One Less Insult In Airline Travel

Most of us have a very different experience than Roger Federer en route from departure terminal to arrival gate: the lost hours of pre-travel travel; the forced intimacy with strangers as we strip off our sweaters and belts, and bend over to remove shoes when passing through security; the disgraceful dimensions of Economy Class seats we normal-sized people squeeze ourselves into (consider the industrially farmed chicken next time you're buckling your seat belt); the rank obliviousness of fellow flyers who block the aisle during boarding, stuff obscene suitcases in the overhead bins, and recline their seats so as to be in the lap of the poor sap directly behind. And so on. Never mind all the great new airplane features like charging for luggage, offering extra leg room for an extra fee (in some circles, that used to be called extortion), and the sanctimonious announcements about alcohol consumption we've heard on recent international flights. The good news: air quality. It's measurably better than it is in an average office building, according to a recent report from the National Research Council’s Transportation Research Board. 

Cabin air is refreshed about 15 times an hour, compared with less than 12 an hour in an office building, Dr. Mark Gendreau, an emergency and aviation medicine expert at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Mass. told the New York Times recently. On most full-size jets, the air is also circulated through hospital-grade HEPA filters, which are supposed to remove 99.97 percent of bacteria and the minuscule particles that carry viruses. The cabin air is also divided into separate ventilation systems covering every seven rows or so, limiting the ability of germs to travel from one end of the plane to the other.

Perhaps we can breathe a bit easier when forced to ride with the great unwashed. Just don't touch anything! Many frequent fliers, including Dr. Gendreau, take some precautionary measures to reduce the risk of contact with infectious germs once onboard. They wipe down the unstowed tray table, the handle on the overhead bin, and other hard surfaces with alcohol-based hand sanitizer. A handy thing to have--if you can get it past security--since some doctors say it's unwise to use the water in an airplane bathroom even to wash your hands. Bon voyage.

Dr. Merrell's Tip: