Airlines Will Ban Swine Flu Suspects.

[operator]

From the Sunday Times.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_...icle6719172.ece

BRITISH holidaymakers suspected of suffering from swine flu are being stopped from boarding flights.

Check-in staff at Heathrow and other main British airports are vetting passengers for possible symptoms and turning away those suspected of being infected. Some countries, including Thailand, Egypt and China have installed thermal body scanners to identify passengers with fever.

More than 50 British children and teachers were yesterday under quarantine in Beijing after four of the children were diagnosed with swine flu. It also emerged this weekend that: Hospitals face a potential crisis over the limited number of intensive care beds. Under the worst-case scenario, seriously ill patients could have to make way for swine flu victims. The manufacturers of the new swine flu vaccine are to be given legal indemnity amid concerns over any side effects. Regulators are due to fast-track its approval. Some patients – whatever their illness – face waits of up to 11 hours before getting a call back from weekend and evening GPs’ services. Calls are running at double the normal rate. Security guards are to protect NHS supplies of Tamiflu when the drug is handed out at temporary distribution centres, such as community buildings.

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic confirmed this weekend that its staff were not allowing suspected sufferers to travel. A BA spokesman said some passengers had already been turned away at check-in because they showed symptoms of infection.

“Our staff are trained on what to look out for if someone has swine flu or any other communicable disease,” said the spokesman. “The staff seek medical advice and anyone with swine flu would be advised they are unfit to travel.”

A Virgin Atlantic spokesman said check-in staff would call in a medical team for advice if passengers were showing possible signs, such as coughing or excessive sneezing. “We would be advised by our medical experts. But advice for anyone with swine flu is that they should not travel and wait until they recover,” said a spokesman. The Association of British Insurers said cancelled holidays or postponed flights would normally be covered under insurance policies. Passengers are advised to check airline websites for advice.

Passengers who are suffering from swine flu but are not spotted at check-in may find themselves quarantined on their arrival overseas.

The group of 52 children and teachers were put in quarantine in China after four pupils were diagnosed with swine flu on arrival in the country on Tuesday. The trip was organised by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and involves schoolchildren from around the country.

Sulaimon Prince, 14, a pupil at the Central Foundation boys’ school, east London, is one of the four who tested positive and is recovering in Ditan hospital, Beijing. He said yesterday: “We were taken to hospital by ambulance. My temperature has come down. I’m not feeling ill so I think everything is okay.”

The party has been quarantined with American children in the Yanxiang hotel, a four-star hotel in Beijing. More than 200 foreigners are in quarantine.

The Department of Health said yesterday that Britain would get sufficient swine flu vaccine and it would indemnify drug manufacturers if there were any serious side effects from the vaccine.

Doctors are also worried about the demand for intensive-care beds. In the worst case scenario, flu victims in need of intensive care could outnumber the available beds. There are only 3,636 such beds in England.

Additional reporting: Marie Woolf, Kevin Dowling, Jon Ungoed-Thomas

[Rinrada]

So TAT forecast..... NO tourists in Thailand for 2009-10......back to the wok pots ...got their country back...yes

[alant]

so what is the compensation to the customer if, having been stopped from flying, it is found he/she did NOT have pig flu, or does he have to sue (or is that sueee, )

but seriously, you are prevented from taking a flight to secure a multi million $ deal and you are prevented from boarding... no deal, you dont have flu so are the airline liable?

[Rinrada]

Go to your local GP and get a "Sick Line"confirming that that you have Hogs Flu..... .....dont worry about the 5000 other punters in front of you......

then give it to you travel insurance company who wiull refund yoru fares....

PS ...Docs dont want to see you anyway....incase you ........whole thing is media run ...flogging newspapers ...a con...and bliddy stupid ...KOF KOff...feel sorry for pigs

.....visit China and get a free Hotel Room for 5 days....gorra laff...

[Carib]

Our fully medical trained groundstaf ( 4 years study) will decide if you.... right..nuff said

[sunreader]

God help anyone who sneezes in a departure or arrivals lounge.

Watch out for the Sneeze Police.

[Robert44]

What scares me more than being stopped from flying is - "The manufacturers of the new swine flu vaccine are to be given legal indemnity amid concerns over any side effects.".

Talk about media pressure - wonder what they will say if all the children are born with a second head??

[peter991]

Interesting read ... Arriving at Singapore's LCCT two weeks ago, I was sweating a bit after the long walk from the plane and up two ramps, before the downhill walk into the terminal - where the two staff manning the scanners pulled me aside, saying I showed up on their thermal scanners as a 'possible subject.'

I politely told them I was 'normal' and just a bit hot from the walk and I had a slight temperature and a heart condition. Two glasses of iced water and my body scan was in the 'normal' range.

Thank goodness:

(a) I was in Singapore - home of 'sensible' people

( Not in China

Peter

[Rinrada]

Wot A Farce.......

BA could be flying empty Jumbos to Bangers......Koff Koff.....

Holidaymakers suspected of having swine flu will be prevented from checking in and required to provide doctors’ notes saying that they are fit to fly, airlines said yesterday. .... ?????

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have provided check-in staff and cabin crew with guidance on the virus as it continues to spread.

The news comes just before one of the busiest weeks of the year for airports, with thousands of families preparing to go on holiday.

Doctors’ leaders condemned the policy as “an absolute nonsense”.

They said they would not be able to identify everyone carrying the virus and that the process would be a drain on health workers’ time.

Peter Holden, the British Medical Association’s lead representative on pandemic flu, told The Times that he was advising doctors not to issue the notes because they would not be worth the paper they were written on.

“It is a total and utter waste of time,” Dr Holden said. “A fit-note is only going to be valid at the moment of issue. You could easily become ill between leaving the GP’s surgery and reaching the airport.

It flies in the face of government efforts to relieve pressure on doctors, and we have much more important work to do than this.”

Passengers with headaches, sore throats and runny noses would be targeted by the airlines. BA said that some people displaying symptoms of H1N1 had been advised not to travel. A spokesman for ABTA, which represents travel agents, said that the precautions were “sensible” and that travel insurance should cover the cost of cancellations caused by the virus.