This article explains how Long COVID patients, many of whom require oxygen therapy due to respiratory issues, can still travel with careful planning. It covers the medical and airline requirements for flying with oxygen, options for ground and sea travel, safety and insurance considerations, and the importance of prescriptions and approved equipment. With support from OxygenWorldwide in handling logistics and global oxygen supply, safe and enjoyable travel remains possible.
What happens when travel dreams meet Long COVID head on? The weird formless days of 2020 and 2021 were bad enough, but at least then everyone was in the same boat. Long COVID is an unpleasant side effect of the coronavirus infection, in which an estimated six percent of the patient body continued – and continue now – to suffer a wide variety of symptoms. One of the most common of these symptoms is breathlessness which often requires oxygen therapy.
If you are a Long COVID sufferer, you might laugh incredulously at the thought of fulfilling all your dreams of travelling the world and exploring new cultures and cuisines, given that it takes hours of planning and waiting for an energy burst just to make it to the corner shop for some milk.
But travel is still possible, even with the logistics of organising your medical oxygen, as long as you take a moment to plan it carefully and ensure that you have a robust line of oxygen support in place. The good news is that that robust support already exists: here’s why you should choose OxygenWorldwide to aid you with sourcing medical oxygen for Long COVID patients.
What Long COVID Means for Oxygen Needs
For many years doctors were aware that occasionally – very, very rarely – patients would not fully recover from viruses. This was quite difficult to ascertain as some viruses can linger leaving patients feeling weak and ‘pulled down’. Post-viral infections are not the aftermath of having a virus: in which you feel weak and tired as you regain full strength after fighting off the infection. Rather, they are a period of continued inflammation – think of it as a fire going underground and continuing to burn, as compared to the blackened ashy ground of a properly extinguished fire which will, with time, recover.
Long COVID is one such subterranean fire. Coronaviruses are somewhat unusual in that they can affect any part of the body, the ‘crown-like’ protrusions for which they are named stick to the body’s cells, wreaking havoc wherever that may be: heart, lungs, other organs. Respiratory issues are the most common, and this carries over into Long COVID issues too: around 38% of Long COVID patients have respiratory symptoms, by far the largest single complaint. Of these, a significant number require oxygen therapy to ease the reduced lung function they are experiencing, which presents as hypoxemia (low blood oxygen saturation) and fatigue. With the right oxygen therapy, often even Long COVID patients can enjoy a good quality of life and explore the world a bit.
Do note, the first thing you will need when you’re considering Long COVID travel with oxygen is your prescription. It is essential that your doctor issues you with an up-to-date version of your prescription which details your diagnosis, your required flow rate and (if necessary) which specialist equipment you require access to.
Can You Fly with Oxygen After Long COVID?
If you struggle to breathe anyway, the mere thought of your preferred oxygen delivery equipment being barred from your flight is terrifying. But you can travel with medical oxygen as long as you take steps to be compliant with airline regulations and international laws.
For example, you will not be able to use oxygen cylinders on board the plane, but they can often be carried, empty, in the cargo hold for use at your holiday destination. LOX (liquid oxygen) is far too volatile to be safely carried by air, and will be forbidden by all airlines. However, you can take and use a portable oxygen concentrator (POC) on board your flight and use it as needed until you are safely in your holiday accommodation.
Do note, however, that you must use one of the POCs that has been approved by airlines and the FAA for use while in transit. OxygenWorldwide can help you to source oxygen and even equipment in your destination country, so as long as you can travel using a POC, you can soon be back using your preferred method of oxygen delivery.
When you are planning Long COVID travel with oxygen by air, you will have to provide your airline with the following, as well as sight of your prescription:
- Medical clearance form. This consists of your doctor’s written confirmation of your condition and treatment, plus any paperwork the airline needs to process your specific circumstances and meet your needs.
- Proof that your device is an approved one
- Proof that your battery is good for 150% of the necessary time. This will comprise of the time from check-in, the waiting for your plane to arrive, your travel time and a period on the other side to be processed through customs which can vary from a few minutes to several hours plus half again as much. So if you have to check-in an hour before your flight, the flight is two hours long, and processing is expected to be half an hour (a total of three and a half hours) you will need to have sufficient battery power to last a minimum of five and a quarter hours.
If you would like to know more about traveling with oxygen and read some travel safety tips for Long COVID patients, click here for our travel tips page for practical flight guidance.
What About Travel on the Ground?
Needless to say, without the dangers involved in carrying oxygen at heights, ground travel does tend to be a little easier, but there are still processes and procedures that must be observed especially if you will be crossing international borders.
If you’re going to a hotel for the duration of your holiday, heading out on a cruise, or even taking a short term let for a longer visit, you may require oxygen to be delivered to your temporary home.
The options include cylinders, stationary concentrators (which tend to be bigger, and which can provide a higher flowrate than the smaller, more portable, versions) and LOX tanks, where the latter are available.
NB: When travelling abroad, you must take your prescription with you, and it’s a good idea to have a digital back-up too, just in case.
If you’re heading off on a ground or ocean based journey, and are ready to think about the oxygen you’ll need along the way, click on our enquiries form for help with arranging delivery.
Safety Considerations for Travellers with Long COVID
Any medical condition can be affected by heat, humidity or altitude, and the same is true for Long COVID. Be mindful of your symptoms and try to anticipate a worst-case reaction to the climate of your destination country. Hopefully, it will not come to this (sometimes a change of venue makes positive changes to medical conditions), but being prepared and having a plan in case you do need extra help is always wise.
Make sure you plan your activities with your medical condition in mind. Learn to listen to your body too: if you need to take things slowly, it is better to take your time and maybe miss one or two activities than to push yourself, relapse, and then spend the rest of the holiday in bed, trying to feel well enough to just stand up…
When you are packing, take spare consumables and spares of anything that is fragile or perishable: cannulas, extension tubing, back-up chargers and spare (fully charged, if possible) batteries.
Do take out medical insurance for your trip and make sure that oxygen therapy abroad is explicitly covered. It may cost a little more, but you will have great peace of mind that you won’t end up horrendously out of pocket, or – worse – be refused treatment that you desperately need. Here’s our insurance support page with some useful links and information for you.
How OxygenWorldwide Helps Travellers with Long COVID
We are practised in helping travellers get around the world and enjoy access to their vital medical oxygen as they go.
We can help you by offering advice and helping to liaise with airlines when it comes to getting medical clearances and paperwork processed, and we can coordinate with our immense network of local oxygen suppliers worldwide – we have contacts in a great number of countries in the world.
We offer multilingual support for prescription information and hotel deliveries, and in Spain, Portugal and parts of France, we offer emergency backup services too. Why OxygenWorldwide? Here’s why.
Practical Checklist Before You Go
Make sure you have:
- Doctor’s letter confirming your need for oxygen
- A completed airline medical clearance form
- Prescription copies (ideally in the local language of your destination country)
- Approved POC and spare batteries totalling 150% of the transit duration
- Travel insurance documents, hardcopy as well as digital, if possible
- OxygenWorldwide’s contact details
So you can see that, yes, you can still travel, even with Long COVID. With the right planning, oxygen provision and the requisite paperwork it is possible for you to explore the world safely. If you’re living with Long COVID but still want to travel, albeit with oxygen, let OxygenWorldwide handle the logistics. Contact us today so you can focus on planning and enjoying your trip sooner rather than later.
