Joan MacKay took a couple of steps off the Boeing 747 at JFK last August and fainted on the jetway. Seven hours later, she was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital in Queens. She often walked five miles along the beach and had a treadmill in her home. She managed the Canadian blind lawn bowling team and was flying home with the team from the International Paralympic Championships when she collapsed. And she's sure her mother had never heard about it before, either.
Some carriers do offer advisories.
But South African Airways, the airline MacKay flew, does not. So she remained in her window seat in row 47 on the Boeing 747 for some 17 hours without even a trip to the restroom. South African spokeswoman Ann Gillespie says that MacKay showed no signs of distress before she collapsed after stepping off the plane. Not Just Economy Seats Despite its moniker, economy class syndrome is not confined to the back of the plane. When former Vice President Dan Quayle was treated for a blood clot that reached his lungs in 1994, doctors suspected long plane rides were the source.