How far thru pregnancy can you fly ? (by plane that is!!!)

[xoz]

I want to know if there's a website that lists that sort of information for all airlines. We are planning on moving back to Australia soon, and I am 13 weeks pg now. I don't want to be caught out by booking airfares only to find that I'm too far along to fly. We generally book online and I don't recall seeing this sort of stuff on ebookers and the other sites we use. Can anyone help out with an all-encompassing website?

generally as a rule most airlines wont take you after 32 weeks , a few will up to 36 wks but only with a doctors certificate, best to check each individual airline as im sure long haul will stipulate various rules regarding this. hth

Some may require a Dr 's letter that you are fit to fly on long haul but will allow up to 32 weeks. Think each individual airline might set their own rules on it though.

I had to look into this too as I was flying with my job (although not long haul). It really does vary with each airline. On the whole 32 weeks seems to be the limit (can sometimes fly up to 36 weeks with doctors note, but maybe not long haul). British Airways and several other airlines actually require a doctors letter after 28 weeks, even though they are happy for you to fly up to 32 weeks.

I was quite large and when flying between 20-28 weeks I got questioned every time about how pregnant I was and once asked for proof even! When I did get a doctors note to fly at 30 weeks of course nobody asked me!

It's not easy to find out what the rules are though - I couldn't find this info from any of the airline websites I looked at. I had to ask either at the airport (for an airline I wasn't flying with that day but would in future), or ring them up.

I flew at 32 weeks on wasn't asked at all by anyone (I did have a doctors letter, and I am quite tall and well built, so bump was less dramatic) Each airline sets its own rules and some don't have any rules (although I wouldn't recommend a long haul flight on those ones
Apparently on short haul there is no medical reason why you can't fly until 40 weeks, it is just that the chance of you going in to labour is higher. But on long haul maybe you should check out the medical side too. I have heard that it isn't recommended to lat because of the increase risk of Deep vein thrombosis, and because the cabin air has a reduced oxygen content.

This time I will fly to UK at 35 weeks with a doctor's letter. I have to say though, that last time I increased size a lot in the last 2 months, and i would have been VERY uncomfortable flying any distance at that stage

HTH

Also look at travel insurance as this often sets the limits of when you can fly.

I flew at 30 weeks to New York with doctor's letter and at 36 weeks to France. Was not asked about it either time.

yes ask the airline, they all seem to have different cut offs. And check with your travel insurance providers, they often have cut off dates too.

Thanks for the replies. I hadn't thought about the travel insurance issue. That will be important. Must check that one. We are going one way and are covered by the NHS equivalent when we land in Australia, but if anything happened on route it would be important to know where we stand.
I have done a little searching on some airline websites, (Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and a couple of others) and they all said that you can fly up to 36 weeks of a normal pregnancy, although they may require a doctors certificate. The statements are quite general and fuzzy though so I think I will check before we book. Hopefully it will not be a problem and we will go WELL before I get that far along, but I wanted to know just in case. I realy don't fancy 24 hours in cattle class at 36 weeks or even 30 weeks for that matter!
Thanks everyone