Flying long haul at around 6 months

[peachesforfree]

Hoping for some advice from someone a bit further along than me. My DH and I are considering flying for a holiday quite long haul (11 hour flight). I would be 26.5 weeks on the way out and 27.5 nearly 28 on the way back. At that stage I know I wouldn't need a fit to fly letter per se. We can't really go any earlier than this.

The flight on the way out is overnight but we are able to get a business class seat with miles. The way back is a day flight and we can get an economy plus seat but not business. There is no zika/malaria etc at the destination but medical facilities wouldn't be as good as here.

Is this a terrible idea that I will regret, or should we take the opportunity to have a lovely holiday while its still just the two of us?!?!

I did Maldives at 30 weeks
Economy

No problems and wonderful

I did a long haul uk to cuba at 28 weeks (back at 30), in economy, with a nearly 2 year old on my lap! But I was having a very easy pregnancy (and it was my second baby) and have done a fair bit of flying (pregnant and not). If i was you then I would go in a heartbeat and enjoy a relaxing grown up holiday- but if you would be worried about having pregnancy related issues away from home then maybe its best not to. My tips would be to get good compression socks, drink plenty and walk around- my legs always swell up flying when pregnant! Also double check your insurance or take out additonal insurance to cover you and baby should one or both of you need medical help. Hope you have a great time!

It'll be absolutely fine at that stage. Once you get into 33 or 34 weeks plus, you'll be uncomfortable but 6 weeks or more before that stage it'll be no trouble in terms of comfort. Keep hydrated!

Oh thanks for all the positive feedback! Was worried I'd be told not to :)

I flew 12 hours at 23 / 25 weeks. We went business both ways and if we hadn't been able to do that I'd have been very reluctant to do the trip as I don't think I could have sat in economy for that long due to hip/back pain. Although as it's your return journey which is economy then hopefully it wouldn't be too bad even if you did have problems as you could rest when you got back rather than trying to enjoy a holiday while you're in pain.

I think a lot of women would be fine (maybe most would be) but if I were you I'd have some insurance or flexibility to the ticket/holiday in case you end up being unlucky.

OP, I recently flew around 6-7 hours business class at 25 - 26 weeks pregnant. It wasn't the most comfortable thing. I could not even imagine how uncomfortable I would have been in economy. However, I'm generally quite sensitive and this hasn't been the easiest pregnancy.

I probably would not travel long haul again, for one stupid reason :

If anything were to happen at the destination ( we went to a very developed country ) and god forbid, the baby didn't make it OR I would go into labour on the flight- I wouldn't hear the end of it from relatives / husband. We had a lovely holiday, with one day of reduced movements which caused me to go an see a doctor. My husband got so wound up and started blaming me for even taking the trip - so we will definitely NOT do that next time. But if you deal with reasonable people and have a reasonable other half, then I really don't see the problem. Just consider the medical care of the country you're visiting and whether you could live with it if something went wrong there.

Which is extremely unlikely !

I haven’t done long haul but when I did short haul the midwife (who said this applied to long haul as well) just said to keep hydrated, keep moving (because of higher risks of DVT in pregnancy) and wear flight socks
Apart from that it should be fine