Fit to fly certificate checker: can you fly after surgery or illness?

There is no single European template. Each airline sets its own rules. Some accept a letter from your doctor. Others want their own medical clearance form, often called a MEDIF.

The MEDIF follows a layout from the IATA Medical Manual. Your doctor fills in your diagnosis, recent surgery, symptoms, oxygen needs and mobility. The airline's medical team then decides.

You usually only need one when something recent or serious is going on. Most travellers with stable, well controlled conditions never need one. The checker above helps you see whether your situation is the kind that airlines tend to ask about.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says cabin altitude should not exceed 8,000 feet in normal flights. It is typically between 5,000 and 7,500 feet. At the upper limit, blood oxygen saturation can fall to around 90%.

The CAA also explains that gas inside the body expands by about 30% as the aircraft climbs. That matters after surgery that leaves air in the abdomen, chest, skull or eye. It also matters after diving, when nitrogen is still leaving your body.

Waiting gives time for that gas to clear and for your heart, lungs and wounds to settle. The waits in this tool come from aviation medicine guidance, not from law. Your own doctor may set a longer wait.

The table shows the waits we could confirm on official pages. Each row names its source.

Airline rules can be stricter than these figures. SAS asks for a MEDIF if you have had surgery or medical treatment within 7 days of departure. KLM asks for medical clearance after recent surgery, including cosmetic treatment.

Austrian Airlines asks for a certificate from its own medical service after major surgery. The CAA adds that older or anaemic patients may need to wait several more days.

For surgery not in the table, such as joint, chest or dental surgery, we do not show a figure. Ask your surgeon how long to wait, and ask your airline whether it needs a form.

The CAA says patients may travel 7 to 10 days after a heart attack without complications. It lists flying within 7 days of an uncomplicated heart attack as a reason not to fly. After a complicated heart attack, it lists 4 to 6 weeks.

An NHS trust page quotes British Cardiovascular Society figures. If you are 65 or under, your artery was opened, your heart pumps well and no more tests are planned, you may fly after 7 days. With fair pump function and no symptoms, it is 10 days. With major heart damage, breathlessness or tests still pending, travel should wait until you are stable.

After a planned stent or balloon procedure without complications, both sources give 3 days. The CAA adds that individual assessment matters.

The same NHS trust page suggests contacting your airline if you plan to fly within 6 weeks of a heart event. It also warns that travel insurance can be harder to get in that period.

Finnair lists a recent heart attack among the conditions that may restrict travel. It asks to be told at least 48 hours before departure.

Because the guidance varies, the checker shows the whole range of 3 days to 2 weeks. It names both pages. Your stroke team knows your recovery and should set your date.

For a mini stroke (TIA), the CAA neurology page gives 2 days. After a seizure, it gives at least 24 hours. Finnair lists a recent stroke as a condition that may restrict travel.

Here the sources differ by flight length and by airline.

So the shortest wait is 24 hours and the longest airline rule we found is 72 hours. Check your own airline's rule.

A leg in a cast that cannot bend may need extra seats. Austrian Airlines charges for two extra seats when the leg cannot bend enough for a safe seated position.

The CAA also says anyone with an injury in the 7 days before travel should contact their airline. We do not show a fixed wait for fractures without a cast.

The CAA says people with an active or contagious infection should not fly until the infection is under documented control and they are no longer infectious. After pneumonia, you should be clinically improved, with no remaining infection and good exercise tolerance. For a viral chest infection, it advises postponing until the infection has cleared.

Finnair lists tuberculosis, measles, recent chest infections, and stomach bugs with diarrhoea or vomiting among the infections that may restrict travel. It does not allow chickenpox in the blister phase. Travel is allowed once the spots are dry. It also says it cannot carry passengers who are highly symptomatic with a cold.

KLM asks for medical clearance if you have a contagious disease. Edelweiss asks for clearance for any illness that could pose a direct risk to other passengers.

After a collapsed lung (pneumothorax), the CAA says flying should be safe about 2 weeks after successful drainage, once the lung has fully expanded.

These figures come from the Divers Alert Network guidelines. They set a minimum 12 hour surface interval after one no decompression dive. They set at least 18 hours for repeated dives over several days.

After dives with required decompression stops, or with heliox or trimix, the guidance is substantially longer than 18 hours. It gives no fixed number, so the checker shows none.

Pregnancy has its own rules based on weeks and the number of babies. Use our pregnancy fit to fly week calculator instead of this checker.

With KLM, you fill in the first part of the form and your doctor completes the rest. The CAA notes that clearance can also be done by phone with the airline's medical team.

Things to have ready: your diagnosis and dates, a list of your medicines, any oxygen needs, and how far you can walk. The MEDIF asks whether you can walk 100 metres or climb 10 to 12 stairs without symptoms.

Anna has keyhole gallbladder surgery on a Monday. She plans to fly with SAS on Thursday, 3 days later.

• CAA guidance: about 24 hours after keyhole surgery. Her gap of 3 days is past that.
• SAS rule: a MEDIF is needed after surgery within 7 days of departure. Her flight is inside that window.
• SAS timing: approval can take up to 7 days, so she should send the form as soon as she can.

The checker shows "past the usual minimum wait" with the CAA source. It adds the SAS clearance line and the footer to ask her airline and doctor. Her surgeon has the final word on whether she is ready.

A second case: Tom has a leg cast fitted on Friday at 10:00. He has a 3 hour flight on Saturday at 16:00, 30 hours later.

• CAA: 48 hours for flights of 2 hours or more. He is short of that.
• KLM: within 48 hours, a circular cast must be cut open.
• Edelweiss: under 72 hours on a flight over 2 hours needs medical clearance.

The checker shows "earlier than the usual guidance" and lists all three rules.

If you need something now, you can request a general medical certificate. A doctor reviews your case first, and you pay only after that review. The price is EUR 34.99 per certificate, with no added fees at checkout. If the doctor cannot issue it, you get a full refund.

Approved certificates arrive as a signed PDF, usually within about 30 minutes of approval. Each carries a reference code anyone can check. We cover 42 countries in Europe and issue certificates in seven languages. A doctor always decides, so we cannot promise a certificate or that an airline will accept it.

Join the waitlist or request a general medical certificate.