Brit Flights Will Bar 'Flu-ish' Passengers

Docs blast 'nonsense' plan to keep ill off airplanes
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 20, 2009 4:05 AM CDT
Brit Flights Will Bar 'Flu-ish' Passengers
Two students from Baltimore walk out after being released from quarantine at the Yanxiang Hotel in Beijing, China, today.   (AP Photo/Greg Baker)

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic will refuse to check in passengers with symptoms of swine flu unless they have doctors' notes saying they're healthy, reports the Times of London. Passengers with runny noses, headaches, or sore throats will be told not to board their flights. The new policy has outraged the British Medical Association, which calls the plans unworkable and "absolute nonsense."

"it is a total and utter waste of time," said the association's lead doctor. "A fit note is only going to be valid at the moment of issue. You could easily become ill before reaching the airport. We have much more important work to do than this." (More swine flu stories.)

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