Can I fly Long-haul

[Leigh68]

Hi everyone, I was diagnosed with stable angina last week. To say it's been a very scary feeling, I've been prescribed Beta-blockers, Statins , Aspirin and a GTN spray. my angina is coming on whilst resting and I've had this pain come every day now. I'm due to fly long haul on 2nd Nov but now feel concerned if it's unstable angina before I get checked out with the cardiologist. My concern is if I can fly now ?

[Hidden]

Hi there, if your angina is coming on whilst resting it fits the description of "unstable" angina. I was diagnosed with angina 8 years ago and put on a similar cocktail of medication as yours, I religiously took my medication and also overhauled my lifestyle. In the last eight years we have taken holidays in The Caribbean, in Russia, all over Europe with no worries. I always tell the truth on my annual travel insurance application so I know that I will be fully covered if anything does happen.

On saying that mine was stable.

If I was in your shoes I would not travel until you have a better understanding of your condition, sorry to sound so negative, as with a lot of people with angina I did have a heart attack four months ago.

[Leigh68 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for your message John, I will get in touch with my Doctor tomorrow for some more information. Regards

Leigh

[Hidden in reply to Leigh68]

Just to add Leigh I know from my own experience you "listen" to your body far more than you have ever done following the diagnosis you have had....little aches and pains you wouldn't have previously batted an eye lid at do take on a whole new meaning as a dark side of your brain tries to worry you.If you do go just one bit of advice.....I nearly always felt my angina coming on on the walk from the aircraft to the baggage carousel....a couple of sprays of GTN under the tongue whilst your waiting to disembark makes the walk a lot easier.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Hello I would like to start travelling again next year, can I ask what travel insurance you use please.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

My brother was taken seriously ill whilst in Morocco a few years ago, he had heart conditions which he had declared, he was that poorly he had to be accompanied by a Dr on the flight home and was met by an ambulance....his insurance company were absolutely and utterly amazing.Following his experience I've used the same one since, Staysure.

[Jbeans in reply to Hidden]

Hi. I have just booked a holiday to Florida ( I have AF with regular arrythmias) I also suffer from arthritis. Some quotes I have had are over £4000 for travel insurance. I have booked with Staysure which specialises in medical conditions. There price gives me unlimited medical cover and with the discount code came in at £745. All clear is another medical provider that is good but can be a little more expensive.

[SpiritoftheFloyd]

I think the issue of can you travel, you need to discuss this with your cardiologist . The other thing to consider is travel insurance. If you don't have travel insurance you may find that companies are not prepared to quote when you've had a recently diagnosed condition, they generally only consider quoting after the condition has been stable for a while, normally more than 6 months after being diagnosed.If you have obtained travel insurance prior to you diagnosis you will need to contact the insurer to declare your diagnosis of angina to see if they are prepared to cover you and at what price.

[Leigh68 in reply to SpiritoftheFloyd]

Hi SpiritoftheFlloyd I have spoken with our insurers and because we booked before diagnosis, I am fully covered. So no worries there.

Thanks for your reply, I really appreciate any feedback being new to all this.

[SpiritoftheFloyd in reply to Leigh68]

I'm quite surprised that your insurer has said that. The fact that your angina has only been diagnosed in the last week and you are suffering angina pain every day while resting I would have thought would have been a red flag to the insurer. If they have said you are covered because you booked before the diagnosis, I would question that. Insurers require people to advise them of any change in health, this is known as ‘ongoing duty of disclosure’ or ‘change in health’, and tend to either ask for additional premiums or cancel the policy if they don't feel able to quote for the risk. I would go back to them and ask them to put their reply in writing, if you've only spoken to them its your word against theirs if you need medical assistance. I'm not trying to frighten you, but I wouldn't accept a verbal response, I'd want something in writing from them.

PS - I worked in the insurance industry many years ago but left as I couldn't believe how adept they were at wriggling out of paying out.

[Lezzers in reply to SpiritoftheFloyd]

I completely agree with you, I also worked in the industry for years..always get these things in writing and be sure the wording is clear & not ambiguous! Also, we had annual insurance with our bank for years and they always covered Kevin's heart condition. Once they knew of Kevin's heart failure diagnosis they immediately refused to cover him for anything HF related despite the policy still having some time to run before renewal. We felt it would be too easy for the insurers to wriggle out of any medical claim using HF as the excuse so we cancelled the policy!

Plus milkfairy has made a valid point about fitness to fly. It's always wise to read the airlines small print as they may also require a fit to fly certificate.

[SpiritoftheFloyd in reply to Lezzers]

The insurance industry is there to make money, my experience of working there was it was quite ruthless at turning down claims.

Yes, fitness to fly is also a big question. I was due to fly to Cape Town exactly 5 weeks after my heart attack. While in hospital I mentioned that I was due to fly in 5 weeks, to which the consultant looked at me rather strangely and said I don't consider you fit to fly. My reply was, OK great, I just need someone medically qualified to give me something in writing to confirm that I can't fly so I can reclaim my flight/hotel costs. His reply was, you'll have an instruction not the fly on your discharge papers!

[Lezzers in reply to SpiritoftheFloyd]

I am concerned about the OP having unstable angina. Kevin used to get that a lot and his GP said if he gets angina pain at rest then he needs immediate medical treatment. There was an occasion when Kevin had a bout of unstable angina during the night. He went to see the GP in the morning and was really told off for not going straight to hospital the previous night!

[Cruise1 in reply to Lezzers]

I have travel insurance through a bank and had no trouble renewing my annual worldwide policy despite having had stents fitted 2 months previously and being 76. The premium was increased by £100.

[Lezzers in reply to Cruise1]

The bank were very happy to continue cover but wouldn't cover his HF or anything HF related at all. No point in continuing with the policy if it's going to exclude a major medical condition and the one he most likely would need medical attention for.

[Leigh68 in reply to SpiritoftheFloyd]

Thanks for the details in order to go back to my insurer. I will chase to get this in writing as this is all new to me.

[Tindy2 in reply to Leigh68]

Hi Leigh68, when you say your insurer has has said your still covered , I would make sure that they haven’t just excluded it from your policy. That is what happened to me . When I informed them of my change in health , and they didn’t cancel the policy I thought that meant it was covered , but later found that I was covered for everything thing , but they had excluded my heart condition.

[pasigal in reply to Leigh68]

I know from bitter experience that if you have received a diagnosis AFTER you were given coverage, you will most likely NOT be covered. Insurers -- rightly -- need to know these things. You have to be transparent about your health, no matter how you feel about insurance companies.

[Milkfairy Heart Star]

SpiritoftheFloyd has given you some really important advice.

I live with angina. I have a fit to fly letter from my Cardiologist otherwise my Travel Insurance would be invalid.

I only have permission to fly short distances, not long haul.

Chest pain at rest can be a sign of unstable angina or vasospastic angina.

Chest pain at rest needs urgent investigation especially if it is new symptom.

[Leigh68]

Hi, thanks for your message. My GP has said I'll be OK to fly. I'm just worried as its all so new. And very scary.

[Milkfairy Heart Star in reply to Leigh68]

I suggest you ask your Doctor to put in writing that it's okay to fly.

Is your GP aware that you are experiencing chest pain at rest?

The BHF has this information about travelling and angina.

bhf.org.uk/informationsuppo...

bhf.org.uk/informationsuppo...

Perhaps give the BHF helpline a call too?

[firstlight40]

I hope you are feeling better today.

Given that you are flying long haul I'd guess you are going to a far flung destination. If it was short haul within the EU you would get treatment under reciprocal arrangements whether insurance paid up or not (provided you take an EHIC card). Outside the EU, if you have a problem you may end up paying if your insurance doesn't cover you. If you have a spare 50-100k available to cover treatment for a heart attack or angioplasty then maybe you could go. Otherwise I'd get on to your airline / holiday company. Many of them are allowing changes to dates or issuing vouchers for future travel which I suggest you do if you can. As you are insured then if a doctor advises you are unfit to fly then you should be able to get a refund under medical terms as this is a new condition which has occurred since you took out insurance.

I'm not risk averse, I travelled long haul 6 weeks after my second set of stents to the caribbean and so was uninsurable for existing conditions. But I went knowing my treatment had been completed and took it easy while I was there. But from what you have said I'd not travel far if I felt like you do.

[Pollypuss]

To be honest I wouldn’t fly long haul when I had stable angina diagnosed . It’s a long time if it’s 9 hours flight or over. I probably would have before my bypass when I thought the pain was muscular /angina but now looking back I’m glad I didn’t but every case is different

[pasigal]

I personally would not travel unless I received an OK from my cardiologist.

[Challenger2009]

Hi, I also have Been recently diagnosed with angina both at rest and on exertion due to cad, I travelled to Turkey in October I did get insurance and asked the doctor and she would have preferred me not to have travelled whilst still under investigation but I did and can say should have listened to the doctor, the flight both on take off and any turbulence I got some pretty bad chest pain and very breathless the return journey was the worst as I had been pretty bad the few days before with chest, jaw, arm pain and breathing difficulties not saying it will be like this for you but does play on your mind being far from home and something going wrong.