Airport Avenger: Tips and Top Secrets for Airlines, Airfares, Fees, Security and Cancelations

Airlines can stop someone with a contagious disease from boarding. But who makes the call on the guy with the red, watery eyes in line behind you? Just a hangover or worse? You’ve probably noticed most airlines don’t have doctors waiting at the gate to assess passengers’ health. It could be up to the gate agent in most cases.

If you get sick just before your flight and can’t travel, airlines often won’t rebook your discount or economy ticket without a change fee that could be as much as a couple of hundred dollars. Most full-fare and premium tickets (and Southwest Airlines tickets) don’t have change fees.

Sometimes a note from your doctor will save you from the fee, but carriers have gotten stricter about that because a number of people who weren’t sick used fake notes to change their flights without the penalty. That, in turn, seems to have pushed more people to fly when they’re sick to avoid getting hit with the change fee.

Airlines handle sick passengers on a case-by-case basis. That goes for passengers who appear to be ill and want to fly, as well as people trying to change their flights and fly later because they don’t feel good.

More tips and top secrets about staying healthy when you fly:

Stay Healthy on High

Do You Smell Something?