The column: Fasten your seatbelts, swine-flu precautions

As travelers worry about swine flu this morning, the Winging It column is a reminder about a more routine safety aspect of flying: Fasten your seat belt, to avoid injury when your aircraft encounters unexpected turbulence. Read on here.

As mentioned in the column, written before the swine-flu news broke over the weekend, respiratory illnesses are another danger while flying. Airline cabins can be great incubators of airborne viruses, which explains how badly the travel business can be hurt when there is concern about global pandemics. The number of swine flu cases in Mexico already has prompted airlines to allow changes to tickets for those too worried to travel. Mexican tourism authorities at the same time, alarmed that visitors could quit coming altogether, issued a statement that there are no travel restrictions now.