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?

I regularly have bouts of sneezing and coughing due to sinuses. I absolutely would not refrain from flying due to this. I am careful to sneeze/cough into a tissue of course but would not cancel a flight/holiday because of it.

It's annoying but you can catch colds/flu/covid anytime anywhere, how is blaming someone going to benefit you?

I think she needs to be made accountable for her actions

I can see it now... Front page of the Daily Star with your best compo face on.

A corporate lawyer who asks Mumsnet for advice about how lawyer firms act...

You might get her in trouble regarding the lack of confidentiality, and as a corporate lawyer yourself, I'm surprised that wasn't your first thought and concern. But I really doubt you'll get her into trouble for flying legally on her own time. I don't know, you tell us, m'learned friend.

I feel pretty vindictive to be honest, I should have been going on holiday today and enjoying half term with my DC but instead I’m ill in bed after the most horrendous week.

Following the logic on here, why is it wrong or ‘vindictive’ for me to report her for breaching her professional obligations but absolutely hunky dory for her to knowingly infect others with a horrendous illness?

Both are legally allowed, why is one considered morally wrong but not the other?

This is legit ridiculous and if true you're weird af OP. She's a stranger on a flight but you somehow know who she works for and that she was on a mini break with her husband, and that she definitely gave you covid and now you require financial compensation and also HEADS TO ROLL.

Fuck me, if you're not a troll or AI sort your life out.

I don’t want financial compensation??? No idea where you got that from.

You could have caught Covid from anyone, anywhere. You have no proof that she had Covid, and if she did, she's done nothing wrong at all. I fly frequently and the airlines are all very clear - if you wish to wear a mask for your own protection against ANY airborne viruses, that is your responsibility. Would you be talking about contacting her company to make wild accusations if you had flu or a bad cold? And since many of these viruses including Covid can be transitted by symptomless people the chances are that it could have been anyone.

I don't know about the UK, but in Australia (NSW) it is legally wrong to knowingly spread a schedule 3 disease, which COVID currently is.

For example does the UK have laws about knowingly having unprotected sex when HIV positive, and if so is COVID in the same category (it remains a notifiable disease, I know).

Maybe if people started having to pay for their irresponsible actions in failing to even wear a mask when obviously very ill, we would have less selfish behaviour. Go for it, OP!

Come on op, two wrongs don't make a right.

Prove it. You obviously can't, you could have got it anywhere.

I have chronic bronchitis, following pneumonia and several bouts of bronchitis this last year. Finally diagnosed after a year of being unwell. I’m permanently coughing or sneezing. And bringing up phlegm.

People may think I have covid. I don’t! And I’m not infectious.

Also there is no requirement to isolate any longer. We have to live with covid. And that’s from me, If I get covid I’m at serious risk of being hospitalised. It’s a risk I take when I go out or on holiday.

No, there is no such law around COVID in the UK.

There's no requirement at all to test or isolate.

It's a point of ethics philosophy which corporate lawyers are better informed than most people to answer.

My guess is that breaching client confidentiality might not break the law (although if that's the case, why can people sue if it happens?) but it certainly breaks an agreed contract and accepted industry ethics, so there are known and accepted consequences for it for all involved. Flying while ill is horrid but I can't think of any agreed rule that it breaks.

Do other people really cancel flights home and spend extra time in hotels with all the associated costs and hassle because they don’t want a a cold on a 2 hour flight? I doubt travel insurance would cover that!

Of course they don't.

It's only on MN that people suggest such batshittery.

PS highly recommend boarding last on flights as the air quality is worst on the ground (the full ventilation and filtration system is usually activated in the air) and wear an N95 mask for optimal protection.

Also don't be afraid to flag your concerns to staff, they usually have spare masks and can ask sick passengers to mask up if they have any sense. Or at the very least try to find you a seat far from the sick person.

You can't be sure it's her, so you would be massively unreasonable to contact her workplace.

It's selfish people like her that keep the clinically vulnerable trapped in their homes.

Report her.

You do. You sound vindictive and vile. She was obviously feel alright but had a bad chest and was happy to carry on with her holiday..why shouldn't she? There's no rules to say you shouldn't go on holiday and give it a go if you're ill. I wouldn't cancel a holiday if I was ill unless I LITERALLY was that ill I couldn't get out of bed. Saying you're going to grass her up to her employer for breaching DPA is just horrid.

You were whining about the £200 excess.

I feel for you Op. My Mum and I recently returned from a coach trip to Scotland. Several people were coughing badly, but not one person wore a mask. My 94 year old Mum went down with Covid the day after we returned and was very ill. Some people just don't care.

Feelings are understandable, but as there are no governmental guidelines, she's done nothing wrong technically. Although morally most of agree she has, technically no.

Oh, this is turning into he plot of one of those rather naff ITV dramas in which a woman just going about her business does something almost imperceptible to draw the attention of a psychopathic stalker who'll stop at nothing until her career and life have been destroyed.

So, OP, when you've dobbed her in to her employer, what do you plan to do next? And you didn't answer my previous question, which was why didn't you just send the rest of your family away on holiday without you, to reduce their chances of catching what you've got, give you some quiet time to recover and to make the most of the half-term opportunity? Why turn something unfortunate into such a major drama?

You sound so angry that you aren't thinking straight. It would be silly to call her work.
I understand it is annoying, but it is just extra annoying because you are missing a holiday.
For the past week the bus I take in the morning has been packed with teenagers sniffing and coughing....makes me crazy they don't stay at home.

Yes, no-one should travel while ill but no-one should be nosey about someone's personal details either, nor propose dobbing them in to their employer when it may not have been them who passed on Covid. It's all a bit 1984.