Everything a traveller in Europe needs to check before departure: whether your airline wants a pregnancy or fit-to-fly letter, what paperwork your medicines need at the border and what to do if you fall ill. When you need a doctor, one on Mobi Doctor is available over video daily 7am–11pm CET.
Can you take your medicine abroad? Which medicines are controlled, what to carry, and who needs a Schengen certificate.
Check my medication → ✈️Fit-to-fly checkerPregnancy, surgery, fractures — see whether your airline requires a certificate; enter your due date and flight dates and the planner works out each leg and the letter signing window.
Do I need a certificate? → 🗺️European Travel Health Index30 destinations scored on eight health metrics — heat, mosquitoes, tap water, doctors. The summer ranking.
See the ranking → 🤰Airline pregnancy rules30 airlines' letter weeks, last week of travel and letter validity, read on each airline's own page.
Compare airlines → 📊Airline policy Clarity Index 202630 airline pregnancy pages scored on seven traveller questions — only two answer all seven. Ranking, strictness score, open data.
See the ranking → 📉Medicine shortage trackerLive medicine availability across Europe, by country and by medicine — updated from official registers.
Check availability → 🧾Not fit to fly? Insurance lettersToo ill to travel — or to fly home? Doctor's letters that support your cancellation or curtailment claim, by video, anywhere in the EU.
Get documented → 🧭Country health guidesTap water, summer heat, mosquitoes, vaccinations, healthcare access and the number to dial — for 30 destinations.
Pick a country ↓Before a European trip, sort three pieces of paperwork and two health checks: a pregnancy fit-to-fly letter if your airline requires one, the documents your medicines need at the border, insurance that covers your circumstances, routine vaccinations, and the destination guide for heat, mosquitoes and pharmacy rules. If you fall ill abroad, call 112 in an emergency; otherwise a doctor on Mobi Doctor is a video call away.
Start with the airline: if you are pregnant, check the week from which your carrier requires a letter and the last week it will carry you; after an operation, a fracture or an illness, check whether it needs written confirmation. Then the border: any controlled medicine needs paperwork, and every medicine travels better in its original packaging with the prescription. Then cover: an EHIC or GHIC gets you state healthcare on local terms but not private treatment or the journey home, so insurance still matters. Finally the destination guide.
| Check | Who needs it | Where to sort it |
|---|---|---|
| Pregnancy fit-to-fly letter | From week 28, 29 or 32 at 18 airlines | Airline pregnancy rules |
| Fit-to-fly certificate | After surgery, a cast or an illness | Fit-to-fly certificate |
| Medication letter or Schengen certificate | Anyone carrying a controlled medicine | Medication checker |
| Not-fit-to-fly letter | Anyone cancelling a trip through illness | Not fit to fly |
| EHIC or GHIC and insurance | Everyone | Your insurers |
Three, mostly. The pregnancy cut-off: most carriers accept a single pregnancy until the end of week 36, but easyJet, Jet2, KLM and six others stop at 35 and Wizz Air at 34; the flying while pregnant guide walks through the dates. The age of the letter, capped at 6 to 30 days by eleven airlines. And anything the airline must arrange, such as oxygen or extra seats for a leg cast, which needs a MEDIF clearance form 48 to 72 hours ahead at carriers that publish a deadline; the after surgery page gives the CAA waiting times.
For ordinary prescription medicines, the prescription and original packaging are enough, and an EU prescription can be dispensed in any other EU country if it carries the required details. Controlled medicines are different: a resident of a Schengen state travelling within Schengen needs an Article 75 certificate for each one, valid for up to 30 days and authenticated by the home country's authority (the CAK in the Netherlands, which asks for 4 weeks' notice). Residents of the UK and Ireland have no Schengen certificate and rely on the prescription and a doctor's letter. The medicine shortage tracker lists what may be hard to find.
In an emergency call 112, which works everywhere in the EU. Otherwise, pharmacies are the first stop. For anything that needs a doctor, book a video consultation: EU-licensed doctors on Mobi Doctor are available daily 7am–11pm CET, and you are seen over video usually within 15 minutes. The consultation costs €57, and where the doctor prescribes, the prescription goes to a pharmacy you choose. If illness stops you flying home, the same consultation can produce the letter your insurer will ask for.
The fit-to-fly checker tells you whether your situation needs a certificate at all.
The fit-to-fly certificate page explains what the document contains and which airline forms exist.
The flying while pregnant guide sets out weeks, cut-offs and letter rules for all 30 airlines.
The airline pregnancy rules comparison groups those airlines by rule and links to a page on each; the Clarity Index 2026 scores how well each airline's own page answers seven traveller questions, and a dated rule changes log records every correction with the value before and after. On the flying-while-pregnant page a date planner works out your week on each flight and the dates a letter must be signed between.
The medication checker tells you which medicines are controlled and when a Schengen certificate applies.
The not-fit-to-fly page covers the letter your insurer needs when illness cancels a trip.
At 18 of 30 airlines, yes: from week 28 (British Airways, Ryanair, Jet2, Wizz Air and eight others), week 29 (TUI, Condor, Emirates, Qatar Airways) or week 32 (Finnair on long flights, LOT). easyJet, KLM, Air France and Transavia need none.
Yes, for personal use, in the original packaging with the prescription. Controlled medicines such as opioids, ADHD stimulants and benzodiazepines need a Schengen certificate for Schengen residents, or a doctor's letter and prescription for UK and Irish residents.
A certificate under Article 75 of the Schengen Convention letting a resident of one Schengen state carry a prescribed controlled medicine to another for up to 30 days. It is issued per medicine by the home country's authority.
It gives you necessary state healthcare during a temporary stay on the same terms as people insured in that country, but not private treatment, planned treatment or rescue and repatriation, so travel insurance is still needed.
About 24 hours after keyhole surgery or a colonoscopy, 10 days after abdominal surgery, 10 to 14 days after a heart bypass and, for eye surgery that leaves a gas bubble, 2 to 6 weeks, per the UK CAA; otherwise the surgeon decides.
Call 112 in an emergency. Otherwise see a pharmacist, or see a doctor on Mobi Doctor over video, who can advise, prescribe where appropriate and write a not-fit-to-fly letter if you cannot travel.
General information, not medical advice — always confirm with your airline before you travel.
