Swine flu implications for travel

Reports during the past few days of commerical planes being diverted to alternate airports, passengers being quarantined, hotels being cordoned off, and of course Vice President Joe Biden's absurd comments have raised concerns among people planning travel. 

Here is an attempt to separate some of the facts from fiction.

Flu, including swine flu, is transmitted by droplets. Unless you are within about three feet of an infected and contagious individual, the risk is relatively small. The primary guidance for managing a suspected sick passenger on an airplane is to try to move other passengers so that there is nobody within 3-6 feet of the individual, to provide a surgical mask for the ill passenger (to prevent their sneezes or coughs from infecting others), and for flight crews to use disposable gloves when handling possibly infected materials from the passenger. The crew also has to alert U.S. health officials prior to landing, who are to make the appropriate arrangements for medical personnel to meet the plane on arrival. The CDC has traveler quarantine stations in about 20 cities, so diverting an aircraft would seem to be an unlikely -- and very costly -- event.

The CDC also has very specific recommendations for cleaning airplanes, trains, cabs, and other transit vehicles during an outbreak. The cleaning focuses on areas where a suspected ill passenger or crew member was located. On airplanes, cleaning with a disinfectant is recommended for all surfaces such as seat belt latches, armrests, tray tables, windowshades, and passenger controls such as lighting and audio.

The flu virus can survive outside the human body for more than 24 hours, but the CDC says that it is highly doubtful that sufficient amounts to be infectious would be present on any surfaces on an airplane or other conveyance after many hours.

If you are traveling, the most practical advice from the CDC is to carry a pocket-sized alcohol gel so that you can keep your hands clean throughout your flight or other travel. Although this does not take the place of thorough hand washing with hot water and soap, it is a very effective interim measure.

For more information, visit the CDC's Travel Notices page, which is frequently updated.

Air Canada and a crafty way to avoid overbooking and its costs

Air Canada has introduced what it touts as a new service to reward travelers who are flexible with their travel plans, called the Flexible Reward Option. If you register your willingness to accept alternate flight times (or even days,) you may be "rewarded" with those alternate plans and the rather paltry monetary reward of $57 if the airline bumps you to your alternate flight.

For the airline, this provides the clear benefit of knowing in advance whether some travelers are flexible and creates the possibility of avoiding that last-minute scramble to accomodate victims of overbooked flights.

For the traveler, this may give a chance to switch to an alternate flight without onerous ticket change fees. But it also may reduce the chances of the sometimes valuable benefits given to travelers who accept voluntary "bumping" when their flight is oversold. Free roundtrip tickets or vouchers worth $200 or more towards another trip are not uncommon.

Personally, if I am not in a rush to get where I am going, I intentionally try to book flights that have a good chance of being overbooked, and I almost always volunteer to give up my seat. Airlines have gotten better about capacity control, so I haven't been bumped in a while, but it's a fun part of travel for me -- sometimes. My recent trip to Chicago for my 25th year graduate school reunion would not have been possible without a free roundtrip United gave me for yielding my seat on a prior flight a few months earlier.

The Air Canada program is managed through a partner company Optiontown. This Massachusetts company appears to be developing programs like Air Canada's for other travel vendors. If Air Canada's success at implementing a la carte pricing earlier than most carriers is any indication, the Flexible Reward Option may take the place of Denied Boarding Vouchers on other airlines before long.