Half of airline passengers would fly with Covid, Martin Lewis poll shows

Flybe and easyJet warn that passengers who are carrying the virus should not travel

Positive decision: Half of airline passengers would fly knowing they have Covid, poll finds (Simon Calder)

Half of air travellers would fly even if they knew they had Covid, a Martin Lewis poll has found.

The personal finance expert asked his 1.8 million followers on Twitter: “If you’d (self) tested positive for Covid but had very limited, not severe symptoms, and had a flight booked, would you still go on the plane?”

More than 166,000 people responded – of which almost exactly half said they would fly knowing they were suffering from the virus.

Around 56 per cent of the respondents identified as male, with a 57:43 majority saying they would fly when Covid positive.

Among the 44 per cent who said they were female, only a minority said they would do the same, with a 41:59 minority.

Overall, the proportion saying they would fly was 49.9 per cent.

Testing opinion: the result of Martin Lewis’s Twitter poll (Martin Lewis/Twitter)

Explaining the purpose of the survey, Mr Lewis said: “My interest is partly to educate my team and I when we’re looking at travel insurance terms.”

Airlines insist passengers should not fly with Covid. Britain’s biggest budget airline, easyJet, says: “If you have symptoms you should not travel or go to the airport. If you have tested positive for coronavirus, please complete our online ‘contact us’ form with further information about your situation and a valid PCR Test Certificate.

“We may, at our discretion, provide a voucher for future travel.”

Flybe tells passengers they should not travel if they had experienced “any Covid-19 symptoms or have had symptoms in the last seven days, even if those symptoms are mild.” The same applies to prospective travellers who are “sharing a household with somebody who has experienced Covid-19 symptoms in the past 10 days”.

Nevertheless, anecdotally many passengers are flying knowing they are carrying the virus. A group operator told The Independent that after half her clients contracted Covid during a cruise in Europe, they chose to fly home and encountered no problems.