low lying placenta at back is flying safe??

[KAIMOO]

Hi and thank you to anyone who reads this thread and can possibly help me.

I will be 29 weeks tomorrow and I'm due to fly out on holiday when in 33 weeks however when I was 27 weeks I had an unexpected trip to the hospital due to a blow-out in the car. I was seen at a different hospital to the one I am expecting to be delivered in as I was travelling to visit family.

At this hospital, I was given a scan and told I had a low lying placenta at the back and I would probably need a scan at 36 weeks to see if it moved, they didn't make out like it was a big deal.

However I had a scheduled appointment with the midwife during the week and reminded her im due to fly out on holiday in a few weeks and she looked at me and said I don't know if you can ill need to check with a doctor, apparently, in case I start bleeding due to this.

What I would like to know is if any other mums out there have had this and been ok to fly or been told flat out no. I'm getting anxious as it may mean I need to miss my holiday but I have other family members going out with us this time and I informed them of this and they said if I wasn't able to go they wouldn't want to go but I don't want to ruin there holiday as I doubt they would get money back for holiday due to this. Plus I'm also looking to put my mind at ease.

sorry for long post.

I've got an anterior complete previa and when I mentioned going on holiday at 29 weeks to my midwife at my 22 week appointment, she asked where I was going (just in the UK luckily) and said she wouldn't be signing a fit to fly letter for me if it was abroad.

It may depend on whether it's complete or partial covering but there's more likely to be complications towards the end of your pregnancy so you may struggle to get cleared to travel. Sorry, I know it's not what you want to hear!

It's not the flying that's dangerous. It won't cause anything to happen. There are two other issues

1. Airlines ask for "fit to fly" letters so that if something happened on the journey related to your pregnancy that caused them to delay or re-route a flight, their insurers would cover their costs. That letter confirms that your pregnancy is considered low risk. Low lying placenta is one of those borderline conditions which is not exactly high risk (like definite placenta praevia) but not definitely low risk, because it just might cause bleeding issues but probably won't. Rescanning to check location isn't normally done until 34 weeks.
2. If you have a problem on holiday related to the placenta, your insurer might quibble that you did not disclose this and then not cover you.

This is a difficult one and in your situation I probably wouldn't travel abroad.

Will you be back before 34 weeks OP?
I think 34+0 is the cut off for most airlines even with a fit to fly note.

Hi thanks for the replies, I have been told ill be getting a rescan at 36 weeks, however, I was going to get a private scan a week before I fly to check on it as was told it could move. The midwife said it could move as the cervix etc moves up so could move so thought I would try and cover all bases.

I know the insurance company would see this as a pre-existing condition but I have spoken to them and said they would cover me for it as long as the doctor said I could fly.

My airline is up to 36 weeks so id be back when I was bang on 35 and I called them at the start of the booking to inform them to of the pregnancy.

I know if I have to miss my holiday I will, but your comments have helped me a little. Thanks