When is a passenger considered a “stretcher patient”?
Some people are so sick that they can’t get out of bed, let alone travel on an airplane.
Many people cannot afford an air ambulance charter, especially when medical transport is needed on a long route, for example, from Asia to Canada or the USA to Africa. Yet, there could be a compelling reason to travel, for example, to access a higher level of medical care or to go back home after a medical emergency abroad.
If a bedridden patient is in severe pain and discomfort or if the patient is sedated or too weak to sit up, it might look like an impossible task to travel by airplane, and the first question that arises among family members is: can a bed-bound patient be transported by a commercial airline?
The same goes for a patient with brain damage or late-stage dementia, who cannot function anymore and becomes completely dependent on others.
These are all cases where commercial medical escort companies, like JET COMPANION, team up with airlines and other specialty service providers to safely transport the passenger to the destination on a stretcher on a regularly scheduled commercial flight. We call this “commercial airline stretcher service.”
Is transporting a bed-bound person on a commercial plane safe?
Many families face this question after a family member suffers a stroke or severe injury or in the wake of significant surgery or terminal illness. In all these cases, the bed-bound patient is either in the care of a nursing team at a hospital or arrangements have been made to support daily life in the community with home care services.
We are talking about patients who need bed baths and diaper changes, but maybe also oxygen, airway suctioning, or tube feeding. So how will someone in this state make it onto a commercial flight and travel a long distance?
While there are many reasons why a patient can be medically unfit for air travel, being immobile on itself is not necessarily a reason to keep a traveler on the ground.
This is why commercial medical escort companies exist: to organize everything that a care-dependent patient needs as a condition to be transported from A to B. That includes bed-bound patients.
Even patients considered “full lift assist” and moved from bed to chair with a mechanical patient lift can often fly commercially if an aeromedical company organizes the right assistance. In the same way, the nursing staff uses a care plan at home or in a care facility, and specialized aeromedical companies plan transport from A to Z, with patient safety in mind at all times.
Can someone who cannot sit fly in Business Class?
Flying in Business Class or First Class sometimes solves the problem. But only sometimes. International long-haul flights and sometimes the busiest domestic routes, like Vancouver-Toronto or Los Angeles-New York, are often operated by large aircraft with lie-flat pods.
Lie-flat business class seats are more comfortable than an airline stretcher. The extra space, complimentary pillows, and the option to recline to a preferred position can relieve pain and discomfort.
But you must be sure about the seat you are getting on your flight for your Business Class ticket. Business Class can also mean a wider seat with only a 30-degree recline or a regular row of Economy seats with a blocked-off middle seat.
International flights into Canada are often flown by large aircraft, but the connecting domestic flight is operated by small propeller aircraft. In that case, Business Class will be nothing more than the first few rows of the cabin, and the seats will be equally narrow to any other seat on the plane.
To answer the question if a bedridden passenger can travel in Business Class, there is one important counter question that we’ll ask you:
Can the bedridden patient sit up for at least thirty minutes for a wheelchair transfer, take-off, and landing? If the answer is no because the patient cannot sit at all due to severe pain, weakness, paralysis, a coma, or because of heavy medication, then Business Class is not an option. If the answer is yes, but not for too long…then Business Class is possibly a solution we’ll explore further.
It’s always best to be transparent about the limitations and possibilities of the bedridden patient: a trained commercial medical escort has many ways to support a patient when transferred to and from the airplane seat. However, some families try to take a bedridden patient on a flight without assistance and are denied boarding by the airline.
Which airlines allow stretchers to and from Canada or the USA?
The bad news is that no North American airlines allow stretchers on their planes, even on international flights. Air Canada, WestJet, Delta, United, and American Airlines often have the least expensive ticket prices for international flights in and out of North America.
Still, unfortunately, stretcher patients are not accepted due to operational and logistical reasons.
Airlines from Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East always do so and provide a vital and affordable service for bedridden patients who need to be transported to or from Canada or the USA. See below for a full list of airlines that allow stretchers to and from North America.
The good news is that many foreign commercial airlines that fly in and out of Canada and the USA allow stretchers onboard. Click here for a full list of airlines that allow stretchers to and from North America.
A bed-bound patient can travel on a stretcher for the entire flight, and there are special procedures to board and deplane the aircraft without obstructing other passengers. Some airlines like Emirates, Turkish Airlines, Korean Air, and KLM have excellent facilities at their airport hubs for stretcher passengers who need to do a stopover and transfer from one flight to another.
The stretchers are designed to be installed in the Economy class cabin of the aircraft after blocking off a few rows of seats. Some privacy is offered by a small curtain around the stretcher, and oxygen bottles, IVs, or medical equipment can be fitted around the patient in a limited but dedicated space in the cabin.
How to book a commercial airline stretcher on your plane
A commercial airline stretcher can only be booked if the patient is escorted by a medical travel companion who can provide patient care during the flight. Flight attendants are not trained to act as nurses, and airlines are transport companies, not licensed medical services.
If necessary, a commercial medical escort or an entire aeromedical team can be booked by contacting a medical repatriation company, a specialized service that operates independently from the airline. As they plan the transfer, they also book the airline stretcher service and coordinate all the details directly with the airline.
The cost of flying on a stretcher is significantly higher than booking a Business Class seat but also significantly lower than chartering an air ambulance, especially on long flights that cross the ocean.
When is a commercial airline stretcher not an option?
There could be many reasons. A common one is the type of aircraft used. Even if an airline generally accepts stretcher patients, it is not necessarily the case for every route in their network or every aircraft in their fleet.
Suppose the requested route is operated by a plane that does not take stretchers. In that case, the medical repatriation company will have to look into alternative routes and means of transportation that will still take the stretcher patient from point A to point B.
Another reason is body weight. Airline stretchers are only certified to take patients up to a certain weight, but each airline applies its policy. While severely obese patients are automatically excluded from commercial airline stretcher service, some airlines have maximum thresholds as low as 77 kilograms.
Regarding stretcher cases, the airline often declines a third group: terminally ill patients who request to be transported to their country of origin when in a palliative state. While these so-called “end-of-life repatriations” are sometimes possible with proper medical care, a hard line is drawn when there is a significant risk that the patient will die during the flight.
Is a stretcher patient only able to fly in and out of a major airport?
Say a stretcher patient is transported with Emirates to the USA. The flight will land at one of the twelve cities currently served by Emirates. But if the final destination is in a different city, or state for that matter, there are two options to continue the journey:
The patient is transferred to an air ambulance or a private stretcher charter that can fly directly into any airport close to where the bedridden patient needs to be. Or a non-emergency medical transport company specializing in long-distance transfers involves transporting the patient by ground to the final destination.
Who should fly with a stretcher patient onboard a commercial airline?
Being able to lie on a stretcher is not enough to keep a bed-bound patient safe at a high altitude. It depends on how sick the patient is and what care is needed onboard. More often than not, a stretcher patient needs professional care best provided by a paramedic, a nurse, or a doctor trained for the commercial airline environment.
Lying down on a narrow stretcher for hours also comes with the risk of pressure sores or blood clots and challenges when the bed patient needs to go to the toilet.
The care provided in-flight needs to be rock solid, and the airline will request details about the medical escort responsible for patient care to ensure everything goes smoothly.
Even the most experienced air medical escorts will be busy keeping the patient comfortable during the flight. In some cases, two medical escorts are needed to care for a stretcher patient. Contact us to learn more.
Airlines that offer commercial airline stretcher services in and out of Canada and the USA:
Aeromexico Air Algerie Air China Air France Air India Air Serbia Air New Zealand Air Senegal All Nippon Airways Asiana Airlines Austrian Airlines Azores Airlines Biman Bangladesh Airlines Brusseles Airlines Cathay Pacific China Airlines China Eastern Airlines China Southern Airlines Egypt Air El Al Emirates Ethiopian Airlines Etihad Airways EVA Air Fiji Airways | Hainan Airlines Iberia ITA Airways Japan Airlines Kenya Airways KLM Korean Air Kuwait Airways Lufthansa Pakistan International Airlines Philippine Airlines Qantas Qatar Airways Royal Air Maroc Royal Jordanian Saudia Sichuan Airlines Singapore Airlines Swiss International Airlines TAP Air Portugal Tunisair Turkish Airlines Vietnam Airlines Xiaman Air
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Note:
Every airline applies its own stretcher policy and can accept or decline a request for stretcher service based on several factors, including patient condition, fligh safety risks, operational or logistical constraints, type of aircraft flown, capacity issues or temporary restrictions.