The wait depends on the operation: about 24 hours after a laparoscopy or colonoscopy, 10 days after abdominal surgery and up to 6 weeks after eye surgery with a gas bubble. Where the CAA gives no figure, your surgeon decides. Need it in writing for the airline? A doctor on Mobi Doctor can assess you over video.
For most routine operations the wait is between a day and two weeks, but the safe interval is procedure-specific. UK CAA guidance gives about 24 hours after keyhole and endoscopic procedures that leave gas behind, 10 days after open abdominal surgery, about 7 days after neurosurgery, 10 to 14 days after a bypass and 2 to 6 weeks after eye surgery with a gas bubble. For joints, teeth, caesareans and hernias no national figure exists, so the surgeon sets the date.
Three things change in the cabin. Pressure: the CAA's physiology page puts cabin altitude at 5,000 to 7,500 feet in practice, never above 8,000, and at that pressure any trapped gas expands by about 30%. Oxygen: arterial saturation drops to around 90%, which a healthy body ignores and a fresh wound or a low blood count may not. Clotting: the CAA lists recent major surgery and lower-limb surgery among the strongest DVT risk factors, and the NHS flags flights over 4 hours as the ones carrying a small clot risk.
The figures below are the CAA's, read on its surgical, cardiovascular and respiratory pages, and they are minimums for an uncomplicated recovery rather than clearances. A surgeon who knows your operation may add days for a drain, an infection or a wound that is slow to close, and airlines treat that opinion as the one that counts. For cranial surgery the CAA's own wording is that travel should be delayed until the treating neurosurgeon confirms it is safe, whatever the calendar says.
| Procedure | CAA interval before flying |
|---|---|
| Laparoscopy (keyhole surgery) | About 24 hours |
| Colonoscopy or other bowel procedure using gas | About 24 hours |
| Open abdominal surgery | 10 days |
| Neurosurgery or cranial surgery | About 7 days, once the neurosurgeon confirms |
| Retinal surgery with sulphur hexafluoride | About 2 weeks |
| Retinal surgery with perfluoropropane | 6 weeks |
| Other intra-ocular surgery or penetrating eye injury | 1 week |
| Coronary artery bypass graft | 10 to 14 days |
| Angioplasty with stent, uncomplicated | About 3 days |
| Chest drain for pneumothorax | About 2 weeks after full re-expansion |
| Pacemaker or defibrillator fitted | Once medically stable |
| Plaster cast | 24 hours for flights under 2 hours, 48 hours for longer ones, unless bivalved |
The CAA surgical page says nothing about hip or knee replacement, dental extraction, tonsillectomy or hernia repair, and nothing about cataracts by name. For joint replacement the issue is clots rather than gas: lower-limb surgery is on the CAA's DVT risk list, so the orthopaedic surgeon sets the date and will usually want you mobile and on your prescribed anticoagulant. After a tooth extraction the dentist decides; the concern is a socket still bleeding or a sinus lift. Cataract surgery without gas is not named; the nearest CAA figure is 1 week for other intra-ocular procedures, and the surgeon may clear an uncomplicated case sooner.
Neither the CAA nor the NHS publishes a flying interval after a caesarean. The NHS recovery page says you may need to take things easy for several weeks, and that driving, exercise and lifting may not resume for 6 weeks or so. A caesarean is abdominal surgery, so the CAA's 10-day abdominal figure is the closest published guidance, and airlines add rules of their own: Air France asks passengers to avoid travel for 7 days after childbirth and Croatia Airlines refuses anyone who gave birth less than 7 days earlier. Your obstetrician or midwife makes the call; the rules for the weeks before the birth are in the flying while pregnant guide.
Under CAA guidance a new plaster cast means no flying for 24 hours before a flight shorter than 2 hours, and 48 hours before a longer one, unless the cast has been bivalved, that is split so the limb can swell. A leg cast adds two more problems: clot risk, because lower-limb trauma is on the CAA's DVT list, and space, because a straight leg needs extra seats that only the airline can allocate. The CAA also wants anyone with a traumatic injury in the previous 7 days to tell the airline, above all after a chest injury.
The airline makes the final decision on carriage, but most carriers only ask questions when something is declared or visible: a dressing, a sling, a drain, a wheelchair request. Anything that needs the airline to act, such as oxygen, a stretcher or extra seats for a cast, goes through the MEDIF clearance form; LOT and Finnair want it 72 hours ahead, Emirates and TAP 48 hours, and Qatar Airways between 7 days and 48 hours before departure. What a MEDIF is, and every other situation that triggers a certificate, is on the fit-to-fly guide.
A useful letter names the procedure and its date, states whether there were complications, confirms in plain words that you are fit to fly on your travel dates, lists any precautions (compression stockings, an aisle seat, a bivalved cast) and carries the doctor's name, registration number, signature and date of issue. To get one, book a video consultation: a doctor on Mobi Doctor sees you over video usually within 15 minutes, daily 7am–11pm CET, for €54 + €10 for the certificate. Where the doctor confirms you are fit, the signed certificate is emailed to you after the consultation; where they do not, you get advice and, if you must cancel, a not-fit-to-fly letter for your insurer. The airline forms the doctor can complete are listed on the fit-to-fly certificate page.
Three days clears the CAA interval for a laparoscopy, a colonoscopy or an uncomplicated stent, but not for open abdominal surgery (10 days), neurosurgery (about 7 days), a bypass (10 to 14 days) or eye surgery with a gas bubble.
About 24 hours, according to the CAA, so the carbon dioxide used to inflate the abdomen can disperse. That is the gas rule only; if the keyhole operation was a major one, the surgeon may want you to wait longer.
Keyhole repairs fall under the 24-hour gas rule and open repairs under the 10-day abdominal rule, but neither is a clearance. Coughing, lifting luggage and long sitting all strain a fresh abdominal wound, so book around the date the surgeon gives you at discharge.
The CAA gives no figure. The risk is a clot, and lower-limb surgery is on its DVT list, so your orthopaedic surgeon decides, usually once you are mobile and on your prescribed anticoagulant.
The CAA does not name cataracts. Its nearest figure is 1 week for other intra-ocular procedures, while the 2-to-6-week rules apply only to retinal operations that leave a gas bubble in the eye. Some surgeons clear an uncomplicated cataract sooner, so ask at your follow-up.
There is no CAA interval, and airlines do not ask. The dentist decides, and the practical concerns are a socket that is still bleeding, a sinus lift or an infection.
General information, not medical advice — always confirm with your airline before you travel.
