For most passengers, keeping electronic devices charged is an annoyance. But for people flying with , keeping their portable oxygen powered – so they can breathe – is a serious challenge. But while it takes careful planning and occasional troubleshooting, people with COPD can reach all sorts of destinations.
Frequent Flyer
Suitcase packed? Check. Portable oxygen concentrator with paperwork? Check. Medication in carry-on bag? Check. Once again, Jean Rommes, 70, is ready to travel. Between her consulting and advocacy work, Rommes flies twice a month or so throughout the U.S. and to Canada. With COPD, she’s found advance preparation is the key to (usually) smooth trips.
Well before departure date, Rommes gets all her ducks in a row. She checks airline websites for their rules on portable oxygen concentrators, battery limits, medical forms for doctors to sign and information on passenger assistance. “With the airlines I typically fly, I call ahead of time and tell them I’m going to be flying between hither and yon,” she says. As she lists upcoming flight numbers, they can update her records for three or four flights at a time and she’s set.
At the airport, it only takes a minute or two for security to wand over her oxygen machine. But it does takes extra time to get from point A to point B. If Rommes is flying through Chicago, for instance, she might need to ask for a wheelchair or cart, depending on the O’Hare Airport concourse.
Some plane cabins are better pressurized than others, she says, which can affect the oxygen setting she chooses. Independent as Rommes is, she says having travel companions can be really helpful. “It’d be something I’d appreciate – having someone else to carry all that stuff would be great.”
Experience makes flying much easier, Rommes notes. The COPD Foundation offers information for .
COPD Journey
Tonya Hidalgo already misses her mother. Last week, Brenda Cross of Mooresville, North Carolina, died at 70 after nearly two decades of coping with COPD. But Hidalgo has great memories to look back on, including their travels together.
It’s a sad reality that constant shortness of breath turns some into shut-ins. But Hidalgo was determined not to let that happen to her mother.
In later years, as Cross’ condition worsened, the family stuck closer to home with road trips, storing two 50-pound tanks, her oxygen concentrator and a supply of batteries in the car. During their 2012 Disney World trip, Hidalgo says, her mother “had a blast” going on rides with her 2-year-old grandson.
Earlier in 2003, while Cross was still able to fly, Hidalgo surprised her with a two-week trip to the island of Oahu. But landing in mile-high Denver for their connecting flight was rough – the issue of altitude hadn’t previously occurred to them. When the cabin doors opened, it was as if the air was sucked out of her lungs, Cross told her daughter. She had “a really bad breathing attack,” Hidalgo says, and “we debated getting back on the airplane and heading straight back home.”
But her mother took a puff from her inhaler, turned up the oxygen and allowed airline personnel to wheel her to the next gate. Once acclimated and calm, Hidalgo recalls, her mother said, “Let’s continue on.” They later learned that Hawaii, with its trade winds and good air quality, is a big draw for people who live with breathing problems.
As they walked away from the airplane after landing in Honolulu, Hidalgo’s mother called her name. “I was thinking to myself, ‘Oh no, what’s wrong?’” she says. “And I turned and looked at her, and she had this huge smile on her face. She said, ‘I can breathe.’”
Cruising With COPD
If you’re anxious about taking a cruise while on oxygen, it might help to know your travel agent is also a . That’s the case with Sea Puffers, which organizes trips for clients with COPD to destinations such as Alaska, Barcelona, Russia, Hawaii and the Greek Isles.
Co-owners Holly Marocchi and Celeste Belyea make all the oxygen arrangements, both for clients’ flights to port cities and the cruises themselves. They supply spare oxygen equipment for clients who’ve underestimated their needs and make sure enough scooters are on board for those with mobility issues. "Everything has to be on the ship when we leave the initial port,” Marocchi says. “There’s no stopping at Wal-Mart along the way to pick up anything more.”
Sea Puffers doesn’t provide respiratory care on ship – they leave that to the cruise line’s medical staff. Hesitant travelers with COPD should know “that there are other people with the same fears," Marocchi says. "They’re apprehensive about it too. I try to explain every single, solitary detail months in advance of going on the cruise.” That way, she says, people can relax and enjoy their vacations.
International Travel Drama
You’ve heard the complaint: “Next thing you know, the airlines will be charging us to breathe!” That’s no joke for Russell Winwood, 48, of Brisbane, Australia. After he and his wife purchased economy-class tickets for a flight to the U.S., they hit a snag with the Australian carrier.
“They had a rule where you could only plug in your oxygen machine if you traveled at premium, premium economy or business class,” he says. “We weren’t told until after we had purchased the economy tickets. So they wanted us to pay for an upgrade, which was $2,000 Australian ($1,523 U.S.) for each of us. And we refused.”
After much back and forth, Winwood says, the airline finally agreed to a free upgrade, three days before the flight. During the trip from Brisbane to Los Angeles, however, the alarm on his oxygen machine sounded.
“We found out that the power you plug in has only the power to charge mobile phones and laptops – it won’t actually charge a portable oxygen machine.” Luckily, his battery supply was enough to get to their destination – with about 10 minutes of power to spare. “It was cutting it a bit close,” he says. So was their return flight back from Miami to Australia, but they made it. "It seems to me that most airlines aren't set up to cope with people with oxygen terribly well," Winwood says.
The Transportation Security Agency has information on .
One thing Winwood noticed was how air quality in different cities affected his breathing. He struggled with the exhaust fumes in Los Angeles and did better in the fresher sea air of Miami. Traveling in Australia, he stays away from hotels and restaurants that allow smoking, and says for travelers with COPD, it's about avoiding that set off flare-ups.
Although he has just 30 percent lung function, Winwood has completed three . And two years ago, he walked up Mount Kosciuszko, the highest mountain in Australia. So he’s not one to be held back from exploring the world.
“We never thought for a million years we’d have to go through all the drama we have to be able to travel,” Winwood says. “But now that we’ve been overseas, we’re aware of what we have to do for next time. Don’t let traveling with COPD stop you – just get out there and do it would be my advice.”
