I’ve recently got back from a trip with a ludicrous amount of time at border controls; six countries in seven weeks, and some of them two or three times*. The form-filling each time was a real pain in the backside, and it was interesting to see the difference in attitude towards Swine Flu.

In Hong Kong, everyone was overboard (probably a residue from SARS and Bird Flu). Hotels were scrubbing down lifts every hour and there was signs about hygeine everywhere. In Australia, everyone was scanned with a thermal imaging camera.

Samoa was the most absurd though – they had a full medical team greeting every flight, and everyone had to have their temperature taken with a thermometer before even being allowed into the airport.

Thanks for the link to my post about the Cathay Pacific flight, by the way.

*Deep breath… UK – Hong Kong – Macau – Hong Kong – Australia – Samoa – NZ – Australia – Vanuatu – Australia – UK

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I was recently in a situation similar to the one described in the entry. We had landed in Christchurch, NZ from Melbourne, AUS on an Air New Zealand flight and a passenger apparently had exhibited flu-like symptoms. We were held up for like 20 mins or so while a health official materialized from the airport to check on this passenger. Then another 5 or 10 mins while he did something to her -in the plane- and eventually giving an all clear for us to deplane – and be set free.

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Despite travelling to half a dozen countries since swine flu (H1N1) broke out the worst I have personally encountered is form filling and being made to walk past thermal cameras (which incidentally have been in place in many Asian airports for years).

Kirsty’s experience could have happened even before swine flu. I fly to Australia very often and several times I’ve had the medical officers come onboard to check out passengers while we have to remain seated until they are finished with their checks.

I have done several blog posts on the travel impacts of swine flu (most recent swine flu travel update here). Since my last post it seems China has further relaxed their impositions. For a while passengers had to remain onboard until everyone was checked for a temperature. Now thermal cameras on the passage to immigration are being used instead.

While I do think some countries have imposed over-stringent requirements (taking blood tests in Indonesia for example), actually they could have over-reacted even more by closing borders.

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Regarding the comments about flight crew wearing masks, can I suggest that rather than he or she protecting themselves, perhaps they were aiming to protect the people around them? This person may have had a mild cold but didn’t want to spread their germs.

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We had some clients due to go to Mexico for their honeymoon in November who cancelled because of the outbreak. I Wonder if a neighbour of theirs had contracted Swine Flu, would they immediatly move house?

I doubt it, and probably there are more cases now in this country. Whilst it’s sensible to take precautions, cancelling and loosing your deposit more than 9 months before your departure seems a little silly.

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Agree with TGT, it could certainly have been worse – and I think David is right about what he saw in Hong Kong, partly because China was so hard hit, and partly because it faced so much criticism over its handling of the SARS outbreak. Once bitten…

We actually had a journalist out in Acapulco when swine flu first appeared, and he didn’t see much panic or disruption (apart from being politely asked to work from home for a few days on his return…). To be fair that was right at the start of the outbreak though.

As for face masks, unless you’ve bought something pretty hardcore there is, to my knowledge, no proof that they do a thing for the wearer. But they may offer others some protection from your coughs and sneezes, as per Zoe’s comment.

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Erm, surely if someone’s cold is bad enough that they need to wear a face mask, they shouldn’t be turning up for work anyway?

And for every single member of the cabin crew to have such a cold? I think not. As I said on my blog entry, I can’t work out whether it’s me being insensitive to a cultural difference or whether it’s just a bit rude.

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The threats of swine flu are completely exaggerated and the masks are for show if anything else. People have told me of similar quarantine situations if it is suspected that even 1 person on a flight has H1N1. We tend to emphasize the threats that are least likely to happen – a mask might prevent swine flu but I wonder how many people eat vegetables everyday and exercise regularly and do many of the things known to prevent heart disease.

This paranoia about swine flu should start to ease up just in time for a new scare…

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An editorial in China’s new state owned English language newspaper may be assumed to speak for the government, and it suggests traveler quarantines will remain in place for some time to come. Its title – “The long fight against A(H1N1) flu.” It’s here

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The cabin crew may not have had a choice. On some airlines they have been ordered to wear the masks, at least on some routes. I am unsure if this applies(d) on Cathay Pacific, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

The stronger measures taken by China are in part a consequence of SARS. Think of it like the security theatre in USA – authorities are making sure they are seen to be doing something even if it is not effective.

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I assumed that, as Zoe suggests, the flight crew wore masks to protect the passengers, not the other way around. After all, they are serving meals and drinks.

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Few points I think worth making about swine flu, which I have just had along with my partner and 2 young kids, and god knows how many more linked with my daughter’s school.

1. I think you need to separate stuff that happened when the severity of the virus was largely unknown (April/early May) and now (when it’s known to be largely minor for most people).

2.There’s *no excuse* for quarantining passengers showing symptoms now, not in my book. Nor for air crew to wear masks. Most of the people I know who have had it (which is lots) haven’t even bothered to see a doctor. When I spoke with my doctor, he was spectacularly unconcerned.

3. There’s no way to stop the virus (they spread exponentially, after all), and “official” government figures for the number of people with the virus are underestimating how many people have had it by a *long, long* way. There’s just nobody counting anymore where we are, and no way to count the majority of people who have such minor symptoms that they’ll not see any reason to report those symptoms to anyone. I only have anecdotal evidence for this, of course, but plenty of it (including from someone I know who was in Mexico when the flu “first” hit… plenty of people he spoke to claimed it had been around for quite a while, which given the contagiousness I’ve witnessed at first hand, I can certainly believe.)

4. When talking about Asian countries, there’s no way to understand their reaction without understanding their SARS experience, and the political/public relations fallout from that. Our reaction in the UK appears to me to be largely conditioned by the media, whose reporting policy seems to be “front page when someone dies, ignore otherwise”.

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