INTRODUCTION: Medical Guidelines for Airline Travel provide information that enables healthcare providers to properly advise patients who plan to travel by air. Modern commercial aircraft are very safe and, in most cases, reasonably comfortable. However, all flights, short or
long haul, impose stresses on passengers. Preflight stresses include airport commotion on the ground such as carrying baggage, walking long distances, getting to the gate on time, and being delayed. In-flight stresses include acceleration, vibration (including turbulence), noise, lowered barometric
pressure, variations of temperature and humidity, and fatigue among others. Healthy passengers normally tolerate these stresses quite well; however, there is the potential for passengers to become ill during or after the flight due to these stresses, especially for those with pre-existing
medical conditions and reduced physiological reserves.Thibeault C, Evans AD. AsMA medical guidelines for air travel: stresses of flight. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2015; 86(5):486–487.