Investigating the air in air travel

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) is funding research to find out whether there is any truth to the rumour that flying makes you feel ill.
Though commercial aircraft passengers and crew have reported symptoms such as eye, nose and throat irritation, as well as headaches, dizziness, fatigue and respiratory distress, there have been limited investigations by official organizations until now.
The ASHRAE researcher will work with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which is sponsoring a parallel effort. Monitoring packages will be installed on two commercial aircraft, a B-767 and a B-777. The monitoring packages are being developed by the John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
The data collected in the study will also be useful to ASHRAE’s efforts to develop a new standard for air quality in commercial aircraft.