It Is It Safe To Fly With Atrial Fibrillation?

[gordiescotland1]

Hi there.
A friend of mine and his partner are getting married in March in Northern Ireland just outside Belfast. Another friend of mine in the same town has received an invitation. He has suggested we travel together but he knows I am not a good traveller. My idea was to travel myself as I always do at night in the dark and catch a ferry over, he Is adamant he wants to fly saying he doesn't want to drive 200 miles to the ferry port and back. He seems to think he can keep me calm on a 1 hour flight from Edinburgh to Belfast and back and by nature he is an exceptionally calm person. I am in a small way tempted to try it however I told a friend of mine about it who like myself has atrial fibrillation and he is on a beta blocker and warfarin for years very controlled and he went on a flight from Edinburgh to London this year and had a bad episode of AF and had to have treatment in hospital in London. God knows why when he Is on warfarin what's the worst thing that can happen but he said doctors in ae said it was a possibility that the cabin pressure change could have set it off. I wish I didn't know this now. Obviously my friend and I can make our own travel arrangements and still be friends in future not sure if that would be the case if he travelled with a neurotic traveller !!!

[jourdain2]

Well, OH has a heart problem (triple by-pass) and was in hospital the other year for an atrial fibrillation episode, but he has flown before lockdown. he prefers to avoid it, but only because he gets more than a bit furious about all the queues etc., etc.. No doctor has told him to avoid flying.

[gness]

Flying may affect some types of heart rhythm disorders, Geordie but not all. Me? I'd have a word with my doctor as there is some advice on what to do before flying.

[Sqad]

Patients with AF and on anticoagulants need not fear episodes of blood clots, bleeding or alteration of heart rate or rhythm whilst travelling by air.

[Milo2]

I’ve just returned from a holiday in Europe. I went with a friend who has AF and is on medication for this. She was fine and had no problems with the flights.

[kateswift]

Yes. The risk of having a stroke while flying is very low for people with atrial fibrillation.

There are a number of things you can do to reduce your risk of having a stroke while flying, including:

- Taking your blood-thinning medications as prescribed
- Monitoring your heart rate and blood pressure during the flight
- Getting up and walking around every few hours
- Avoiding alcohol and caffeine