Dear 7C,
You were on my United Airlines flight from Chicago to Los Angeles last Thursday. You should have been in bed instead.
I was seated two rows ahead of you in first class and for most of the flight was treated to sounds from you including a relentless cough and the unpleasant sound of spitting phlegm into a paper towel. It was the spitting, exaggerated like an animal writhing in pain, that frequently caused heads to turn. You made a spectacle of yourself.
During the pandemic, I thought masks should be voluntary. I still do. But you’re the type of person who should be wearing a mask if you insist on flying when you are sick. It is cruel and selfish to step onboard a confined metal tube with 180 other passengers and then proceed to cough and spit the entire flight.
Your paper towel was at least six inches from you. Every time you spit into it, airborne particles flew everywhere.
Including toward me.
And guess what I am doing this morning?
Now I’m coughing like a madman. And spitting too.
And I bet I’m not the only one.
So maybe the next time you step onboard a plane with a horrible cough and choose to spit instead of swallow, you 1.) wear a mask, and 2.) get up and go to the lavatory when you need to spit, and 3.) consider just staying home until you feel better.
Thanks,
Your seatmate in 4A
Note: there is no row six on a United Airlines 737 MAX 9
Poor flight attendants …
Get well soon. Try chicken broth .
@Maryland … a bottle of champagne works for me … knocks me out .
True but a well made chicken broth has an amino acid NAC and collagen. Reduces respiratory inflammation and (yuck) mucus. But I do love the champagne too. ;- )
Actually you idiots, they’re both useless placebos
NAC is real, used to be classified as a food supplement, now FDA prescription. But I can reduce enough from chicken broth. Trust it works, plenty of medical documentation. Next time your sick try it. Or just stay miserable. : (
Oh really? Then please cite a piece of medical documentation demonstrating that chicken broth has any effect on the severity or duration of the common cold.
Dear Karen,
Thanks for the unsolicited health advice. We all feel so enlightened now, thanks to this piece of literary brilliance.
Sincerely yours,
The Coughing, Spitting Man who had places to go.
Dear Kevin,
The coughing and spitting man was an asshole. So are you.
It takes one to know one, Gus.
I agree with Gus, spitting man was an assole.
Genius calling him an asshole.
Wait till Kevin stops ejecting particles from his mouth and start from his asshole.
Matthew,
I agree with your sentiments. I am nauseous just reading about this experience. I tell my employees to stay home if they are sick. You are not helping anyone spewing germs everywhere, especially in a metal tube at 36,000 feet.
I feel for the crews that are constantly dealing with this now. No one wears a mask when the should, people don’t stay home when they should, and this is why flu, Covid, RSV, and god knows what else is circulating like crazy.
Of course you were sitting in First Class .. where else would you put your entitled self ,,,
There are some times when traveling while sick is inevitable (e.g., you get sick while on the road), but it’s really not hard to mask your symptoms (cough drops are cheap, cold/flu meds or sudafed/mucinex)…it’s really not hard to spend 10-15 bucks at a CVS and hide the fact that you’re sick. I’m frustrated for you, hope you feel better.
Hope you enjoy it!
At least he was spitting on a paper towel. Very different from a lady the other day that walked in front of me at the airport cleaning her throat and spitting on the floor. Very classy.
Inside or outside?
Inside the terminal. I could not believe my eyes but she did. Trying to be nice but she was from a country in Asia where that is not uncommon to see on the streets.
Was this in the USA? Which airport?
MSP. She just spitted on the floor and kept walking. It was early in the day so not many people around. I was shocked to see but decided to just ignored and kept walking.
This is why I wear N95 masks on all flights. The pandemic is not over. It is possible that illness could be avoided if a N95 mask was worn. I also carry paper masks for others, if they want it.
People working with Covid patients in hospitals have avoided getting Çovid and they wore N95 masks.
Good for you. I traveled over 150k miles last year, no masks. Never had a sneeze. Maybe working out, eating healthy and having a strong immune system works well for me.
Matthew also has a strong immune system. See how sick he is. Over a million Americans died from Covid and several million have long Covid. Some of those people were previously healthy and young. Masks also help against non-Covid diseases, like the cold, influenza, etc. Ask Matthew if he feels well. Ask if he would rather not be sick. Ask the young doctor in China who discovered (suspected) Covid was rampant if he is happy that he is dead. He was not immunocompromised or sickly.
RRRRIGHT Derek..and…..Every box of N-95 / KN-95 state that they are for “non-medical use”. They are not respirators with sophisticated filters. But hey Derek, if you feel better with your “blankie”, go for it.
False information. Every box of N-95 does not say “non-medical use”. Are you saying that N-95 has no value or protection?
Or you contend that if it is not perfect, it is better to be exposed? Ask how sick Matthew is.
Show me on the dolly where the mask hurt you. Loser.
Agree that sometimes traveling while sick is unavoidable, but you can always opt to wear a mask and take medication that makes coughing, spitting, etc. less frequent. It’s not asking much. I always have a plastic bag of masks in my travel kit. For times when I get sick downleg or when I am sitting near someone who is sick.
This fixation on masks is absurd. A cloth mask will do next to nothing to reduce the contagion of whatever ailment this guy had. I thought we all learned that from COVID, yet I still see morons wearing masks alone in the car. Trust me on this one, respiratory protection is part of what I do – a mask isn’t going to help you, nor him. Not touching stuff in the area would be a better suggestion.
Who said anything about a cloth mask?
Look stogie not sure what type of respiratory protection you do, but when a body is spewing visible particles a mask is helpful, much like a shower curtain. If there is any one here that was physically harmed by wearing a mask I would like to hear your story.
I know of someone that got out of a speeding ticket because the camera captured a driver wearing a mask, which made it insufficient to identify the driver.
“Trust me” – why should I? What makes your opinion qualified and evidence-based? Opinions are like rear ends…everyone has one and most of them stink.
Seriously, I generally like Matthew’s stuff. A lot of good critiques and interesting content. But this is nothing more than whiny, millennial snowflake-flavored tripe. Best paired with a Sara McLaughlin playlist of whinery.
You don’t know the guy’s circumstances, he probably had no choice but to get home and here you are judging and complaining. Toughen up, you’ll survive.
I don’t understand why someone in that condition won’t wear a mask. I HATE masks, but if I had no choice but to travel, I would wear one (and a good one too, like an N-95 or KN-95)…it’s just common courtesy. The guy would not stop spitting and made a huge spectacle of himself in the manner in which he so loudly cleared his throat and spit into the napkin. For four hours!
I said on here that “don’t travel” has always been a valid choice some people need to recognise. At the time, you said you don’t understand.
This is why.
You should have used your 1k privilege to forcibly get the FAs to remove this terror of a man. Maybe call the police, and for crying out loud, also get Mayor Pete on the line!
Had the same thing happen on a Swiss A320… 2 hours of hacking behind me. 2 days later – cough! I even put on my own N-95 mask – didn’t help much I guess.
Hope yours doesn’t last the 6 weeks mine did.
It won’t help now, but I take a CVS Multivitamin and Nature Made Zinc 30mg each day. I’ve been taking the multivitamins for years. Started with Zinc during the pandemic. Give them a try if you don’t take something already.
You speak to my heart regarding 7C. My husband is a Pilot and during the entire pandemic he didn’t get a cold or flu. But once selfish sick passengers started traveling again and at the least wear a mask if coughing or sneezing my dear husband has come down again with colds. Ugh. People can be so inconsiderate.
I always have an N95 mask with me, and when I run into one of these people near me, which happens on at least half my flights, I mask up. Pretty sure that’s kept me from getting sick – in two cases I’ve been with colleagues who ended up sick and I didn’t.
Of course, I spent much of my life in Asia, so I have no qualms about masking when sick or when sickness is being spread by others. Grateful for that!
+1. I agree that the sick passenger should’ve worn a mask, but Matthew could’ve also worn an N95 mask and likely prevented himself from getting sick. Instead, he claims that he “HATES” masks but other people should wear one.
Dramatic much? Not that I disagree that the guy should have worn a mask but given the frequency of your travel, and the various airports, countries, etc you visit, I find it hard to believe that coughing guy is the absolute source of your current symptoms.
If you were in 4A and the guy was two rows back, then it probably was on a 739 or 7M9, both of which have a lav and a bulkhead (most aircraft have the fixed wall but some have the mudflap) and a curtain between F and Y. Given the direction of airflow on the aircraft, and the cabin filters in use, which by the way you posted previously that “approximately 99.99% of particles were filtered out of the cabin within six minutes due to fast air circulation, downward air ventilation and efficient filtration systems on the plane,” it’s highly unlikely that “airborne particles flew everywhere,” including towards you.
Just gonna leave this right here:
https://liveandletsfly.com/united-airlines-covid-19-study/
Correct, was a 7M9.
I wasn’t around anyone who was sick for several days beyond this guy…and he was coughing toward me…he was seated behind me and coughing in my direction.
I cannot say with 100% certainty it was him, but I had no other interactions with people with colds last week.
“I had no other interactions with people with colds last week”……….that you know of.
People are gross and everything in airports, lounges, planes, etc. are touchpoints that someone, possibly asymptomatic, may have breathed on/touched/etc.
I’m sorry but I’m still not convinced about someone 8-10 feet away coughing “towards” you as being patient zero. Directly across or behind you? Sure. Breathed or coughed in the aisle while he was passing by? You bet. In a different cabin with a physical bulkhead/lav, a curtain, etc? Even then he would have to hock a massive loogie in your direction……the way that airvents are situated and blow, the way cabin air systems circulate air/airflow in a cabin typically is moving from the ceiling downward, and then front to back. I guess that’s the part that just makes your rant sound nonsensical…….not to mention the fact that if you are in 4A, how can you possibly see what someone in 7C is doing let alone know he was coughing “towards” you? I guess you leaned over 4B and cocked your head at a 90* angle in the aisle for the entire flight and breathed in the germs that jumped 8-10 feet even though its been determined that respiratory droplets do not travel more than 6 feet,?
There is no seat 7C on United’s MAX 9’s. All row 7 seats on that plane are D-F. Plus there’s a lavatory between rows 5 and 8 on their MAX 9’s.
He was in the bulkhead aisle on starboard side.
No I am not wearing a mask, No I am not altering my lifestyle for one instant to make you comfortable. The cabin air is drry and it makes me cough too, DEAL WITH IT.
You’re a horrible person. May God have mercy on your soul.
Especially with flexible airline policies, it’s never been easier to cancel or adjust travel if not feeling well.
That said, especially in winter time, sick people are all around you and may not be showing illness. Your seatmate may have been ill, even..
So if you want to mitigate this, my suggestion is to wear a mask that is at least KN95. I do this by choice when in an aircraft or tight spaces in transit – to protect myself. Not for any social statement/activism or anything like that. And as someone who has minor but legit health aspects.
You can only be accountable to your own behavior within reason.