British Airways Pretends to Battle Swine Flu

Sure it sounds like a good idea. The motivation behind it could even be applauded. Some might say, "They're just trying to keep passengers healthy."

Except that they're not, and they can't, and it may be the travel industry's worst idea of 2009 (aside from the galactically stupid Pet Airways).

British Airways recently announced that passengers displaying the symptoms of swine flu will be turned away at check-in and asked to provide a doctor's note saying they are fit to fly.

There are a whole list of reasons this is a terrible idea, so let's just take it from the top:

(1) The people at the check-in counter are qualified to diagnose H1N1? Are you serious? The airline claims check-in workers have been trained to identify the disease by looking for the following symptoms: headaches, runny noses and sore throats. F*cking Brilliant.

(2) What's to keep someone from contracting the virus AFTER they visit a doctor? Is there some magic germ-barrier that surrounds people holding "fit-to-fly notes"?

(3) Apparently all the MDs in Britain were just sitting around waiting for something to do. So naturally, they need a few thousand extra patients seeking signatures and smiley faces over a head cold. I'm sure they'll appreciate the fact that the referrals came from the medical experts at the AIRPORT CHECK-IN DESK.

(4) Finally, they really want to do this for the swine flu? Come on. Every single year the world loses between 200,000 and 500,000 people to the flu. Just the regular old flu, for which, we already have a vaccine. It's not that H1N1 doesn't matter, but people need to have a little perspective...

And apparently British Airways will not be providing that perspective. Instead they've opted to exploit people's irrational fears with an ignorant and backwards policy that will do nothing to halt the spread of a relatively unalarming disease. Cheers.