Biden flu comments prompt complaint, correction

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden drew a complaint from the travel industry on Thursday by saying he would tell his family to stay off planes or subways to avoid a new flu strain, sending the White House into damage control.

Biden drifted from the Obama administration's cautious message on the swine flu virus when asked by NBC's "Today" show what he would tell members of his family if they asked whether they should get on a commercial plane to Mexico in the next week.

"I would tell members of my family -- and I have -- I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places now," he said.

He said the problem was that "when one person sneezes it goes all the way through the aircraft."

"I would not be, at this point, if they had another way of transportation, suggesting they ride the subway. So from my perspective, what it relates to is mitigation," he said.

Biden, a former senator, is famous for making blunt comments and sometimes gaffes. The Obama White House scrambled to clean up what he had said.

"He said something on TV differently than what he meant to say," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

President Barack Obama and his deputies have been careful in their public statements about the flu virus so as not to unduly alarm Americans.