News of lower fares aren't the only headlines grabbing flyers'
attention recently. Aircraft health concerns are big another story.
One report told of a woman dying from what's being called, "Coach
Class Syndrome." That's a very rare condition that can happen to
anyone crammed into tight spaces for a long period of time. I'm going
to talk to a doctor about that in a minute.
But that story got me thinking about another health concern we get a
lot of letters about - air quality aboard flights.
Now recently this has come up on Boeing's 777, a long
range, high altitude jet. Flight attendants for United and British
Airways -- the two airlines with the most 777s -- claim the air gets
so stale, passengers actually get sick.
United says they've already started modifying the air systems on
their 777s, and Boeing has launched a study to see whether the
plane's higher altitude is part of the problem.
These problems do seem serious ... so I called up our travel doctor,
Daniel Carlin. Dr. Carlin's the founder of World Clinic, an
Internet-based health resource for travelers, and he told me airplane
air doesn't really keep him up at night ... even on the red-eye.
If you'd like us to address your travel questions or concerns, send us an email. Or, you can snail-mail them in. The address is The Savvy Traveler, in care of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90007. Or call me at 888-SAV-TRAV.
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