Lobbying for Fewer Bad Air Days Aloft

What traveler hasn’t blamed airplane air for a cold, a scratchy throat or painful sinuses?

Nearly every week, Judith Anderson, an industrial hygienist for the Assn. of Flight Attendants (AFA), gets reports of passengers who felt unwell during or after a flight and thought it might be from “bad air.” Recently a woman traveling with her three grandchildren told Anderson that none of them could stop coughing after landing in Los Angeles. She blamed the cabin air, which she described as smoky.

Anderson is sure the complaints she hears are from just a fraction of the passengers who disembark feeling fatigued, dizzy and congested, but who may not complain.

Air quality aloft has been a hot topic for years. It’s of particular interest to the AFA, which represents 47,000 flight attendants from 26 carriers. These and other frequent fliers want to be sure that airline ventilation systems bring in enough clean, fresh air. But no one knows how much fresh air is enough to minimize the spread of germs.

Airline officials and engineers who design and maintain the ventilation systems on airplanes say that fresh air is only part of the story and that measures such as filtration of contaminants are just as important.

A meeting of minds is not expected any time soon, but there have been a few developments. At a meeting in Dallas earlier this month, members of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) discussed a proposed standard that would set a minimum ventilation rate for commercial aircraft as well as methods for monitoring air contaminants, ozone, humidity, temperature and cabin pressure.

That standard, which is still under discussion, calls for the equivalent of 5 cubic feet of fresh air per minute per person, says Larry Holcomb, an environmental consultant in Olivet, Mich., who heads the ASHRAE study committee.

To put the figure in perspective, the Federal Aviation Administration in 1996 issued mandatory standards for new aircraft calling for 10 cubic feet of fresh air per minute per person.

A well-ventilated office building has an air turnover rate of about 20 cubic feet per minute per person, according to Holcomb.

In 1989, ASHRAE recommended a ventilation rate of 15 cubic feet for “transportation vehicles.” Holcomb says this was a general recommendation, not specifically for aircraft.

The suggestion that 5 cubic feet is enough in an airplane has drawn protests from the flight attendants’ union and others.

In the forefront of the issue is Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), who has been trying for a couple of years to win passage of an aviation clean air bill that would require airplane ventilation systems to provide 20 cubic feet of fresh air per minute per person. A letter he sent earlier this month to ASHRAE, signed by several congressmen, urges the society not to recommend the 5-cubic-feet standard.

Holcomb says that fresh air is not the whole story in maximizing comfort and minimizing sickness. “In aircraft, the more [fresh air] you bring in, the drier it is going to be,” he says. A better solution, he says, is to recirculate fresh air and refilter it. The ASHRAE standard will not just include the fresh air minimum but will recommend filtration requirements for ozone, bacteria, fungus, carbon monoxide and other substances, he says.

The engineers’ recommendation won’t be ready for public review for 12 to 18 months, according to ASHRAE.

What’s missing, says Anderson of AFA, are studies that would document the ideal airline air environment. Nadler is requesting federal funds to study cabin air and its effect on passenger and crew health under the FAA Reauthorization Act.

Currently the amount of fresh air varies, depending on the carrier and the plane design. On American Airlines, for instance, the ventilation rate is 10.2 cubic feet per person on a 757 but 17.2 on a 727, an airline spokesman says. At United Airlines, a spokesman said the rate ranges between 9 and 15.

Until a consensus is reached on new standards, passengers concerned about the air during a flight should lodge a complaint with the flight attendant. The flight attendant can pass it on to the carrier’s health and safety representative, who will tell Anderson, who heads the AFA’s Air Safety and Health Department.

Within six months the AFA hopes to have a place on its Web site, https://www.afanet.org, for logging complaints.

ASHRAE is expanding the standards committee, which will include manufacturers, flight crews, passengers and others. Anyone who would like to be considered for the panel may request an application form by e-mail at psilveria@ashrae .org, or by writing to ASHRAE, 1791 Tullie Circle N.E., Atlanta, GA 30329-2305.

Healthy Traveler appears the second and fourth Sundays of the month. Contact Kathleen Doheny at kdoheny@compuserve.com.