How ill is too I'll to fly?

[Islandsadness]

I'm sat in my hotel room with a horrible cough and ear ache, and diarrhoea (what a combo). I've had no sleep and my transport comes in 5 hrs for a 4 hour flight home.

What do I do? I've never claimed on insurance before, and all my documents just talk of hospital stays (and death 🙃).

Do people just suck it up and fly?

I would get Imodium, cough bottle, warm pack for tummy and ear and an eye mask and hopefully be well enough to last 4 hours

Don't do it!!!
https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/health-safety/delta-flight-from-us-to-spain-turned-around-mid-air-after-diarrhoea-emergency/news-story/42139a887962dcf04ff6474fa75cf2f0

Oh god sorry I didn't realize the picture would show up on the feed 😱

All these people saying don’t do it would get on the flight if it was them.

Take Imodium and anything else that might help and get home.

Speak for yourself. I absolutely would not get on a flight if I had diarrhoea or an ear ache, let alone both.

This kind of situation is what travel insurance is for.

I would absolutely not get on a flight with an ear infection. The cabin pressure would be hellish.

Yeah that’s what all the keyboard warriors always say…….

problem is, where will you stay if you dont board the flight home?

Drink lots of water. Don’t eat anything. Locate some immodium or the local version of it. You need to get home, not be stuck in a foreign country woth the potential your insurance won’t pay up because you wouldn’t board a flight with a dicky tummy because MN told you not to be selfish

Contact your insurance company and ask their advice.

Diarrhoea - no way. As others have said ask the hotel to get a doctor to you. They will almost say you are not fit to fly (they don’t want to be liable if they say you are and then a plane has to emergency land because of you).

I was once very ill on a flight, vomiting, headaches, passed out (fine when I got on) and they nearly had to do an emergency landing. They had to wake up the plane (night flight) found 2 doctors. They then brought out this amazing box which literally had surgical equipment in. Doctors put me on a drip, gave me anti sickness meds. I was taken off by ambulance at my layover stop and spent a week in hospital. It was really scary don’t risk it.

Don't fly. See a doctor. Rest. Feel better.

OP message was timed at 0147, wonder what the decision was?

Its not just the flight but the 2 to 3hours at the airport with standing in a queue you can’t leave for passports and security and boarding. The wait to get off the plane and the wait for the bags. Can you manage this? If you travel wear a mask and use handgel.

I wouldn’t stay behind for any of that.

Id take Imodium and get on the flight.

I would take two Imodium now and one immediately before you get on the flight. Even if you still have to go, this should slow things down enough that you make it to the toilet.

Second what a pp said that everyone saying don’t fly would probably do so if it were them. Just something to grit your teeth and get through I think OP

Ask the hotel to find a doctor for you

Get a sick note

Cancel flight and holiday

Go home

Claim

I would dose up and get home, keep my distance from other people, wear a mask if necessary.

Hope you didn't respond because you went back to sleep, not because you got picked up and taken to the airport.

Pound to a penny you have covid btw, that's how my last bout was.

Oh just take some immodium and suck it up. I’ve flown with some of the worst hangovers imaginable over the years. You’ll be fine once on the plane and then home in your comfy bed before you know it.

all of those worrying about contagion you’re sitting in a bloody metal tube with recycled air for hours on end. If you’re gonna get something you’ll get it anyway!

@AussieManque

Some airlines (long haul at least) have reserved rows at the back for 'quarantine' of ill passengers, they can move the sick person.

Genuinely never ever heard of that, are you able to name an airline with such a policy?

Airplanes don't run their air purification systems while they are on the ground, only in the air

Not quite...in simple terms on most commercial aircraft the AC is usually running before doors closed on the ground, so some filtering via HEPA filters is going on.

I still wouldn't recommend flying with a major bug or major ear infection.

No airline in the world reserves seats for quarantine purposes.

on any flight, but especially some long haul routes, a number of seats are blocked, as the weight of the extra passengers plus their luggage would make it too tight fuel wise to do the journey. There are a number of examples of 300 seat planes only having 250 seats for sale to accommodate this as an example.

it is absolutely not a quarantine thing, commercially no airline in the world would even consider that

To get anything from your insurance you’ll need to see a doctor. There might be a medical number that your insurer gives you to call to arrange one. But the time frames involved might make that very difficult to arrange!

Lots of people do fly when they’re ill as they just want to get home. I’m pretty sure everyone who flys at the moment does so in the knowledge that they may well catch something. It’s hardly a novel concept anymore.

I would probably take a lot of Imodium and crack on with it.

@Inyournightgarden well I can tell you that in the case of the long haul flights I have been on in the last two years, the last 2 rows on one side of the plane were blocked off and when some people tried to move there, the crew said "no, they are for quarantine". And it wasn't the crew reserving them for themselves. If it makes any difference, it's an Asian airline from a country that takes COVID seriously.

I have also seen these back rows used for passengers traveling with medical assistance, for example someone being evacuated to their home country.

Anyone saying they would fly….

flying with an ear infection is insanely painful, proper agony, you may burst an ear drum