Travel News

'Tell airline medical conditions' before you fly

Passengers looking to travel should make sure they have no medical problems that could potentially arise on a flight, according to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

People planning a flight are advised to check with their GP before flying and use guidance published by the CAA for how GPs assess health conditions for flying.

Jason Wakeford, spokesperson for the CAA, said: "If you have a condition that can be exacerbated by the conditions inside an aircraft, then you don't want that happening at 30,000 feet where medical protection may be very hard to come by."

According to treatmentabroad.net, 50,500 UK patients travelled abroad for medical treatment in 2006, while the CAA said there was a 26 per cent increase in flight diversions made because of medical emergency calls since 2003.

"It would be up to the airline and the pilot of the particular flight who has the authority to refuse carriage for any particular reason," Mr Wakeford said, "and that would include medical conditions."