminal? ...inside the plane? Fact is, you are at risk of catching
something the minute you step outside your home assuming of
course you are not already sick or are in contact with someone
sick.

There is some rather unfortunate and medically inaccurate "advice" on this thread but I'd rather call attention to the suggestion that you wear a mask.

What does that accomplish? Unless it is a HEPA filter mask it will not do you much good in terms of keeping you from breathing in some sort of "germ." What it may very well do is freak out a whole bunch of other people, especially the ones who might be sitting next to you. This assumes the airline folks will even allow you to board the plane.

As to that notion that the air flows from the front to the back of a plane; that may be but my worry is that once it actually gets to the back of the plane it somehow manages to get back to the front again.

Handwashing and intact skin are probably your two best defenses.

Meh, so long as they don't puke near me, I can deal with it.

There have been some studies done where it was suggested that
one raised the odds of not catching the flu by wearing
a mask...

http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/49/2/275.full

Specifically, the N95 variety.

Coughing and sneezing with uncovered mouth
 

On a YVR-HKG flight a couple of years ago,there was a fella in the seat behind that kept coughing and sneezing,without covering his mouth.I didn't say anything but gave a few "looks".I got sick within a couple of days in HK,cough,cold,fever....wouldn't surprise me if it was as a result of that disgusting git from the flight.

Besides covering his face with the small cushion they provide...any suggestions as to what I should have done?

Coughing and sneezing with uncovered mouth
 

Next time say something. I don't think it is rude to politely say something to someone who doesn't seem to have any social grace at all.

That's a tough one, I think. I don't think I'd have it in me to say that, especially if the person's not even sitting right next to me (ie, different row). Maybe if the person's right next to me, then I might muster up courage to bring that up non-conspicuously so that I don't make a scene and embarrass the poor fellow.

In any case, my first option would be to try to change seats if that's feasible.

I'd be willing to bet that your seatmates would appreciate it if you did say something to that person. :)

It was a full flight,peak summer holiday time.
That's what I was afraid of...creating an uncomfortable scene.The fella was a chinese man who was speaking in cantonese to his neighbouring passenger.I think that they were a couple.If he didn't understand or ignored me,I probably would have become quite irate...I was already seething.Would anyone have involved a FA?

LOL...I just read online about chinese passengers attacking a Thai FA with noodles,hot water and threatening to blow up the plane bec.they were annoyed at not being able to seat all together!

Perhaps it was a good thing that I hadn't involved a FA and should bring an N95 air mask on my next trip!!!!

Sick passengers
 

Some years ago, I travelled on an Olympic Airways flight from Toronto to Athens when I was in the early stages of pregnancy. Those flights stopped in Montreal; a family got on there and sat in the row behind us. They all coughed all the way to Greece and moaned throughout the flight about how sick they felt.

The second day in Athens, I began to run a high fever and developed one of the worst flus I ever experienced. I am sure I caught it from that family, and my elderly mother-in-law caught it from me. It ruined our family reunion in Greece. I wish the airlines were more lenient about allowing sick people to cancel flights.

I was kinda joking about the N95 masks....but now I definitely will bring some.I wonder what the legalities are of the airline forcing obviously sick and spluttering passengers into wearing N95 masks for the protection of other passengers and crew.I don't mean forcing people that have the common cold and cough to wear masks....I mean people who have a fever and are sneezing and coughing.Also,would airline crew be able to legally force a sick passenger into having their temperature taken? Seriously sick and contagious passengers could potentially threaten lives on the aircraft.......

I was flying on an US Airways flight from Charlotte to SFO on 12/22. It's about a 6 hr flight. There was a sick kid behind me that was sneezing and sniffling. He had his hood on from his hoodie but no mask! I got sick Christmas Eve and was sick in bed until 12/26. I was suppose to fly back today, 12/27, but I extended my ticket through 12/29. I bought it through Expedia and I had to pay $200 to change my flight. I don't think that I should have to pay that when they allowed a sick passenger on board that didn't cover his mouth with a mask.

I see. It was Expedia's fault? Or was it USA's fault the child was sick? I assume you have proof that it was the sick kid that made you sick. It wasn't one of the few hundred other people you encountered that day at the airport, in the taxi, at the grocery store, gas station, sidewalk, family member.

You got sick. It's part of life.

Hopefully you have travel insurance that would cover the cost to change the flight bec.you were too sick to travel. If you do,give the insurance company a call asap in case you have to get a doctor's note for any claim.

I wonder if any airline has a policy of suggesting that an obviously sick and coughing/sneezing passenger wear an N95 mask. It almost seems inevitable that the passenger(s) seated in front of a sick person will also become sick.

You all do realize that N95s are to protect people on the OUTSIDE....people with the flu don't wear N95s in the hospital, they wear good old surgical masks.

N95s are to keep particles out, not keep particles in. The unaffected wear them, not the affected.

(I worked bone marrow transplant for five years and spent a total of seven years in oncology. The only N95 precautions are for the people going in the room, not the patient. Not even TBers wear them outside the room - they wear surgical masks. The filter works in, not out. At least, that's what our infection control boards at two hospitals - one nationally ranked and the other a Federal institution - have always told us.)

I understand why people fly sick as I experienced it about 3 months ago.

Was scheduled to fly out on a Sunday AM and I came down with a bug of some sort the night prior. One of those bugs where everything is bad (vomit, fever, diarrhea, etc).

Sunday about 5 hours before departure I knew I wouldn't be able to travel that day. I probably could have but it would not have been fun and would have potentially placed others at risk of catching what I have.

Called Gold desk to change flight to the following day and explained the situation and was charged a $200 change fee.

Anyway, the point being is that some people can't afford to accept a change fee or change fare and will instead travel sick.

Thank you for showing consideration for your fellow passengers by not traveling.

It would be of little consolation to me if I became ill and lost several hundred dollars of income because an obviously sick individual decided to travel in order to avoid the expense of a change fee or fare change. In other words, please don't make your problem mine.

Yup - a few years ago when I was still in college, for example, a $200 change fee would have killed me and I'd do anything not to pay it. Thankfully times are different now!

change fees are ridiculous, and definitely contribute to this problem.

absolutley positively!! $200 is a lot of money to lose!!
Ths is why I dont get too upset when I see people flying sick, although I do think there should be masks supplied at the check in counter.

Thank you for the N95 lesson and hopefully, you got my point.

I have flown sick, most recently due to a nasty cold caught in Europe. I did my best to cover my mouth and not sneeze in anyone's direction on the flight home.

Sorry if that offends but I am not about to rebook, incur extra charges and pay for a couple of extra days in a hotel just to satisfy complete strangers on a plane. Nor would I respond well to having a mask shoved at me by another passenger or being forced to wear one by the airline.

Part of being on public transit is being exposed to the public and all their assorted airborne pathogens.

The problem is not with considerate folk like you....its with the rude and ignorant folk that make no effort to cover their mouths when they sneeze or cough.Rather than shove a sock in their mouth....making a request(not force) to wear a mask by an FA might be in order.

I was upgraded to F on my last flight and the lady next to me was having a conniption. Almost considered giving up the upgrade. Instead I ordered a vodka OJ, put the blanket over my head (how embarrassing) and fell asleep.