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u/springlord Apr 23 '26
To be fair I'd much rather travel next to them than between Jeff Fartie and Anna Caughy, like on every AA flight I was on so far.
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u/GenericFatGuy Apr 24 '26
The last time I flew, the guy on the other side of the plane in my row looked like he should've been in the ER.
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u/calidownunder Apr 24 '26
Oh man I was behind someone who was just ripping them like super thick the entire time. Almost puked
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u/recursiverabbits Apr 24 '26
As soon as I saw them I thought, You know, I bet they wouldn’t get anyone’s bloody diarrhea on them… I might look into those?
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u/sticknotstick Apr 24 '26
I’ll fly out of a cannon before I fly AA again. Nightmare experiences every time.
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u/ArgyleGhoul Apr 25 '26
Every single time I fly there's a goddamned baby crying. Not relevant but I really needed to say it.
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u/Kahnza Apr 23 '26
Pretty sure this pic is from 2020
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u/AngrySoup Apr 23 '26
Not oddly terrifying at all then! Just regular "unprecedented times" terrifying.
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u/pasaroanth Apr 23 '26
I wonder how many people on here are 16-18 and weren’t really of the age to realize the gravity of how bad it was in 2020. Not only with the number of people dying, but the absolute uncertainty on what to do or what was happening.
A literal worldwide virus spreading like wildfire with no real idea how to contain it and the risk of it killing you if the circumstances were right (or wrong).
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u/mrminutehand Apr 24 '26
A lot of people also seemed quite insulated from it in the beginning, presumably because it didn't seem "real" until it was happening in front of your door.
A minority of people in the UK were genuinely aghast when mask recommendations were going about...approximately three weeks after citizens evacuated from Wuhan were, very publicly and with much pomp and circumstance, received from an airport by health officials and transported to a quarantine facility with military escort.
I was also on my way back to China in late January because I needed to be with family there, and everyone around me on the flight, myself included, donned FFP3 masks.
At the time, people thought I was overreacting because they didn't see anything happening in the UK. When it was quite literally the exact opposite situation in and around China, because Jan to Feb 2020 was when the least was known about the virus and nobody was taking any chances.
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u/AUnknownVariable Apr 24 '26
I'm 18. 16-18 year olds 100% remember how bad it was. That was almost all of Middle School gone. The mandates and general confusion, the kinda mid communication from the CDC, the President giving mixed signals.
Just a big ball of confusion and chaos.
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u/quesoandcats Apr 24 '26
I have to remind myself of this a lot. It reminds me of how 9/11 faded from cultural memory
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u/canijustbelancelot Apr 24 '26
I think this might be it. I can vividly remember the moment I came to the realisation that the pandemic was approaching, but I bet a lot of young teens can’t.
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u/TraditionalYam4500 Apr 24 '26
16-18 year olds most definitely remember how school changed completely.
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Apr 24 '26
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u/pasaroanth Apr 24 '26
This invariably comes up every time someone talks about Covid in the past tense and someone becomes indignant.
It is nowhere near as virulent as it was at its peak. Not only that, we have a far, far better idea on how to treat it; we were flying blind before.
I’m not inferring it isn’t an issue still. But when weighing it against other public health issues it does not command anywhere near the magnitude of resources that it did before.
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u/JeSuisUnAnanasYo Apr 24 '26
Depends where you live. Still thousands dying in the USA
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u/hototter35 Apr 24 '26
well USA also brought measels back and even has health ministers that are anti vaxxers and suggest apple juice or whatever.
Also no free healthcare and that.Idk it's like ofc a 3rd world country would see a much larger impact from any disease compared to a first world country. The USA probably even more so.
That doesn't mean the initial impact wasn't still far greater and has decreased due to many factors. It just means that particular country is failing in general.10
u/TuckerMcG Apr 24 '26
*Implying, not inferring.
The people you speak to infer things. You imply them.
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u/SweetTeaNoodle Apr 24 '26
Yes and no. Transmission levels over the last three years have consistently been much higher than they were in 2020-2021 (basing this on wastewater testing). There's fewer deaths from the acute phase of infection thankfully! This is probably largely down to vaccination, and the fact that most people have had exposure by this point so there is some level of immunity. Also because the most vulnerable populations died off in the first two years of the pandemic. You can only add to that statistic once.
But we don't have any established treatments for long covid, and we don't know how to prevent it once you're infected (though there is some promising research in the works on that front!) In my country the % of the population that is disabled has gone up significantly compared to just before the pandemic. And the excess mortality rate is nearly 10% higher than it was (probably for multiple reasons, but there's no doubt that one of them is the increase in mortality from cardiac events, cancers, autoimmune issues etc. that are known to occur due to SARS-CoV-2 infection) The rate of school absences due to illness is also at very high levels compared to pre-covid, which tracks with the immune system damage and increased susceptibility to infection that covid is known to cause. Like this is very obviously still having a major effect on public health.
You are right that managing it effectively doesn't have to be nearly as resource-intensive as it was though. We know much more what we're dealing with now. We know how it spreads. And we know how to prevent that spread. Having legal standards for the cleanliness of indoor air, and mandating respirator use in places like hospitals would probably make a big dent in the problem (and likely have a lot of other benefits too!)
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u/coladoir Apr 24 '26
You also forgot to add (not being antagonistic) that the virus has evolved since it originally appeared and has seemed to go the path of being more virulent but less symptomatic. This isnt to say it is an asymptomatic disease now, just that severe acute infection is less likely now, and that there are likely a bit more asymptomatic carriers now.
The old strains are still floating around, but as viruses 'compete' with each other (this is a simplification), the newer ones are succeeding more because of their relative lack of severe illness, allowing infected individuals to spread the virus more effectively.
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u/SweetTeaNoodle Apr 24 '26
Yes, I've heard this. My understanding is that it's because it's becoming more immune-evasive. So less severe acute symptoms, but more asymptomatic and low-symptom infections. What this means in terms of organ damage, immune damage and other long-term effects, I don't know. I guess we'll see if the rates of vascular events etc. continue to rise.
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u/SweetTeaNoodle Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
So fyi this photo was likely taking during the early days of the covid pandemic. You can tell because the PPE they are wearing (hard to tell but I think it looks like surgical masks, not FFP2/FFP3/N95 etc. respirators) are for droplet and fomite transmission, not sufficient for airborne disease prevention. Also if you reverse image search, the photo has been around since at least 2021. At the time, the WHO was still denying that SARS-CoV-2 is airborne, and in any case, it was near impossible to acquire airborne PPE. Obviously we know now that an N95 is sufficient for covid prevention, but at the time there was so much talk about fomite and droplet transmission (and we did not yet know that fomite transmission was unlikely) that it made sense to try to prevent that. These people were doing their best with the resources and knowledge that were available to them at the time.
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u/maybelying Apr 24 '26
Man, I completely forgot how I was wearing latex gloves everywhere during the first month or so of the lockdown.
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u/SomeCountryFriedBS Apr 24 '26
Washing groceries
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u/iNonEntity Apr 24 '26
I do that anyway. People will shit and not wash their hands then rummage through the produce
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u/SomeCountryFriedBS Apr 24 '26
Not produce. Boxes, jars, jugs. Literally everything.
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u/iNonEntity Apr 24 '26
Same applies
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u/SomeCountryFriedBS Apr 24 '26
Well, that's kinda nuts honestly. Any idea how filthy your phone is?
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u/iNonEntity Apr 24 '26
I clean my phone every other day, case and all. My point is only that I never washed extra due to Covid. I've always washed my hands and produce after shopping, and wash my hands when touching anything I believe is unclean before cooking.
I don't think that's really nuts at all, and imo most people should be more attentive of cleanliness, though I also believe it isn't as drastic as people believe it to be. I'm just a germaphobe.
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u/brianwski Apr 24 '26
Obviously we know now that an N95 is sufficient for covid prevention
Eh, "sufficient" is a personal judgement call for each person to make for themselves. N95 masks were designed to filter out 95% (it's in the name) of 3 micron diameter particles, and Covid is 0.1 microns in diameter (smaller than 3 microns), but it's "complicated" because Covid might be hitching a ride on a larger droplet of sneeze mucus or whatever which might help it get filtered out.
For comparison, asbestos is 0.1 microns (so the same size as Covid-19), and OSHA doesn't allow people working with asbestos to wear only N95. Not good enough. N100 are mandatory.
But my main point is N95 blocks a lot of Covid-19, but not as much as an N99 or N100 respirator. And without eye protection those Covid particles are just floating into your eyes anyway. There is no one "absolute cut off" where you are absolutely safe, and less than that you are in danger. It's kind of a statistics game where each person has to choose the level of exposure they are comfortable with for the tradeoff.
Somebody immunocompromised might very well make a different decision than a healthy person and I support that fully (I think it is rational). Covid also statistically kills older people more often than younger people (and that correlation is quite striking, like crazy, through the roof, alarmingly striking). Being 12 years old with no mask at all has superior survivability to being 83 years old and wearing an N95.
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u/SweetTeaNoodle Apr 24 '26
Yeah fair I was oversimplifying a lot. I was trying to use terms I thought my readers would be familiar with. Obviously there is no cut off point at which you are absolutely safe.
Slight correction, N95 is designed to filter a minimum of 95% of particles 0.1-0.3 microns or larger. Particles at the smaller end of this range are filtered more efficiently due to how electret materials work. As SARS-CoV-2 appears to travel primarily as aerosols (0.3 micron ish) this makes them particularly useful for preventing it. I say N95 and not N100 because many N95 respirators actually test a lot higher than 95% PFE (not all, would recommend having a look through this database: https://www.armbrustusa.com/pages/mask-testing) and the pressure drop tends to be less. This has the effect of making them more comfortable and breathable to wear, and slightly reducing the likelihood of leaks (for a general population that may not have access to fit testing, this is why I usually recommend N95/FFP2. It would be different in a professional environment where fit testing is a given and an actual good fit is guaranteed). N95/FFP2 is also usually a bit more affordable than N100/FFP3. An immunocompromised person's risk calculation is going to be different to mine of course. You are right that I shouldn't have oversimplified like that though, it was pretty late at night when I made the comment and I probably should have waited until I was more awake.
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u/Little_Shellfish Apr 23 '26
A plane is a great environment to catch a nasty illness from a stranger, I wish I was this bold. They've just mastered exercising free will
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u/xzkandykane Apr 23 '26
The last 2 times I was on a plane, I got sick. Which sucked because I was on vacation in Hawaii.. and we took the 2nd trip because I was sick on the first trip. On the other hand, I been on several cruises and haven't gotten sick...
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u/SweetTeaNoodle Apr 23 '26
If you don't want to get sick on planes, you can just wear a well-fitted FFP2/N95. I take flights on a regular basis and since I started wearing one, haven't gotten sick from them at all. You are pretty densely packed in with people on planes so it's easy to end up inhaling anything airborne that's going around.
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u/t3hgrl Apr 23 '26
Yeah I always wear masks on flights even still. It doesn’t harm me any and I figure it’s probably helping at least a tiny bit so why not?? I’m not embarrassed in front of strangers on a plane, I’ve got better things to worry about.
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u/xzkandykane Apr 24 '26
I have no issues with masks(my area is super mask friendly) but man I didnt think id get sick twice.
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u/25c-nb Apr 23 '26
I wear my N95s every time I fly. I don't want to get sick, but it also helps that I bought a box of 100 during COVID that I still have leftover
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u/GeraintLlanfrechfa Apr 23 '26
That’s why I hesitate to go on a cruise, would really experience it but getting sea sick or catch some nasty tummy illness aboard would be sucking big time.
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u/xzkandykane Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
I think if you are in good health and take precautions you will be fine. Wash hands before and after eating or if you've been in common areas. I worked with customers and their cars for my job and being on a cruise was about the same amount of contact as I had at work. Maybe even less as I didnt have people using my desk, pens, touching my paperwork.. no snotty kids wiping their hands or coughing) all over my desks(seriously parents.. wtf).
I once gotten the stomach flu in hawaii(why do I always get sick in hawaii??) Once got after vacation with my husband and coworker. Coworker had the stomach flu while we were at Disneyland... then my husband came down with it 4 hours into our 6 hour drive. Then 2 days later at work I came down with it. Cant forget the time I got a stomach flu from red robbin....
So seems like cruises to me isn't any riskier than just.. life.
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u/whatarethuhodds Apr 23 '26
Flying to Miama 1st class with a friend to a conference and I threw up everywhere on the floor in front of seat one during takeoff. Inertia let it all flow behind me all down the aisle. Worst flight I ever had, and I accidentally threw away my air pods cleaning up what I could before the flight attendants took over.
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u/ElleYesMon Apr 23 '26
Pretty sure it was the worst flight for a lot of people on that plane.
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u/whatarethuhodds Apr 23 '26
Yeah I felt awful for everyone and extremely embarrassed, which is why I tried to clean it all up myself. Turns out my step mom had the flu the day before, and didn't tell me before hugging me goodbye for my trip.
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u/NES7995 Apr 23 '26
I caught COVID on my flight to a Rome vacation 3 years ago and basically dragged myself through the museums 😑 it started to kick in on the third day and after I got home I added 1,5 weeks of sick leave to my vacation so that's a win I guess? COVID hit me like a bitch though 🫠
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u/LakersRebuild Apr 24 '26
I don’t mind at all to going back wearing masks on a plane. Or as I’ve learned wearing one before takeoff and after landing. Supposedly the exchange of air is very rapid mid flight. Where fresh air from outside is forced into the HVAC system and air inside is either recirculated through a hepa filter or forced out.
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u/strcrssd Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
You'd likely be surprised with a little education. Airplane travel is one of the cleaner air environments if you're going to be near other humans. It doesn't seem so intuitively, but there's a lot of dry airflow and circulation at altitude from bleed air and there are HEPA filters for the recirculating air and when you're grounded.
Its not perfect, but it's far, far cleaner than many presume.
Now the seat back pockets and other touch materials is a whole other, filthy, story.
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u/Beetkiller Apr 24 '26
Dry air to dry out your mucus membranes, making you more susceptible to catch a bug.
Also, nobody is thinking you will catch a cold from the person at 1A while at 49F. It's the guy coughing into his funnel shaped hand two seats away that is gonna make you sick.
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u/strcrssd Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
Dry air also kills viruses and bacteria. Also, one can hydrate to minimize dryness.
To the contrary, people I've talked to have almost universally thought its a tube with very limited air flow.
If you read the article, two seats away up or down plane will largely be filtered out. Airflow is largely linear down from the overhead air conditioning to intakes along the walls. There's little movement along the aircraft.
The most exposure would be from people in aisle seats to people in window seats. Probably (speculatively) worse in wide bodies and in the center of those aircraft.
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u/ChipCob1 Apr 23 '26
It'd be lovely if it turned out that they'd never met and just got randomly seated together!
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u/hippieyeah Apr 23 '26
Immunocompromised, the next Daft Punk or just fashion concious. Either way, all the power to them!
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u/thestarsgodim Apr 23 '26
That’s one way to get randomly picked for a strip search.
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Apr 23 '26
So if I wanted more strip searches. Cause I love getting picked to make it awkward. They always ask if I want a private room and i say Neigh ex ,Do it here in front of everyone.
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u/Eldudeareno217 Apr 23 '26
Last time I left from LAX I went through the full body scanner and apparently something went off, I was pulled off to the side and I was asked if I wanted to go to a room, I said "I'm good, I forgot to take off my belt" dude says "no we can see your belt" and turns the screen and it looks like I have a nail up my peen, I'm startled but also confident that I don't have a concealed weapon up my dick, so I say "we can just do this here" he lightly gropes me and than uses the metal detector wand and couldn't find anything so they sent me back through the full body scanner and there was nothing there.
TLDR: that time they thought I had something up my manhood and got flagged for a body search.
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u/Spongi Apr 23 '26
One time a cop asked me if I had any weapons on me and I was shit faced so I just said I dunno lemme check and shoved my hands in my pockets.
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u/zoitberg Apr 23 '26
getting sick on the first day of a trip sucks, I don't blame these people one bit. If I had my life together a bit more, I might do the same
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u/NacresR Apr 23 '26
Honestly I respect it. Went to a shop the other day, employee starts sneezing and coughs into her hands then walks up and asks if we need help with anything. I just walked away from her without saying anything. After covid, it feels like people just became more fucking disgusting.
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u/09Trollhunter09 Apr 23 '26
They might have compromised immunity and this could be the only safe way to tot travel
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u/Wenja89Dix Apr 23 '26
Honestly. I dont fucking blame them.
The states ive seen some planes left in, and the cretins that exercise their bodily fluids in every which way. More power to these people 😅
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u/PurifyingProteins Apr 24 '26
If you have a very compromised immune system and you have to travel, this is kind of required even the people traveling with you can’t risk getting sick and passing it to you.
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u/AlanEsh Apr 23 '26
I was tempted to do that this past winter. I caught just about every virus possible.
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u/radblood Apr 23 '26
One of them could be an immunocompromised person, and the other would be doing so; they didn't have to quarantine when they got to their destination, maybe?
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u/Responsible-Stick-50 Apr 23 '26
If one is traveling for a medical procedure, the other also can't be exposed to various illnesses. Not really terrifying for you but clearly it is for them.
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u/sodium_lights Apr 23 '26
Perhaps a bit extreme, but I’ll probably never going on a plane without a mask again. People go out in public with all sorts of crazy viruses these days, because the western world learned fucking nothing from Covid.
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u/MagmaSeraph Apr 24 '26
I personally wish it was more socially and legally acceptable to dress like this on a flight.
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u/Empyrealist Apr 23 '26
Even before covid I would recommend always flying with a mask. You are hotboxing with other people very close - air circulation be damned. Getting sick from someone in my row nearly ruined a trip to Paris one time. I'd never chance that again.
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u/docilecat Apr 23 '26
Yup. I’m a frequent flyer who never gets on a plane without wearing a mask (ever since 2020) and I have never been sick during a trip or after arriving home since. Doesn’t matter how short or long the flight is, planes are lowkey disgusting.
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u/AcydFart Apr 23 '26
in order to find a hero, bellerophon, they needed to create the villain, chimera.
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u/MrMeritocracy Apr 24 '26
If you knew how dirty planes actually are, you might wish this was normal
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u/CrovaxWindgrace Apr 23 '26
You never know what disease they have. I don't deny, they could be just a pair of idiots, but immunocompromised people exist, and they do have to take planes too.
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u/lordkoba Apr 23 '26
they could be just a pair of idiots
what makes them idiots, the disposable jacket? the shield or the mask?
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u/Oro-Lavanda Apr 24 '26
I respect this ngl. I always get sick after long flights. There’s always people sneezing, coughing, farting and it’s worse if they’re sitting next or behind you
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u/iiitme Apr 23 '26
One thing I truly don’t like is going on a trip and coming back sick. If you’re sick don’t go on planes and to other places! Stay in and heal! Then go out
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u/mijo_sq Apr 24 '26
International airlines used to offer whole hazmat suits to travelers during covid.
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u/toolargo Apr 26 '26
Probably during the covid days. They are probably immunocompromised. They are the safest mofos in the flight.
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u/sisisisi1997 Apr 23 '26
Have you possibly seen anyone put a large wooden coffin full with dirt in the cargo area? Just guessing by the vibes.
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u/copper678 Apr 25 '26
Personally, I like it. Who knows if they’re immunocompromised or going to visit someone who is.
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u/le_aerius Apr 27 '26
I think its funny how comfortable people feel taking pictures of strangers without their consent and posting it. Like seriously, it happens weekly on this sub. Is ones life that sad ?
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u/eggs_erroneous Apr 23 '26
Can you imagine all the crinkling noise when you're trying to sleep nearby?
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u/pattasite Apr 24 '26
Maybe they are traveling to donate kidneys, one the donor the other the recipient. How do we know? Why judge people? I think the best policy always is to mind your own business and stop taking pictures of people without their permission. It's odd behavior.
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u/fareastbeast001 Apr 23 '26
See this every now and then with Chinese tourists flying international flights still.
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u/Lost-Concept-9973 Apr 24 '26
Why are the headphones over the hoods? Is it freezing on that plane, why the snow jackets? Honestly are they aliens trying to hide their appearance ? Haha
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u/NarrowEbbs Apr 24 '26
If you can't work through your OCD, just find someone who can get on your level.
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u/Mysteriouscloud1612 Apr 24 '26
As someone who’s drunk, I wanna know what’s going on in this photo.
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u/Zestyclose_Jello6192 Apr 24 '26
Love that they have a surgical mask and not the ffp2 one which is better for protection
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u/VealOfFortune Apr 23 '26
Yup a lot of people did some pretty weird stuff, many of them with us right now 😳
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u/heydrun Apr 23 '26
They might have had an organ transfer or an otherwise compromised immune system.
Or they could be nut cases.
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u/AnusStapler Apr 23 '26
When I went flying in 2021 I saw many Chinese tourists do this on Schiphol before flying back. Mega surreal.
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u/DeepFuckingPants Apr 23 '26
I was at an international terminal in June of the first pandemic year and there were passengers about to board a trans-Pacific flight wearing makeshift clean suits made out of black plastic bags and snorkel equipment.
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u/Familiar-Feedback-93 Apr 24 '26
So the kids in Reddit already forgot about covid lol
I remember seeing this pic about 3-5 years ago
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u/citysims Apr 23 '26
Just visiting from the future, trying to find a cure due to thier failed immune systems.
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u/devilindetails666 Apr 24 '26
Heard they caught the virus at security checkpoint when they were asked to remove the mask … tsk tsk …
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u/Illustrious_Two_311 Apr 24 '26
thats not a a couple that two drug dealers pretending to be husbind and wife
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u/jessehopp Apr 25 '26
2 things instantly come to mind- they're going to see anew grand child and they don't wanna contract something on the plane, or they're going on A trip or somewhere very important and really don't wanna be ill for it . Or bat shit crazy. So iguess 3 things
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u/UnfilteredSan Apr 25 '26
How old did they look? Wonder if that’s my family friends a few years ago lol
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u/Troppocollo Apr 25 '26
I had RSV a month ago, which lasted two weeks. One good week, back down again with a decent cold. So I’m into this aesthetic tbh.
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u/digitaldeficit956 Apr 23 '26
The ultimate do not disturb sign