Flying

[Showjump]

Can anybody with a lung condition but good oxygen levels tell me if they have flown lately and was there problems with altitude on the flight.

[Hidden]

Not sure this is a question anyone here can give you a helpful answer to; just because others have flown without issue, even if they have the same diagnosis or a similar degree of lung damage, unfortunately doesn’t mean that the same will hold true for anyone else. A person’s fitness to fly (with or without using oxygen) is dependent on multiple factors, with my understanding being that your normal sats at sea level are of far less relevance than your fev1 (and fvc depending on diagnosis), and any degree of day to day, functional breathlessness you may have. My daughter has previously had a spell with an fev1 in the mid-40s, causing her significant breathlessness just climbing a flight of stairs, but her oxygen sats were within normal. However, for argument’s sake, if we’d wanted to fly anywhere, she would definitely have had to have a fitness to fly assessment, and she would most likely have been advised to use oxygen at altitude at that time due to her fev1.

There is further information available at the links below, but if you’ve booked flights already and haven’t contacted them, you may well need to notify the airline, and they may request further information. If you’re planning to carry a nebuliser, even if it’s not going to be used (we kept the child’s in the hand luggage just in case her hold bag went awol), then you will usually need to advise the airline. Similarly, if you want to carry liquid medication (like nebs) totalling more than 100ml of liquid in your hand luggage, you may also need to notify them, but if carrying any medication at all, you need to get a letter from a doctor stating what medication you have with you.

brit-thoracic.org.uk/docume...

caa.co.uk/passengers/before...

kentcht.nhs.uk/leaflet/trav...

[Showjump in reply to Hidden]

Hi Charlie G,Thank you for that, my husband did a hypoxic challenge test approximately 18 months ago and the consultant agreed then he would be able to travel to high altitude without oxygen on the plane as his oxygen saturation was still 95 after the test and his FEV1 hasn’t got worse since then so I was just interested to know if anybody had experienced any symptoms whilst flying.

[Patk1 in reply to Showjump]

I've flown pre covid 21/2 and 4 hr flights.i prefer the shorter one as there r times my chests tight and need to use my inhalers both pre and during flights.i have e to take a drs letter and contact special assistance as I need to carry medication,Niv and nebuliser in hand luggage x

[skischool]

I have to disagree with Charlie in that i don't agree that you need a fitness to fly assessment,if you are in relatively good health and you don't need to use oxygen to assist your breathing then i feel that you are at no more risk than any other individual with or without a lung condition but as everybody else on the site says we are not medically qualified to give you definitive advice.Perhaps if you are concerned have a chat with your GP.?

Best wishes Ski's and Scruff's

😊😻

[Hidden in reply to skischool]

I absolutely agree, Skis, not everyone needs a fitness to fly check, (the child wouldn’t currently need one, for starters, and neither would I even with all my various problems). In actual fact, it’s a relative minority that do need one. I didn’t think my reply made it sound otherwise, but if it did it wasn’t what I intended it to suggest, so apologies if that’s how it’s somehow come across. Nor was I attempting to give any medical advice, simply offering information that’s widely available from reputable sources, as well as a smidge of personal experience. It was broader than I might otherwise have gone because the OP hadn’t given any specifics about the situation.

There are specific criteria in the BTS link (guidelines dated last year) outlining respiratory patients that are felt should definitely have an assessment, regardless of current stability, but potentially not necessary depending on having already had one previously, and when that was. Assessments are recommended for (but not limited to) those with an fev1 below 50%, resting sats below 95%, hospitalisation or surgery within 6 weeks of travel, active infection, on steroids due to exacerbation, and anyone that’s had a change in clinical status since a previous assessment, some of it depending on underlying diagnosis - but the current advice more generally is very much that anyone with chronic health conditions, be that respiratory, cardiac, diabetes, or whatever else, should have a conversation with a doctor or nurse that knows them ahead of making travel plans that involve flying, even if that’s just the nurse at the GP. That professional may turn round and say no, there’s no concern at all, have a nice time, but all the professional medical advice online via the NHS, the civil aviation authority, and other organisations like the BTS says that patients should always ask the question so that if there is any doubt, an assessment can be undertaken. Declaring medical conditions is also a requirement for some airlines in certain circumstances, just as it is for travel insurance, so having a basic conversation may be a requirement of carriage, like us with the neb when we went to Florida. The only reason we had to declare her health was purely because we were taking the meds and neb in the cabin so they couldn’t go missing or get damaged, and because of that, there was a requirement from that specific airline (BA, who are probably the most demanding in terms of medical declarations) to confirm she was considered fit to travel. They didn’t necessarily want an assessment, just something more compelling than my say so. Two minute phone call to get a template letter from the consultant saying she’s absolutely fine, here’s the meds she’ll be carrying, and we were good to go.

[Showjump]

Hello, do you mind telling me what stage your COPD was?

[Hidden]

Hi Showjump, I don't know what condition your husband has but just to let you know that I have lifelong extensive bronchiectasis. I also have good sats, I have flown many times, long and short haul. The last time being in 2019 to Denver US and back. I have never had any breathing issues, have never needed a fit to fly cert and no doctor has ever questioned it, nor have I felt the need to discuss it with them, i have carried my nebuliser to avoid trusting it to the hold many times, for which I have always been allowed extra weight and noI had any questioning. My granddaughter flies frequently with type 1 diabetes, does not have to tell her doctor and gets extra weight for her medication. I always have very good travel insurance. hope that helps.

[Showjump in reply to Hidden]

Hi Littlepom, my husband has COPD but does not use oxygen just an inhaler and has good blood/oxygen levels at rest (no different to mine) which after reading so much last night seems to be what a lot of doctors base it on. Thanks for your reply.

[Hidden in reply to Showjump]

Bearing in mind that this is patient life experience and not medical advice. As long as your husband manages fine day to day with his inhalers and has good sats he should get good insurance and go and enjoy his holiday. Without stressing about lists of conditions which apply to people who are much sicker than him and find their daily life a struggle, even before they contemplate flying. The world is full of people with lung conditions who hop on and off planes every day without a problem. I am one of them and I will be 72 in May. My son is a long haul pilot, has flown with me all of his life and has no qualms about me doing it.Sometimes we spend too much time worrying about things that we shouldn't.

[Hellodolly]

Hi Littlepom

Could you tell me who you use for travel insurance please? I am hoping to go to the US soon and have not gone there since getting this diagnosis.

Many thanks

HD

[Hidden in reply to Hellodolly]

I have used many but never had to claim until last time. I used SAGA. They are not cheap but paid out quickly and no quibble when I slipped in the Rockies and broke my little toe which cost over $500

[Hellodolly in reply to Hidden]

Thanks so much. I was wondering if a bronch diagnosis pushes the premiums up a lot.

[Hidden in reply to Hellodolly]

It didn't in itself. Sometimes there was no extra to pay. It was my heart condition that pushed them up. As long as bronch is under control it isn't much of a problem

[Hellodolly in reply to Hidden]

Thanks again - interesting to know.

[Hellodolly in reply to Hidden]

Ps So sorry to hear about the toe - sounds painful 😣

[Mrbojangles]

Tried it a couple of times but struggled with take off i so ended up turning my oxygen up to 7 or 8 as i made further attempts.Eventually i cracked it though i find stopping for a rest on the odd tree or building preserves my energy levels.

Aiming for Deauville soon so that should be interesting!

[Karenanne61 in reply to Mrbojangles]

🤣🤣🐦 He flies like a bird . . . la la

[whit]

I don't know if it is relevant, but 10 years ago i was advised not to fly any more because i have had i couple of pneumothorax issues.

[Lutontown]

I haven't flown for 8 years , but we used to go abroad two or three times a year. That last flight, back from Madeira, was horrible, as I found breathing difficult. I'm sure you know that cabin air quality is poor, and I believe the airline saves money by saving on the oxygen. My oxygen readings are always 97 / 98 even though I have COPD and Bronchiectasis. I also found it hard humping suitcases up stairways, so my flying days are long done. I've even given up holidaying in UK.

[Alberta56]

For what it's worth I flew from Stanstead to Edinburgh and back last year with no probs. My sats are 94/96 normally and I've never used a nebuliser. I didn't even know some people needed a fitness to fly certificate.

[younginmind]

Must admit no consultant or doctor has advised me not to fly with one exception, after my surgery for bowel cancer, I was told (it had not been mentioned before) on leaving the hospital that I had to take heparin injections at home and couldn't fly! But nothing mentioned after my lung op - I have COPD and fly regularly (but not over the past 2 covid years) between UK & Malta, a flight of approx 3 hours, I take a puff of my reliever on take off & sometimes out of interest put the oximeter on my finger - last flight was October 2021 & I was fine - just hope the next one is!

[younginmind]

Not good, higher end - last op I was lucky, after numerous tests, was told I would survive surgery but was borderline for an op, probably now, as you don't get better, they may not operate on me, that was 5 years ago now. But am happy, as we all say, we're breathing, so must be alive! Enjoy life!

[Showjump]

Hi younginmind, do you mind me asking what stage your COPD is and what were your oximeter readings out of interest.

[Patk1]

It's in best interests to declare conditions and have adequate insurance cover,as yr policy can be nul and void,in event of needing to make a claim.ive ended up in hospital icu,unexpectadly, on holiday abroad.Better to be prepared and declare pre existing conditions+ they do specifically tell u to

[Maximonkey]

Hi Showjump, I flew to Tenerife in December and again early March. No problems with air quality etc. Although I was concerned that on the flight back only a few of us wore masks. Otherwise all ok. Take care Maximonkey