Swine Flu Sends the Airlines Home Sick With Worry

April 28, 2009 at 10:52 AM | by JetSetCD | 0 Comments

What ever happened to the good old days of college spring break, when MTV would host beach house parties with Coolio and the biggest worry was to return home with your own personal STD? Now, with the outbreak of the dreaded swine flu virus both above and below the Mexican border, spring breakers are rethinking all those beer bongs as the pandemic spreads and threatens to cripple summer's peak travel for the airlines.

The pork hit the fan yesterday, when the US State Department issued a travel alert for the swine flu in Mexico, prompting airlines like Delta and Continental to allay the fears of their travelers by waiving rebooking fees through the first week of May. Meanwhile, if you're still set on hopping a direct to Cancun, you better hope that the flight still exists; major airlines haven't canceled flights yet, but are "closely monitoring the situation."

With 149 deaths and counting in Mexico alone, this is a developing travel emergency for the airlines counting on a booming early summer season. New York City is definitely on panic mode, and more deaths mean more news coverage, which in turn means more travel warnings and less people flying into countries and cities where the flu has reared its porcine head. USA Today doesn't fail to compare what's happening with the 2003 SARS epidemic, which caused global passenger traffic to fall by 20%.

For now, the best recommendation to avoid exposure to the swine flu is to take advantage of the waived airline fees and postpone any trips to Mexico, while being mindful of smaller things like washing your hands and monitoring the status of your rebooked flight until this porker is put to bed.

Related Stories:
· US Airlines waive fees for passengers traveling to Mexico [CNN]
· Airlines slammed; swine flu timing 'could not be worse' [Today in the Sky]
· Travel Health Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: caribb]

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Tags: Travel Health / Airline News / Mexico Travel / American Airlines / Delta / → All Tags