Travelling with a lung condition

Travelling with a lung condition can often seem daunting for patients, especially for those who require long-term oxygen therapy or ambulatory (portable) oxygen therapy. If you are travelling within the UK then you should be able to have additional equipment set up at your destination (whether it is a family members home or a hotel) and this can be arranged by contacting your home oxygen provider. They may require additional authorisation from your Home Oxygen Assessment Service in the form of a holiday supply request and so please be prepared to provide then with details such as:

• Arrival and departure dates
• Location addresses for equipment deliveries
• A contact person at each location (if known). For hotels this may often be ‘The Manager’ or ‘Reception’

If you intend going abroad for a holiday then this does pose additional challenges if you require long-term or ambulatory oxygen and so you should seek advise from your local Home Oxygen Assessment Service about this.
The British Lung Foundation have some excellent resources on their website to help and advise you on holiday and the European Lung Foundation have created a list of European oxygen providers (which is kindly provided by the European Industrial Gases Association) should you need to arrange oxygen whilst in Europe.

Air Travel

If you have a lung condition and intend to travel by air, it is advisable to speak to a healthcare professional about your suitability to do this. Regardless of whether you have home oxygen or not, they may advise that you undergo a ‘hypoxic challenge test’ to see if you can maintain adequate blood oxygen levels whilst travelling in an aircraft with a reduced cabin pressure.

Hypoxic Challenge Test

Having a lung condition should not stop those with lung conditions from travelling in an aircraft, but some patients should be assessed to see if they require supplemental oxygen whilst flying. This is because commercial aircraft are depressurised (when compared to atmospheric sea-level pressure) to around the equivalent of between 5000 - 8000ft (2400m) whilst flying to reduce the stress on the fuselage. Whilst a person with normal lungs can breathe quite comfortable whilst seated at an altitude of 8000ft, above this level is where these people would normally be at risk of developing altitude sickness (also known as acute mountain sickness - AMS). Out of interest, the peak of Mount Olympus in Washington, USA is 7979ft (2432m). For those with a lung condition, this obviously could pose a serious risk and so should be assessed to see if they maintain adequate amounts of oxygen in their blood to support normal function.

The test technique itself can vary depending on where you are having the test performed, but often involves the patient breathing reduced levels of oxygen for 15 – 20 minutes and assessing their blood oxygen levels over this period. The oxygen level they are breathing in over this period is usually the equivalent of what they would receive at 8000ft (which would be approximately 15.0% O2 at sea level). If the blood oxygen levels fall to a sufficiently low level, they the patient may then be given supplemental oxygen to see how much they would require on an aircraft to improve the blood oxygen levels to an acceptable amount.

For further information on the test criteria, please visit the British Thoracic Society who have produce clinical statements on this assessment.

What If I need In-flight Supplemental Oxygen?

If the test results advise that you have supplemental oxygen in-flight, you may need to contact the airline straight away to make any necessary arrangements. This may include:

• Asking your healthcare professional to sign a Medical Clearance Form (often referred to as a MEDIF form)
• Giving the airline sufficient time to arrange the in-flight oxygen
• If they do not provide oxygen in-flight, you may ned to hire your own oxygen source to take on the flight (usually by renting something called a portable oxygen concentrator)

The European Lung Foundation have complied an excellent source on how to arrange air travel if you need oxygen. Please see useful links for more information.