Flying/travel insurance 14-16 weeks

[bluemoon2468]

I'm going to Canada and the USA for 2 weeks in April and will be 14 weeks on the way out and 16 weeks on the way back. Travelling with BA. I know I should be fine to fly and don't need a letter or anything, but am I supposed to let them know anyway? Do I need to check that my inflight meals will be pregnancy safe? Do I need special travel insurance?

Watching with interest as I am going to Prague at 22 weeks

You don't need to let them know, and most meals are made deliberately to minimise as many risks as possible, so I can't think they'd be anything unsuitable, however of course you can let them know if it puts your mind at rest.

You don't need 'special' travel insurance, but you should ensure your policy covers all pregnancy related eventualities. They may require you to have a fit to fly note from your GP (which you would have to pay for) but possibly not given you will be at a relatively early stage. It's always worth phoning and clarifying though so that you know where you stand and so that's it's on record should anything happen.

Flying is fine and the second trimester is the best time for it apparently! As PP said, just double check your policy covers pregnancy related issues but other than that, you don't need to do anything else.
I travel with work and had done 8 separate flights before I was 9 weeks.

I'm 22 weeks and am currently in NYC from the UK. My travel insurance company said they didn't really need to know that I am pregnant and Virgin Airlines said as long as it's a low risk pregnancy I don't need to do anything!

I think we were with Insure & Go and all you had to do was tell them you were pregnant, not pay an increased premium or anything.

Yeah it's illegal to charge more as pregnancy cannot be classed as an illness, but I'd definetly make sure your insurance company know just in case!

I've looked at travel insurance as I go abroad at 20 weeks. I cannot find anything online regarding pregnancy. I'm going to phone up and do it so I'm know I'm definitely covered for pregnancy x

I work as a travel insurance claim handler, you really really really should book travel insurance as soon as you book a trip if you don’t already have it with credit or debit cards for example. We’re a major insurance underwriter for more companies than I can list but all policies go by airline guidelines so that should be your first check but in a normal pregnancy with no complications at time of booking you don’t need to worry until at least 28 weeks.

at your stage you'll be fine. The thing to watch out for further on is that many insurance policies will cover you for pregnancy related complications but won't cover treatment of the baby if it is born prematurely. So once you hit 24 weeks you need to make sure that you have insurance that covers you and the baby as the cost of treating a premature baby is huge, particularly in the US. I used this site to organise mine. It covers medical expenses for you and the baby up to £10 million.

I'm also currently looking for travel insurance and wondered if I'd need something separate due to pregnancy, so this thread is a big help.
In terms of pregnancy safe foods if travelling in economy you'll be safe. If you're in business class or first class the only thing I can think of that would be unsafe would potentially be the cheese boards or perhaps some of the main course beef steaks (if not well done) or perhaps some of the types of fish on offer. However, just order something else from the menu!
Is there any food you're particularly worried about encountering?

You are so early (I know it doesn't feel that way but no one will even know you are pregnant x) that it won't make any difference re flying. However make sure you have health insurance in the instance that you have something go wrong with the pregnancy and require hospital treatment -especially in the states.

Also re the flight meals -I have had several pregnancies and live abroad, nothing BA serves is within normal cooking status, even in business class it is jerky at best.

I was around 15 weeks pregnant when I emigrated to Canada. I wasn’t aware of that though at the time.

Wear stockings on the plane, even early on risk is much higher for DVT. I stupidly didnt when I flex at 33 weeks and got leg cramps for days and was paranoid that it was a DVT

This is all really great advice, thanks 😊