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Travelling with your CPAP?
I've just returned from Australia after a 3 week holiday to catch up with my family. I needed to take my CPAP on the plane as I needed to do a lot of driving from the moment we landed and I needed to be awake enough to not be dangerous.
Six months prior to my holiday, I contacted the Airline to ensure there would be no hassle with taking the machine on board - I thought that in light of the new restrictions governing cabin luggage that this would be best. I also needed to know how I was going to power the machine and I wanted reassurance that everything could be sorted well in advance, leaving me to worrying about other more trivial matters.
The Airline had an Aviation Medicine department so I naturally assumed they would have a Policy on this and a comprehensive procedure in place to ensure everything would be sorted with the minimum of fuss. It was wrong of me to assume this, as the Airline appeared to be writing the Policy as we went along. The Airline had procedure for people requiring Oxygen while in flight and a procedure for people wishing to use a laptop and they decided to try and fit together the two procedures.
It was a shambles with three different people from the Av Med department all trying to have a go at getting things in place. Forms were needed to be completed by myself and my Doctor, then I was told they didn't need them, then they did. I was being contacted by Airline staff in three countries at all times of the day & night. They finally said everything was OK - only to tell me on the evening before my flight that I could take the machine on the plane but I couldn't use it!! I did get some sound advice from a fellow OSA sufferer to purchase a "Teleadapt" Inverter to enable me to connect to the plane's electrical system.
Once on the plane, contrary to the Airline's advice I plugged in the CPAP and enjoyed 5 hours trouble-free sleep - the best sleep I have ever had on any long haul flight. I did have trouble on my return leg as the aircraft used was quite an old 747 400 series which had old-fashioned 2 pin sockets which I didn't have an adaptor for.
The lesson to learn is:
Notifiy the Airline early, stand your ground and be assertive, after all, you are the expert in this field.
Six months prior to my holiday, I contacted the Airline to ensure there would be no hassle with taking the machine on board - I thought that in light of the new restrictions governing cabin luggage that this would be best. I also needed to know how I was going to power the machine and I wanted reassurance that everything could be sorted well in advance, leaving me to worrying about other more trivial matters.
The Airline had an Aviation Medicine department so I naturally assumed they would have a Policy on this and a comprehensive procedure in place to ensure everything would be sorted with the minimum of fuss. It was wrong of me to assume this, as the Airline appeared to be writing the Policy as we went along. The Airline had procedure for people requiring Oxygen while in flight and a procedure for people wishing to use a laptop and they decided to try and fit together the two procedures.
It was a shambles with three different people from the Av Med department all trying to have a go at getting things in place. Forms were needed to be completed by myself and my Doctor, then I was told they didn't need them, then they did. I was being contacted by Airline staff in three countries at all times of the day & night. They finally said everything was OK - only to tell me on the evening before my flight that I could take the machine on the plane but I couldn't use it!! I did get some sound advice from a fellow OSA sufferer to purchase a "Teleadapt" Inverter to enable me to connect to the plane's electrical system.
Once on the plane, contrary to the Airline's advice I plugged in the CPAP and enjoyed 5 hours trouble-free sleep - the best sleep I have ever had on any long haul flight. I did have trouble on my return leg as the aircraft used was quite an old 747 400 series which had old-fashioned 2 pin sockets which I didn't have an adaptor for.
The lesson to learn is:
Notifiy the Airline early, stand your ground and be assertive, after all, you are the expert in this field.
Awareness of our needs would be a major step in the right direction already. That would save explaining the same thing over and over again.
To give us a voice and talk to people who know what we're on about.
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