DEAR ABBY: I recently took a long international flight. The man sitting next to me coughed during the eight-hour flight without once covering his mouth.
What is a polite way to tell someone to cover his/her mouth when coughing? Two days into my trip, I developed a fever and a bad cough, so it seems he passed his illness on to me. -- FEVERISH FLIER
DEAR FLIER: Your seat partner showed an extreme lack of consideration not only for you, but also for other passengers seated in his immediate vicinity -- and it's very possible he infected others besides you. It is not impolite to ask people who cough and sneeze to please cover their mouth so you won't catch what they have, and that's what you should have done right away, or ask to change your seat if an unoccupied one was available.