“We’re sincerely sorry for the disruption experienced by flight VS358 customers due to the urgent medical diversion followed by technical inspections of the aircraft.” So said Virgin Atlantic after a recent London Heathrow to Mumbai flight spent two nights on the ground at a small, remote airport.
As always when medical emergencies happen in flight, the crew are entirely focused on what is best for the unwell passenger. On this occasion they landed as soon as they could, at Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey – about 80 miles (128km) north of the Syrian border.
Touching down heavily with enough fuel for five more hours of flight meant engineers had to be summoned to check the Airbus A350 could safely fly again. More than 250 passengers – as well as airline staff – endured a miserable 40 hours before they finally reached Mumbai.
Diversions on compassionate grounds are essential, but expensive and disruptive. We need a debate on the right of a passenger to travel regardless of the impact on fellow travellers.
Medical diversions are becoming more frequent, for three reasons.
- Average aircraft size is increasing. The more passengers, the higher the chance one of them will need medical attention.
- Flights are getting longer, giving more time for the stresses of flying to manifest themselves on a vulnerable passenger.
- People are living longer and travelling into their eighties and nineties, with a commensurate increased risk of inflight complications.
A former senior executive for a highly rated long-haul airline told me how medical diversions unfold. “Not all airlines are equal – you get what you pay for. You are paying for experience and operational preparedness.
“Good airlines will likely have arrangements for remote medical support, so that the crew – and possibly a doctor, if one is on board – can liaise with health specialists.
“There might be a medical advantage to ‘pressing on’, or turning back. Some airlines have contracts with ground providers all around the world – not at every airport, but enough to give them good back-up coverage. That will impact how fast they can be en route again, as the providers can guarantee to the airport that costs will be settled.
“The horror scenario is if the crew run out of hours. There’s always some buffer room for regular operational reasons but it might not be sufficient if a medical diversion eats it away.”
There is one simple message my source wants to put out: “If you are in doubt, don’t fly.”
Travel insurance is relevant here. If you have an imminent booking for a flight that cost many hundreds or thousands of pounds, you might feel impelled to step aboard rather than wasting the money. Good insurance should remove that pressure.
Should passengers be obliged to complete a health declaration before flying, I asked on X (formerly Twitter)? And, if so, should that apply only to travellers over a certain age.
Of more than 1,100 responses, 36 per cent said everyone should make a declaration. That was slightly ahead of the one in three who said no one should need to provide health information in advance.
Older travellers be warned: they could be coming for you. One in seven respondents said everyone over 70 should be compelled to complete a form; one in six recommended the age divide should be 80.
There are many reasonable objections to any controls being imposed. Surely everyone should have the right to fly? Wouldn’t banning alcohol be a less-discriminatory way to reduce diversions, because drunk and aggressive passengers trigger diversions too?
One possible solution: make it mandatory for everyone boarding a long-haul plane to have travel insurance in place that will cover the losses for the airline (in the case of Virgin Atlantic incident, probably around £500,000) if the passenger falls ill and the pilots divert.
The market will see to it that those who pose the highest risk will face painfully high premiums that may price them out of flying.
Cruel, but possibly also kind: medical standards vary widely across the world, and a passenger who suddenly needs healthcare may not get the best possible treatment in a random foreign hospital.
Let me know your thoughts, by email to [email protected]
Simon Calder, also known as The Man Who Pays His Way, has been writing about travel for The Independent since 1994. In his weekly opinion column, he explores a key travel issue – and what it means for you.
