traveling with oxygen

[dkl222]

My husband has just recently been placed on oxygen. We will be flying to Vancouver to embark on a 7 day cruise to Anchorage and flying back. The flights from Anchorage will be an all night ordeal. Does anyone have suggestions for rental of POC as to type and company to rent equipment from?

[cadien]

If you go to the Disabled Cruise Travel board, there are regular posts on the topic. My FIL has gone several cruises with oxygen and that's where MIL got much of her information.

[dkl222]

Thank you

[sapete]

Your first call (or your TA's) should be to the airline that you are using to find out what their requirements are. Then you can reach out to one of the rental companies to see who best can meet you needs. We use these two:

 

CareVacations - Phone: 1.877.478.7827

Website: www.carevacations.com

 

 

Special Needs at Sea 1.800.513.4515

Website: www.specialneedsatsea.com

[dkl222]

Thank you. I have checked with the airline. I have talked to a few companies, they all give me different info on the best equipment to use.

[YoungDubFan]

Make sure when you are checking with a company that they are aware that you need a portable oxygen concentrator for use on a plane. There are only a few models that the FAA has approved for use on board. You should also be able to rent from one of the national oxygen providers. Lincare and Apria are two of the big companies. I work for a pulmonologist (Lung doctor) and these are the two companies that most of our patients contact if they are doing any type of travelling.

[greatam]

Please be aware that most airlines are now REQUIRING enough battery life to support 1.5 times the flight time. Some even TWO times flight time. AND they are NOT allowing people to get on planes HOPING there is a plug in because so many planes either do not have plug ins or they are only in first class or they are not working. MUST have the batteries.

 

Went through this repeatedly with my MIL. Cedar Rapids Iowa to PHX and return. AA has the shortest flight-they figure it is 5.5 hours with a 1 hour layover in Chicago. To get her on the plane, we had to have EIGHT hours of battery. Imogen has one of the most compact approved units but oh, so expensive. We actually got a used one almost free, had it totally refurbished with 2 year warranty by Inogen for $1400. BUT it didn't come with new batteries and the old ones were shot. $300 for 5 hours of battery.

 

AND then the first time she flew with oxygen, she didn't have the complete medical form from the doctor, she just had the prescription. Thank goodness, Cedar Rapids is a relatively small town and the AA agent was kind enough to actually call the pulmonologist to make sure she had the correct medical form. We had it faxed to us so we could get her home without a hassle because in Phoenix, I guarantee no one would have taken the time to call the doctor. So make sure you have the correct form for the airline and it is properly filled out.

 

As someone posted there are only a few concentrators that are approved by the FAA. There are a couple of airlines that with much advance notice provide oxygen from the plane. But the cost is not cheap and since your husband needs it on the cruise, that won't work very well.

 

Just remember about the battery life for the plane and the proper medical form.

 

Enjoy!!!

[greatam]

Please be aware that most airlines are now REQUIRING enough battery life to support 1.5 times the flight time. Some even TWO times flight time. AND they are NOT allowing people to get on planes HOPING there is a plug in because so many planes either do not have plug ins or they are only in first class or they are not working. MUST have the batteries.

 

Went through this repeatedly with my MIL. Cedar Rapids Iowa to PHX and return. AA has the shortest flight-they figure it is 5.5 hours with a 1 hour layover in Chicago. To get her on the plane, we had to have EIGHT hours of battery. Imogen has one of the most compact approved units but oh, so expensive. We actually got a used one almost free, had it totally refurbished with 2 year warranty by Inogen for $1400. BUT it didn't come with new batteries and the old ones were shot. $300 for 5 hours of battery.

 

AND then the first time she flew with oxygen, she didn't have the complete medical form from the doctor, she just had the prescription. Thank goodness, Cedar Rapids is a relatively small town and the AA agent was kind enough to actually call the pulmonologist to make sure she had the correct medical form. We had it faxed to us so we could get her home without a hassle because in Phoenix, I guarantee no one would have taken the time to call the doctor. So make sure you have the correct form for the airline and it is properly filled out.

 

As someone posted there are only a few concentrators that are approved by the FAA. There are a couple of airlines that with much advance notice provide oxygen from the plane. But the cost is not cheap and since your husband needs it on the cruise, that won't work very well.

 

Just remember about the battery life for the plane and the proper medical form.

 

Enjoy!!!

[marelind]

DH is on oxygen and we have traveled with a POC several times. We have used Inogen, Sequel Eclipse, DeVilbiss Igo and Respironics Simply Go. They are all good and reliable. One is not better than another in terms of reliability. The biggest consideration is if your husband can use the oxygen on pulse mode or if he has to have it continuous. Along with that it is important to know how many liters per minute. The answers to these questions will rule out different machines.

 

There are various companies that rent the POCs. Lately, the company that supplies my husband's oxygen had POC's they would provide in place of the O2 at home.

 

I agree with the other posters that you need to look up on your airlines website their requirements for flying with a POC. Every airline has their own paperwork and method of contacting them. Usually the paper has to be signed by your doctor and communicated to them at some point. Some say within 10 days of flight and some as soon as possible. I don't think there are any airlines that supply oxygen any more. There are many POCs that now qualify with the FAA.