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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Going on holiday tomorrow but poorly kids!!!

328 replies

Asvan · 17/04/2019 22:12

Hi everyone

We are due to go on holiday to Turkey tomorrow but two out of my three kids have fallen Ill today. They both have sore throats and temperatures and have not eaten or drank much today. One of them has just complained that he feels sick.

We have been looking forward to this holiday for six months but I really don't want to take them in this state. Our flights are at 2pm tomorrow and I really don't know what to do. I need to think of a plan b just incase we have to end up cancelling.

Our flights are booked with easyjet and we do have travel insurance, what could my options be if I do cancel? I have only paid for one nights hotel stay and the rest would be paid on arrival.

Will my insurance company pay out? I feel like they both have some kind of virus but the last thing I want to do is take them abroad and be stuck in a hotel room.

OP posts:
Madcatgirl · 19/04/2019 17:30

We had to cancel our summer holiday last year at a few hours notice because of scarlet fever. Our insurers were fantastic, but the holiday company weren’t. They made giving us the correct documents as painful as possible. We cancelled on August 17th and got our money back in October! If you aren’t genuinely worried you need to have your kids seen by a doctor and their illness logged as unfit to fly. We went away in the October half term instead and it was lovely.

Madcatgirl · 19/04/2019 17:31

Sorry just read the full thread - glad you made it away! I’ll leave my post as advice for others in a similar situation.

orangejuiced · 19/04/2019 17:47

I'd take them with sore throats, just take some paracetamol or calpol and ibuprofen with you. It's a virus so they'll be ok soon enough.

Rose87777 · 19/04/2019 18:00

Awesome so glad you made it. I totally understood your mind set and why you were anxious- I would have been exactly the same.

Have a lovely holiday Flowers

staceyflack · 19/04/2019 18:02

One word.... Calpol

staceyflack · 19/04/2019 18:05

Sorry! Hope you have a great time. X

Mmest75 · 19/04/2019 18:19

For a run of the mill virus I think you’d struggle - but nothing worse poorly kids, planes etc ...
That’s why we just do the uk now

exWifebeginsat40 · 19/04/2019 18:38

the thing about saying ‘I AM IMMUNO-COMPROMISED AND IF I WERE ON A FLIGHT WITH YOU I WOULD BE FURIOUS’ is that you aren’t, in fact, going on a plane with OP and their family.

i am allowed to say this as i too am immuno-compromised. the whole world is full of germs and ick. if i did have to fly, i would take appropriate and rational advice from my doctor.

as for Turkey being a strange, uncharted, unpleasant country with no doctors and nobody who speaks any English? nah mate, that’s just mental.

TheFormidableMrsC · 19/04/2019 18:43

Never read anything quite like this....Hmm

puppy23 · 19/04/2019 18:46

Glad you made it! I was in turkey a couple weeks ago and I had a gorgeous time - enjoy yourselves

ahtellthee · 19/04/2019 18:46

Enjoy your Hols OP. Calpol is magic stuff x

katykins85 · 19/04/2019 19:11

Oh I'm so glad you went, all these saying they would cancel for a cold actually shocks me, talk about a massive overreaction!! I too am immuno-compromised due to a health condition, wouldn't bat an eyelid at kids with a cold be it on a plane or in a shop, cinema etc. It's life and my responsibility to look after myself, not anyone else's.

DeftandGlory · 19/04/2019 19:29

Surely lots of people fly a bit I’ll because they have work or personal business in another country. It’s not all holidays that can be claimed on insurance.
There’s going to be unwell people wherever you go.

flabbymommy · 19/04/2019 19:45

Moms a GP and she has said that unless it requires hospital treatment she wouldn’t sign any one as unfit to fly for a simple cold, and that’s what it sounds like.

Aragog · 19/04/2019 19:52

Glad you decided to go and all is well. Enjoy your holiday!

FWIW I am immunocompromised due to a medical condition and medication. Okay, I am not likely to die over picking up someone's bug but I will get hit harder and for longer, and are more susceptible to complications. Despite this, I fly a few times a year, and I still say you should have flown. I know when I fly that I am not in a sterile environment. I work in an infant school too - so don't even escape the bugs there. Its just life. I do what I can do to avoid getting ill, but I accept I can't live a sterile life.

Our GPs would be very unlikely to write a doctors note to say unfit to travel for a mere cold, or sore throat. Even if they did it would need to be paid for, for each patient.

And I can't imagine any insurance company would take a person's own word for it, and pay out no issues. It also takes a good while for a pay out in my experience, even when there are no complications.

Motherofasleepthief · 19/04/2019 19:55

Can you take them to a walk in drs or 24hr centre (ours is attatched to a local hospital but isn’t like A&E etc) and ask a dr there to diagnose?

If they are coughing, have temperatures and have sore throats the chances are they are going to be I’ll afew days
My DD has a type of lung disease linked to lung damage she sustained as an infant (you’d have no idea looking at her) but it means she’s extremely susceptible to chest infections/coughs/colds and normally needs afew days on a ward with 24hr oxygen and antibiotics to recover - if you were on my flight with two obviously ill children I wouldn’t be happy, Don’t put other people at risk when you KNOW they’re poorly (obviously it’s different if they hadn’t developed symptoms until tomorrow evening) but I think to knowingly expose others to illness (and to inflict a flight on your poorly kids) is not on tbh

Branleuse · 19/04/2019 20:00

Have a fab holiday. I too would have dosed everyone up and still gone

Kelp23 · 19/04/2019 20:09

Hi, hope the kids are better tomorrow but as a frequent visitor to Turkey I can tell you the pharmacies there are amazing. You will get much better care than you would at a surgery here. My only concern would be if the kids have colds they could end up with bad earache due to the pressure on the flight. Other than that if take them and make sure you take Calpol on the flight.

Gwenhwyfar · 19/04/2019 20:43

"What about consideration for others, @Order654 ? Another poster has already pointed out that the air recycling system on the plane will mean other passengers being especially vulnerable to viruses etc. "

People are contagious even before they feel ill, plus life doesn't stop when someone has a cold I'm afraid.

Gwenhwyfar · 19/04/2019 20:47

I came down with a cold on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Had a flight on Monday. Luckily I was much better on Monday than on Sunday and I flew anyway. Good job I did because people have confirmed what I'd suspected which is that the insurance would only pay out if I had a doctor's note and that a doctor wouldn't write one for a cold - I wouldn't have been able to see one in time anyway.
I can't afford to lose the cost of the flight and the room so I had to go, even if meant I just stayed in bed the whole time and enjoyed the TV of the other country.
Luckily I got progressively better once on holiday. I did suffer with the ear thing on the way back though. My ear popped and didn't seem to pop back if you know what I mean.

bobstersmum · 19/04/2019 20:58

Just read the whole thread and I'm really glad you went! How are the dc today?

GabsAlot · 19/04/2019 21:20

i threw up on a plane all the the way to las vegas was fit as fiddle before i got on-i think it was norovirus as they had cases of it n hotels when we got there nothing i could do though

Original poster
Asvan · 19/04/2019 21:26

Kelp 23 - funny you should say that, my DS had terrible ear ache on descent. He is a shy child, but he was actually crying out so loudly on. At that point I did wonder whether I had made the right choice or not, but he was fine once we got to the hotel.

Bobstersmum- both still a bit stiffly and have sore throats but they are not letting it stop them from having fun.

It was only 19C here today, so it's been a bit cooler than England but the change of scenery is doing us all the world of good.

OP posts:
Arkenfield3001 · 19/04/2019 21:42

Definitely still go! Lots of Calpol & Ibuprofen and I’m sure they’ll be well by the day after tomorrow! I often flew with a temperature as a child and got better on holiday. Good luck

MaryBerryCouldNever · 19/04/2019 21:53

The OP asked for advice not a guilt trip. If people are immuno compromised and they have been cleared to travel, then getting on a plane knowing the people around them may have a sniffle is their decision to make. OPs children are hardly going on with a deadly dose of ebola fgs...some of these comments. Do what you feel is best for the children OP and if you do lose out try and recover your money as it must be gutting to potentially miss out on a family holiday.