Airlines Remind Passengers With Chickenpox To Cancel Flights

After looking forward to a holiday for months, the last thing you want is for you or anyone in your family to fall ill and jeopardise the trip. However, airlines have reminded passengers they cannot fly if they have chickenpox. 

Symptoms of chickenpox might start like any other virus, with a high temperature and aches and pains, but when the distinctive pink spots begin to appear, it is clear what the illness is. 

What’s more, it is very highly contagious, which would put other passengers, some of them vulnerable, at risk if they caught it. 

Indeed, if a pregnant woman comes into contact with chickenpox and has not had the virus before, this could lead to serious complications, such as a chest infection, hepatitis, and brain inflammation. 

It could also cause damage to the unborn child’s eyes, legs, arms, brain, bladder or bowel, while babies could contract the virus themselves if they are near their due date.

That is why TUI, RyanAir, easyJet and Jet2 are reminding passengers they have to cancel their flights if they have chickenpox, and wait for seven days after the first appearance of a new spot. 

They might also need a Fit to Fly certificate from their doctor to prove they are no longer infectious to other passengers.

It can take several days for new spots to finish appearing, while older ones will blister and scab before they begin to fade. 

This can be very itchy for the patient, which is why it is worth ordering cooling gel from your pharmacy to the door to soothe the spots as quickly as possible.