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What oxygen have you used on airplanes?
Recently, one of our members posted about flying with oxygen and it got me thinking about the next time I fly with oxygen. Since my last flight to Florida (which is only about a 2 and a half hour flight) I realized that I cannot tolerate plane rides without continuous oxygen. The continuous liter flow runs out pretty quickly when using a POC. I used the Phillips POC. I learned the hard way when all my batteries only lasted me for an hour on the flight even though I brought 2 as recommended. At the time I was unaware of the pulse flow setting and how much oxygen it actually conserved to use it on that setting.
If you fly and have to use continuous flow, what do you do? Do you just avoid travelling my plane if you can? Do you buy the extra batteries for the POC to last the amount of time you would need it? Is there a specific concentrator that has continuous flow that lasts for a longer amount of time and would last for at least 3 hours on a plane?
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10 Replies
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Hi Brittany,
I have the Inogen One now but have rented the Sequel Eclipse in the past! Even at 3liters , I have a short battery as well as a long lasting battery , but I cannot fly more than about 4 hours at a time before I need to recharge.I do know some DME ( durable medical equipment) companies at times have been known to rent the extra batteries if they have availability! I know one PHer who did this for the Dallas conference and that’s where I learned of this ! If you need one that would hopefully be cheaper than buying one. Idk if the rental costs , sorry .
As far as my preference in the two POCs, I prefer the Inogen as it’s much easier to manage and carry as the Sequel was heavy and had to be pulled on the cart ! It gets chaotic trying to have my hubby push me in the wheelchair, our luggage, POC , and carry on with meds, lol 😂 I feel it’s like a circus act at times but can be done. I do help carry what I can in my lab, lol
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Jen,
I can totally picture what that must have looked like but, hey, you’re tryna live life right !? LOL! I have heard of the inogen but the problem for me is that it runs out of battery life on continuous flow pretty quickly so the bigger one even though it must be so cumbersome might be the better option for me. I know that through the company I use I can rent them so they probably know way more about that than I do ! Thank you for the feedback! I’m glad you found something for you that works and is smaller and doesn’t look too much like a circus act hahahaha!
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Having to use continuous flow surely makes traveling so much more difficult. I am lucky to just be able to do pulse flow. Without that ability my normal day to day travels would be limited.
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Hi Christopher,
Do you have a POC that you take around with you? YES! I totally would feel way better if I was able to do the pulse flow. I’m hoping that my next surgery will help my breathing to the point where I can have the pulse flow as needed and with exertion so the battery can actually last and i won’t have to worry about lugging a bunch of tanks around and not being able to do things because of how cumbersome the tanks are.
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Lol Brittany, I’m sure you can picture it all !
I give and pray your upcoming surgery will help you get some relief and maybe you can do pulse dosing afterwards!
What date is surgery again?-
Hi Jen,
I still don’t have a date yet. I’m sure it takes awhile to coordinate schedules and find a time that works for everyone that needs to be involved. I am thinking of going to the hospital tomorrow though because my feeds just have been causing me so much pain and I need to get on something different because I have been throwing up from pain from it and that’s not doing my body any good with the added stress!
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Ughh Brittany, I’m so sorry ! I can’t imagine!!!
I hate that you’re having so much pain and not the keratin the feeding it seems ! I hope and pray that they can help you get relief and have a new plan for you ! Hang in there ….and please keep us updated!
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Hey Jen,
Thank you ! They have a surgical plan the problem is in the coordination of the doctors because it is not just one surgeon in the OR but two of them . One being a congenital heart disease surgeon and the other’s specialty is an aortic surgeon and transplant surgeon. Both need to be in there because of the complexity of the case and the fact that I am a CHD patient.
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I was bummed when I found out the airlines were no longer providing oxygen for passengers. It gave me a sense that I could travel freely as long as I was able to rent their tanks. But all that changed when they changed their oxygen policies. And I think all airlines follow the rule too. So when my husband and I took a trip over to Washington, DC, I had to rent a POC which cost me $300 for a week. That was with a smaller POC and now, since I have to be on continuous flow, I had to rent the bigger POC for our trip to Portland, Oregon. That was also about $300 to rent. I rented the Sequal Eclipse and they gave me about 3 batteries for the 1.5(+/-) flight. It was bulky and annoying to lug around but I knew it was the only way for me to fly. I just recently purchased my own POC (sequal equinox). It is supposedly lighter, smaller, and has a bit more batt life than the Eclipse; it’s their 2019 model. My POC came with 3 large batts. I know the batts will drain pretty quickly on continuous, but at least I know I don’t need to rent a POC anymore. My husband said that I should find out if business class or first class has plugs/outlets that I can plug the POc unit into so if/when we travel, we would get those seats. I mean, we aren’t rich but he said that he wants to make my flight as carefree as possible with my oxygen needs. So maybe I can actually fly in a nicer seat in the future. 😂😂 But for now, we don’t do air travel unless we totally want/need to go somewhere. But we haven’t traveled by air since Portland; that was about 2 yrs ago. Since I finally got my own POc, maybe we can travel out of state again. 🤞🏼
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Diane,
I hope that you are able to travel by plane again soon. It’s such a hassle to think about all that goes into flying with oxygen but it’s so crucial to think about it way before booking the flight. There’s a lot that goes into flying with oxygen and especially even more that goes into it when you’re on continuous flow that drains those batteries quicker (depending on your liter rate too). I’m hoping that my next surgery will help with some of my breathing so I won’t require the oxygen as much but I know I’ll probably need something on planes because of the altitude.
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