Airline boarding policies may spread disease

Could airline boarding policies help spread communicable diseases? A new study suggests this may be the case. Researchers at Arizona State University released findings showing airlines help spread disease by shuttling people from diverse origins in close quarters for hours at a time. Making the problem worse is the common practice of loading passengers in front-to-back order. ASU researchers said dividing the plane into two lengthwise sections and letting passengers seat themselves randomly would lead to fewer potentially disease-spreading bottlenecks during boarding. The research shows disease is less likely to spread on smaller planes, such as those with 150 or fewer seats. Those planes are likely to have fewer potentially sick people on board for travellers to interact with — and they board faster. <br/>