MPH’s Schaffner offers advice for flying with a cold
The sniffles, the sneezing, the cough you try to muffle, the dirty looks from fellow passengers: The last think you want to do is board a plane with a cold. If you can't postpone your trip and your symptoms are under control, know that flying with a cold can hurt.
"If you have allergies or a viral infection such as the common cold, your mucus membranes are inflamed and swollen," says William Schaffner, M.D., a professor of preventative medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.