Fear of flying? Swine flu worries some , not others

Unlike Vice President Joe Biden who warned his family not to fly because of the possibility of catching swine flu in a confined space, Israel Barreto was boarding a plane at O'Hare Thursday in order to be with his family for a special event.

"I'm going to Mexico to see my family so, yes, I'm concerned a bit," the Lake in the Hills resident said.

But there was no way he could miss his mother's 84th birthday celebration, although Barreto's wife and children will stay at home. "We didn't want to risk them going," he said.

Biden's remarks on the "Today" show Thursday morning that "I would tell members of my family - and I have - that I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places now," garnered criticism from the travel industry and spin control from the White House.

"It's not just going to Mexico. If you're in a confined aircraft and one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft," Biden said.

Shortly after his comments, the vice president's staff issued a release stating he really meant to say people should avoid unnecessary travel to Mexico and stay away from confined public spaces such as airplanes if they are sick.

Sitting in Terminal 1 at O'Hare International Airport, Jim Fitzgerald, and wife, Sandee, were undeterred by the vice president's words. Quite the opposite, actually.

"He can't keep his mouth shut," Jim Fitzgerald said. "He put his foot in his mouth."

The Naperville couple were on en route to a wedding in Toronto, regardless of the flu scare.

"We're not concerned," Sandee Fitzgerald said, adding she believed the media and government were being alarmist.

Airport workers could be seen with plastic gloves and bottles of hand sanitizer and periodically loudspeakers issued warnings to travelers to cover their mouths and noses when coughing and to keep their hands washed.

But Lindsay Mulligan, a Canadian headed back home after graduating from university in Finland, wondered if government authorities and airlines were doing all they could to stop the spread of what's considered a potential epidemic.

"I'm very worried, I'm constantly washing my hands," Mulligan said. "I have to be in airplanes all day."

Over at the international terminal, Drew Beisswenger calmly played chess on his laptop, waiting for a flight to take him to Dublin. The Fulbright scholar, who heads the music library at Missouri State University, said he was surprised at all the attention the issue was getting given that "they say 30,000 people die from normal flu every year."

Beisswenger was armed with antiseptic wipes he got from an American Eagle flight attendant who caught him clearing his throat.

"She was handing out drinks and she heard me cough, so that got her attention," he said.