Passenger travelling whilst really ill

[Notjustanother]

Took a flight to Berlin last week. Woman next to me was coughing the entire flight; deep phlegmmy cough and spitting stuff up. Clearly should have been in bed. It was grim. As a minimum she should have been wearing a mask.

Five days later I felt very ill, and tested positive for Covid. A former colleague who also happened to be on the flight, sitting in front of this woman, has also tested positive.

Since then I have lost half a stone in weight, been horrendously ill and am having difficulty breathing. Today we were supposed to be going away for a much looked forward to half term holiday, we have had to cancel and pay the £200 insurance excess.

The woman was on a mini break with her husband, but did some work on the flight. She works for a law firm.

Would I be unreasonable to contact the law firm and complain - especially as she was working for them during the flight. I have her name.

I am furious that her rank selfishness has made me (and others on the flight) so ill. There could be no doubt that she was going to infect others on the flight, and must have known that there was a high risk that she had Covid.

I think she needs to be made accountable for her actions, or at the very least be made aware of how her actions have affected others. AIBU?

Did she say anything like ‘oh excuse my cough, it only started as I was getting on the plane’.
You probably got covid from her but u know you will never be able to prove it.
I don’t think it’s ok for you to judge/read her work. If she was working while on holidays then she you kinda have to say ‘good on ya’.
If on the other hand she got on the plane knowing or strongly suspecting that she had covid then that’s incredibly selfish of her. And you would have every right to be annoyed.
I hope you and your colleague are over the worst of it.

A phlegmy cough not necessarily covid - it could be something chronic. You could have caught it from anywhere. If you can't cope with getting ill then you should get vaccinated and/or stay home. Imagine emailing her employer to tell them she had a cough on a flight.

My DD spewed up spectacularly just before a flight and again on the flight earlier this year. She's coeliac and had been accidentally glutened. There is no way anyone could have caught anything from her but no doubt people were blaming their random dicky tummies on my irresponsible decision to get on the flight for days later.

Unfortunately it’s a known hazard of flying to be exposed to viruses and a risk you take, especially at this time of year.

We don’t know she had Covid, there is no longer encouragement to test or report outside of a hospital setting, so she may not know herself and even if she had, the advice only to “try and stay at home”.

I agree when people are unwell they should try and avoid infecting others, but many either don’t think or are selfish. YANBU to be annoyed BUT you would be unreasonable to contact her firm.

Covid does affect the heart (and other systems of the body like the brain), my friend also had a heart attack which was caused by inflammation from the infection, but here is something from Johns Hopkins explaining the mechanism https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/heart-problems-after-covid19

YABVU. You have no evidence she gave you Covid. She didn’t do anything wrong, her choice to travel. If you chose to travel, you risk getting ill,

The covid might have come from any handle rail or door handle you touched and the lady next to you might have had COPD, Cystic Fibrosis something which she can’t help coughing her guts up with. I’m sorry you’re ill but don’t think you can blame this lady or her company

Some people have no conscience, I honestly think covid or not, you should wear a face covering in a confined space with cold/ flu/covid symptoms. Personal liberty, my eye! People are still getting sick! At the very least you risk ruining their holiday.

Are you serious OP? You have zero proof you caught COVID from this person. It isn’t illegal to travel with COVID anymore so even if you highly suspect said person, they have done nothing wrong. A chesty phlegmy cough is not definite proof of COVID, I just had one and it wasn’t COVID! Why would you email someone’s work? That’s just crazy and they will tell you exactly what I have just said if they justify you with a response.

If you want to contact the law firm go ahead, perhaps they’ll think twice about pressuring their employees to do in person international meetings when zoom is so much easier and better for the environment but some employers are insisting their staff have to be everywhere in person

sorry you are so ill :(

Unfortunately, we all put ourselves at risk of catching Covid, colds or the flu every time we travel. Not everyone can afford to change their flights, book hotels and take time off work if they get sick while on holiday. Also she might have had children or animals to get back home too.

You believe it to be her, but you don’t actually know it was her. Some people don’t even get symptoms it could of been anyone

You really want to get her in trouble at work for being ill on a plane?? Get a grip!

If i booked a much needed mini break with my husband and fell ill I’d absolutely dose myself up on tablets and go as planned.

Sorry you were ill OP, but ultimately you cannot prove that..

a/. she had COVID in the first place
b/. she was the one who gave it to you.

It seems possible sure, likely even, but can't be proved. Furthermore, even if she was infectious she still wasn't breaking any rules.

I can guarantee if you wrote to her law firm you would not get a response because they would not want to enter a correspondence about it because..

Their employee was doing nothing wrong
Their employee was on holiday
They are not going to admit liability in any way for making you unwell

Therefore your complaint would vanish into the ether.

Unfortunately travelling whilst ill is not against any official guidance.

So her company won’t be able to do anything about it.

Morally yes it’s horrendous but unfortunately people’s self interest is more important to them than other people’s health.

…however, at this point and seeing that behaviour since the end of restrictions, I’ve chosen to keep wearing high grade ffp3 masks in shops/other enclosed spaces.

Covid hangs in the air like smoke. So if you want to keep it out of your airways masking with a high grade mask of ffp2 or ffp3 is your best defence.

Are you mad? Covid has affected your sanity

You have no guarantee you caught it from her though....

Unfortunately, although I totally understand how annoyed you are, I do think YABU to want to contact the woman’s employer about this.

We went on holiday last year, for the first time since Covid hit, and there was a young family behind us on the plane with one kid who was very obviously unwell. Within a couple of days we all tested positive for Covid. It was obvious that the family had just dragged the kid on holiday knowing full well they were not well and likely to infect a lot of people. We were so poorly with Covid it ruined our holiday. But there was bugger all we could do about it.

Pre-Covid no-one would have even thought about where they got flu/bad cold/chest infection etc from.

You're right good ones do work in medical settings... the operative words here being 'medical settings'. In that, there are other things at play in these settings to ensure that that's the case, ie, room temperature, air-con, duration of use etc.

They are not meant for wearing on flights, around supermarkets etc. Never were, never will be.

I don't think that's quite true .

Again, you have zero idea whether that kid had Covid

Woman next to me was coughing the entire flight; deep phlegmmy cough and spitting stuff up.

These are exactly my symptoms for at least 6+ weeks after having a cold due to my asthma and lung issues. I'm not contagious, I'm often on steroids but I have this kind of cough

Last winter I got enough colds that I spent about 6 months in a row like this. I couldn't stop going out for 6 months so unfortunately sometimes people had to sit and listen to me coughing

WTF?

Flu is respiratory illness as well, but is well known for having side effects including heart problems. The classification is humans made, and covers the main/first system attacked, but the illness doesn't care how humans categorised it.

People had longcovid before vaccines were introduced.

Lots of people travel whilst asymptomatic for Covid (or other illnesses), or with very mild symptoms. Perhaps if one wants to travel on a mode of transport that requires one to be in very close, enclosed proximity to 10s/100s of other people, they should exercise some personal responsibility and wear a mask themselves?