How would the FA actually know if an illness was contagious? Also, another person's medical history is none of your business. It's private information.

If I heard an FA discuss my medical condition (not that I currently have one, but) they would be getting spoken to by the company very seriously.

Also. since this seems like a genuine reason to be moved by the FA why not seek to get a better seat/s?

If you have to ask the FA to be moved it should stand to reason they will ask why and I would think any FA out of concern for other passengers has the right to ask if it is contagious as do any passengers they may be moved next to but that doesn't mean divulging medical history or anything.

Food poisoning and a headache=likely non-contagious.
Influenza + ebola=likely contagious.
FA won't give me a yes or no as to whether passenger is contagious or not=They can sit somewhere else.

Someone has to sit next to the sick passenger. Whether its the OP or the original neighbour, thems the breaks and thats all part of air travel. I don't think i would have the cajones to say "oh no, we are special snowflakes who don't deserve to be contaminated".

As to whether she was really sick or not, that's not really up to yours to judge. I once had a very scary asthma attack shortly after being seated, but was able to manage it fine later. My husband *thought* he had montezumas revenge while on business to India, and had this realization just shortly after take off. But, he ended up fine after 15 mins into the flight. It can be really scary to have a health issue around the time of take off, when you don't know "is this going to get really bad, or is this just a momentary thing?". I've had it go either way. It was smart of her to ask to sit closer to the bathrooms (just in case) and it was wise of the FA to place her there.

If there's anything such thing as karma, maybe the person who denies a potentially sick passenger faster access to the bathroom will get stuck in the back next to a really sick passenger who doesn't have fast access to the bathroom. :P

There isn't.

If it was food poisoning I'd have had no issue, but the passenger was the one that refused to say what was making her sick. I didn't want to see her medical records, just wanted to know if it was something she ate or some kind of contagious deal. According to some it's the roll of the dice and if someone chooses to get on the plane with a contagious disease it's just part of flying? As someone else said, if it was randomly assigned yes, if someone asks me if I mind I'm going to also answer YES I mind.

For reference purposes she was sitting about 5 rows in front of the bathroom, in a middle seat. What's the difference in her simply trading with the person she's already sitting next to and taking the aisle?

I know I'll get jumped on for pointing this out, but she spent the rest of the flight with her legs crossed playing games on her phone. I still think there is a greater than zero chance she just wanted to sit in the bulkhead seat. On this plane it was the kind with unlimited legroom. She asked specifically for the seat on one of the sides of the plane, not in the middle bulkhead section that has the wall in front.

The only reason I can think for being asked vs. told was that we were both Sapphire on Oneworld. The gate agent made a comment when we checked in that she would try and keep the seat blocked due to the light load. I fully understand that it's never guaranteed.

THIS. ^

so, the FA asks, and i tell her i have corynebachterium jerckeum. now what???

i had that, and a couple more blood bacteria on the plane back from japan. went straight to hospital, and got IV drugs and hospilatiation for 6 weeks.

i betch even the purser does not know what that is. most doctors are not familiar with whatever i had.

did not feel too well, took 4 days for hospital to culture and diagnose.

If someone is sick enough to be hospitalised for six weeks I would think that flying (medivac excepted) wouldn't be a very wise choice. Contagious or not.

You got conned out of your aisle seat. I've heard similar tales from people in middle seats. Try this should it happen again, "Ma'am, I'm happy to get up and let you out whenever you need. Just let me know."

That wasn't the question, I was asking about whether people would have said yes or no if asked. I've said multiple times I understand that empty seat isn't my right, although I would hope they would choose another given that there were plenty of open seats around the bathrooms and one of the few benefits of being an 50k elite (both of us) with an airline is given at least some semblance of preference in the oddball situation, be it IROPS or people who have unidentified loose bowel issues.

There were plenty of other empty seats that were as good an option as the one in between us, so this wasn't a situation where there was only one seat that would have served the purpose.

It's not that cut and dry. I think contagiousness is the #1 factor here.

What I've not seen mentioned thus far is whether the "non-sick" pax has any medical issues which might make such an arrangement a health problem.

To make a long story short, I was quite sick in 2013. After seeing countless doctors who made things worse, I finally got ahold of one who decided it was best to "reboot" my immune system. They essentially nuked it and started over. Worked wonderfully...with one small problem -- I couldn't take antibiotics for 12-18 months. You better believe I was washing my hands at every opportunity, wearing a mask when a room/plane sounded more like a TB ward.

The person with GI distress due to food poisoning wouldn't have been a problem for me. BUT If the person was having GI distress due to something contagious (like Clostridium difficile), my health would have been a major concern.

At the same time I also have sympathy for those who are traveling whilst sick -- I battled C.Diff for a year and had to keep working (which meant traveling).

I don't see why one's "medical history" in this context is a privacy issue -- it's no different than sitting next to someone with a peanut allergy. The actions of one person could gravely affect another pax on the plane, thus there needs to be some disclosure. It doesn't need to be detailed or overly-intrusive.

^^^
Hopefully this will be a great learning experience for next time. Most passengers that ACTUALLY need it for medical reasons will have either contacted the airline before flying (if no aisle seat was available), selected an aisle seat in the first place, or talked to the gate agent/flight attendant. This was just a con-woman who was upset she got a middle seat and wanted an aisle...

I would of said I would get out of my seat every 20 minutes when she needed to get up from her middle seat.