I think the above poster has it right that we get a lot of press on this issue because from the top down the entire airline is trying to be proactive on it.

We've had procedure specific to fume events for awhile now. We've taken a leadership role in organizing working groups of airlines and manufacturers to try to solve the problem and we also have very detailed internal data collection for fume events. We're probably the experts on fume events in the industry. Fume events are one of the most crucial things on Ted and Bendo's minds right now - per the VP of Flight Ops in a recent recurrent class.

All that activity leads to a heightened state of awareness and whenever there's anything that seems suspicious the crew usually treats it as a fume event, real or not. The good side of that is that it will put pressure on the industry to find a solution. Sweeping events under the rug does no one any good.