Oxygen - travel; Collapsed lung - travel; Chest surgery - travel; COPD - travel; Chronic obstructive airways disease - travel; Chronic obstructive lung disease - travel; Chronic bronchitis - travel; Emphysema - travel
If you have breathing problems such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), you can travel safely if you take a few precautions.
It's easier to stay healthy while traveling if you are in good health before you go. Before traveling, you should talk with your health care provider if you have breathing problems and you:
Also talk with your provider if you were in the hospital for your breathing problems and had:
Check with your provider if you plan to travel in a place at a high altitude (such as states like Colorado or Utah and countries like Peru or Ecuador).
Two weeks before you travel, tell your airline that you will need oxygen on the plane. (The airline may not be able to accommodate you if you tell them less than 48 hours before your flight.)
Airlines and airports will not provide oxygen while you are not on an airplane. This includes before and after the flight, and during a layover. Call your oxygen supplier who may be able to help.
On the day of travel:
Get a flu shot every year to help prevent infection. Ask your provider if you need a pneumococcal (pneumonia) vaccine and get one if you do. Be fully immunized against the virus that causes COVID-19. Use a mask according to guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Wash your hands often. Stay away from crowds. Ask visitors who have a cold to wear a mask.
Have a name, phone number, and address of a provider where you are going. Do not go to areas that do not have good and accessible medical care.
Bring enough medicine, even some extra. Bring copies of your recent medical records with you.
Contact your oxygen company and find out if they can provide oxygen in the area to which you are traveling.
You should:
American Lung Association website. What goes in an asthma or COPD travel pack? www.lung.org/blog/asthma-copd-travel-pack. Updated September 7, 2017. Accessed April 22, 2024.
American Thoracic Society website. Oxygen therapy. www.thoracic.org/patients/patient-resources/resources/oxygen-therapy.pdf. Updated July 2020. Accessed April 12, 2024.
Luks AM, Schoene RB, Swenson ER. High altitude. In: Broaddus VC, Ernst JD, King TE, Lazarus SC, Sarmiento KF, Schnapp LM, Stapleton RD. Murray and Nadel's Textbook of Respiratory Medicine. 7th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2022:chap 105.
McCarthy A, Burchard GD. The traveler with pre-existing disease. In: Keystone JS, Kozarsky PE, Connor BA, Nothdurft HD, Mendelson M, Leder K, eds. Travel Medicine. 4th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2019:chap 26.
Suh KN, Flaherty GT. The older traveler. In: Keystone JS, Kozarsky PE, Connor BA, Nothdurft HD, Mendelson M, Leder K, eds. Travel Medicine. 4th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2019:chap 24.
BACK TO TOPReview Date: 2/3/2024
Reviewed By: Frank D. Brodkey, MD, FCCM, Associate Professor, Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
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06/01/2025
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