Page 18 | Passenger travelling whilst really ill

Notjustanother · 2023-10-28T08:56:28+00:00

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?

PuddlesPityParty · 30/10/2023 12:09

The woman was wrong OP but to be honest you come across much, much worse. What do you want to happen? Her be fired? You sound like a bully.

ClairDeLaLune · 30/10/2023 12:12

Legally she’s done nothing wrong.

Morally it’s a different story.

I’d be tempted to contact her employer as a petty act of revenge. Tell them everything you saw on her screen. She’ll be in big trouble and it will serve her right!

Hope you feel better soon OP. Sorry about your holiday. Btw, get better travel insurance - only £75 excess with Columbus!

TrashedSofa · 30/10/2023 12:17

CalamityCat · 30/10/2023 03:39

OP I am appalled at the number of apologists for this woman. Sure, with a phlegmmy cough she might not have had Covid and sure, there are asymptomatic people you could catch it from, but given both you and the man in front then caught it it seems far more likely that she had it. And either didn't test or chose to travel in the knowledge she was positive. As for those saying you could wear a mask, has everything been forgotten about that- masks are mainly to prevent those coughing from spreading their germs!
It just comes across that the vast majority are so focused on not letting Covid get in the way of normal life they have forgotten how badly some people can be impacted.

Edited

You haven't got the fucking foggiest where the OP in this tale contracted covid. It doesn't seem far more likely at all, you've just got a spot of Dunning Kreuger.

But that's one of the features of this pandemic, people imagining they can tell how a covid infection happened based on their moral judgement of someone's behaviour. You've plenty of company.

SwingTheMonkey · 30/10/2023 12:23

ClairDeLaLune · 30/10/2023 12:12

Legally she’s done nothing wrong.

Morally it’s a different story.

I’d be tempted to contact her employer as a petty act of revenge. Tell them everything you saw on her screen. She’ll be in big trouble and it will serve her right!

Hope you feel better soon OP. Sorry about your holiday. Btw, get better travel insurance - only £75 excess with Columbus!

So you’d potentially have someone lose their entire career because you suspected, but had absolutely no proof, that they’d given you Covid?

What the actual fuck, is wrong with people?

Were you this odd before Covid or has it addled your brain?

notimagain · 30/10/2023 12:50

You all share the same air on a flight so no point in moving

FWIW the flow is generally directed (on Boeings at least) so the air enters at the ceiling and flows down to floor level, were it eventually enters the HEPA filters or gets dumped...

There shouldn't be much fore/aft flow so if spread via airflow is a concern moving seat might help.

Moreempatheticmyarse · 30/10/2023 12:59

Captainfairylights · 30/10/2023 08:31

This is very bad behaviour on the part of the woman, which in the beforetimes (pre-Covid) would just be that, like someone kicking your seat from behind or getting drunk and obnoxious on the flight. If you were upset by her behaviour you should really have pulled her up on it at the time. It's not obnoxious because you got ill -- it is just obnoxious. Unfortunately Covid turned us all into censorious cowards who won't challenge anyone in person but attempt to punish them later from a distance. In the past it was also well established that flights make you ill because all the air is circulated. We all accepted that, annoying though it is, like endless security checks and all the other hassles. Planes are germ boxes. This woman was just inconsiderate. You don't know what was behind it, who knows why she was travelling whilst sick, we never know what is happening for others unless we ask. Which now, from behind our keyboards we never do. The moment has passed to challenge her.

You don't know what was behind it

Like asthma, lung issues, cystic fibrosis

Yes still you have decided this

This woman was just inconsiderate
This is very bad behaviour on the part of the woman
it is just obnoxious

As someone with cough variant asthma I think those to judge me for travelling when coughing, which I do pretty much every day of my life, are the inconsiderate ones.

SwingTheMonkey · 30/10/2023 13:06

Moreempatheticmyarse · 30/10/2023 12:59

You don't know what was behind it

Like asthma, lung issues, cystic fibrosis

Yes still you have decided this

This woman was just inconsiderate
This is very bad behaviour on the part of the woman
it is just obnoxious

As someone with cough variant asthma I think those to judge me for travelling when coughing, which I do pretty much every day of my life, are the inconsiderate ones.

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Perhaps pp’s would prefer it if users of public transport were required to divulge their medical status to others - perhaps by way of a visible badge or something? So that they could make a judgment on whether that person has the right to be using said transport?

Moreempatheticmyarse · 30/10/2023 13:09

SwingTheMonkey · 30/10/2023 13:06

Perhaps pp’s would prefer it if users of public transport were required to divulge their medical status to others - perhaps by way of a visible badge or something? So that they could make a judgment on whether that person has the right to be using said transport?

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Honestly I sometimes say after the glares I get that I need a big badge saying "it's not covid it's asthma" 🤦‍♀️

Mummasals · 30/10/2023 13:14

OP you are truly an awful person. But for the fact that this woman had a nasty cough (which could have been anything - we all remember the govt harping on about being an ‘asymptotic carrier’ 🙄), I bet you’d have done nothing about this lady’s poorly hidden laptop screen. But because you feel like crap, you’ve set out to make her feel like crap too. Looks like you got a bit of preemptive karma!

Findinganewme · 30/10/2023 13:31

I’d be sad and angry in your position too.

what are you hoping to achieve by contacting her company? The only thing I can see is that you want to alert her colleagues that she made a morally poor decision.

there is no legal recourse. You can’t even prove that she passed the Covid on to you. You’ll achieve nothing.

I tend to keep a mask in my coat pocket, just in case I’m around anyone who is coughing and spluttering heavily, as my son has a blood disorder. I can’t control what others do, but I can put a mask on myself.

Montegufoni2017 · 30/10/2023 13:58

Oh gosh, you’re not serious. You’d only embarrass yourself. It’s pretty obvious you caught it from her yeah but Jesus it’s a bug and she didn’t hold you down and cough in your face! I’d be irritated too but contacting her employee to tell them a whole load of nothing is petty

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 30/10/2023 14:04

SwingTheMonkey · 30/10/2023 13:06

Perhaps pp’s would prefer it if users of public transport were required to divulge their medical status to others - perhaps by way of a visible badge or something? So that they could make a judgment on whether that person has the right to be using said transport?

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During Covid I wanted a badge saying 'I have allergies'! I was told on here that I should stay indoors when I'm coughing as I might frighten people. Sadly it seems that some posters haven't moved on from that

SwingTheMonkey · 30/10/2023 14:10

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 30/10/2023 14:04

During Covid I wanted a badge saying 'I have allergies'! I was told on here that I should stay indoors when I'm coughing as I might frighten people. Sadly it seems that some posters haven't moved on from that

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Well I do hope you’ve heeded that advice and not left the house since March 2020… 😂

JST88 · 30/10/2023 14:43

I get that you’re annoyed, of course you are but this complains culture is beyond. People nowadays seem to want others absolutely crucified, the cancel culture I guess. Imagine actually contacting someone’s workplace because they ventured out whilst having a virus and you caught their virus, actual beggars belief. What are you hoping to gain by this? Will you be happy if she loses her livelihood? 🤣 come on to fuck! Stay inside in future to avoid any possibility of catching a virus

JST88 · 30/10/2023 14:45

Also, all this that her decision was ‘morally’ wrong, I’m sorry I’m actually laughing out loud rn. ‘Morally’ wrong, is screwing around with someone’s husband, it’s stealing, it’s not travelling with a virus for what very well could have been a funeral for all we know 😭 dying 😂😂

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 30/10/2023 14:54

How was she simultaneously "very unwell" and yet at the same time to be well enough to work while on holiday? Either she was very ill or she wasn't, sounds like she was well enough to work but had a bit of a cough?

You have no idea at all whether you caught covid from this woman or not. Even if you did, there are no restrictions on flying with it now, any more than there are restrictions on flying with flu or a cold. Her cough may or may not have been covid related. Unless your stuck a LTF test up her nostril mid flight, you have no way of knowing.

You would be ridiculous to contact her employer and you would just make yourself look an idiot.

Hopefully this is just a case of your judgement being off because of covid brain fog, and you'll realise how silly it sounds when you start thinking rationally again. I hope you feel better soon.

Melodysmum12 · 30/10/2023 15:00

You’ve no proof she gave you covid
Even if she did give you it what do you expect her or her company to do?
It’s annoying but we don’t have to legally test for covid and isolate so you don’t have a leg to stand on!

CalamityCat · 30/10/2023 17:11

"But that's one of the features of this pandemic, people imagining they can tell how a covid infection happened based on their moral judgement of someone's behaviour."
No. If you read what I say, it is based on the person next to her and the person in front of her testing positive for Covid. Nothing to do with moral judgement of behaviour. All to do with the results. Based on some of the previous airflow research from the pandemic on tracking the spread of infections.

WatchOutMissMarpleIsAbout · 30/10/2023 18:08

Moreempatheticmyarse · 30/10/2023 13:09

Honestly I sometimes say after the glares I get that I need a big badge saying "it's not covid it's asthma" 🤦‍♀️

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I’ve been known to whip out my inhaler when people start giving me dirty looks.

ultraviolet4753 · 30/10/2023 18:12

Sorry, you share some responsibility here. You were on a plane where air is recirculating, it's a germ fest even before covid. There's no guarantee she gave it to you, you could have got it the day before, in the duty free shop, someone else on the plane, in the luggage pick up area, etc.
You need to protect yourself as much as possible with basic stuff that takes pretty much no effort, e.g First Defence spray, FFP3 mask, vaccinate if possible etc.

You can't depend on other people to keep you safe. It's your health, protect it.

TrashedSofa · 30/10/2023 18:34

CalamityCat · 30/10/2023 17:11

"But that's one of the features of this pandemic, people imagining they can tell how a covid infection happened based on their moral judgement of someone's behaviour."
No. If you read what I say, it is based on the person next to her and the person in front of her testing positive for Covid. Nothing to do with moral judgement of behaviour. All to do with the results. Based on some of the previous airflow research from the pandemic on tracking the spread of infections.

Lmao no. There was nothing about research in the post I quotes anyway, but even with it added this is nothing but guesswork. It only seems likely to you because you want it to be true. Covid is everywhere and our bullshitting, dripfeeding, conveniently vanished OP has been travelling. She's been in multiple airports and wouldn't even know whether she contracted it on the plane or not. Anyone who thinks they can say with any probability where she got it from is seriously overstepping.

TheGoogleMum · 30/10/2023 18:42

My mother got covid shortly after flying recently. I think it spreads easily on planes unfortunately

MrsB74 · 30/10/2023 19:01

I’ve also just had covid (for the first time) and have no idea where the hell I caught it - have you felt like this about every bug you’ve caught over the years? You may have caught it off your own children who remained symptom free! I lost weight and felt dreadful too (still not 100%), but do not feel any anger against whoever gave it to me. It’s a virus, these things happen. She may have only started feeling ill that morning and just wanted to get home or it may have been someone else (symptom free) on the plane. You are allowed to fly with covid and her insurance may not have covered cancellation. Also my children still hugged me when I had covid and didn’t catch it! I can’t believe you emailed her, that’s nuts (and embarrassing).

Doone22 · 30/10/2023 20:04

YABU yes she was coughing but you could have caught anything from anyone on a flight. Maybe she's the most likely culprit but unless you are a CSI investigator you are just making assumptions.
Also I myself have been in a position many many years ago now when I became hideously ill the day I was travelling back from work and wtf is anyone actually supposed to do about it? Refuse to travel? Make work pay for a month in a hotel while I recover? If the airline didn't refuse boarding you have to accept it as one of life's shirty things . Anyone and anything can make you ill, sometimes you get more ill than others, sometimes with long lasting or permanent effects. You just have to suck it up because baby, life ain't fair.

kurotora · 30/10/2023 20:23

You have no idea you caught Covid from her. I had pneumonia at the start of this year, spent 4 months with a terrible phlegmy cough and breathlessness, then a minor cold in the early summer set me off again till the end of September.

It is possible she gave you it, but because you really only suspect it would be highly inappropriate to complain.