Can you fly with a broken wrist?
 

Son #2 has injured his wrist and it is possibly broken. We will know more tomorrow. We are meant to be flying in three weeks. Is there any restriction on flying with a cast on?

It is allowed to fly with a cast; but check with the doctor whether it's medically prudent.

You would be wise to see the doctor and, if s/he pronounces flying as OK, obtain a note from him/her to that effect. You may have to pay for the note but that is better than what happened to our 85 year old friend who turned up expecting to fly and was turned away because she did not have a doctor's note.

There is normally a time limit between the bone breaking and the flight starting, which, normally is in the order of a few days. There would be no harm in also contacting the airline in advance to find out their rules.

This same injury happened to a friend the day before she was due to fly home. She was not allowed to fly due to the possibility of the wrist swelling inside the cast so recently applied. She spent an extra night with us and was allowed to fly the following day. Best check with the airline and your son's doctor but based on our experience you shouldn't have a problem.

According to Medaire (who I rang), 24 hours for a short haul flight + cast is "split", 48 hours for a long haul.

As your flight is 3 weeks after the break and plaster, you're fine.

For heavens sake check with your airline. Various airlines have different procedures and follow different guidelines so whilst we can probably all advise you what we know but ultimately it's best finding out from the horses mouth.

Ah! Easyflyer - as we are flying with your airline perhaps you can advise??

Anyway, the wrist is broken in an odd place (more a chip at the base of the hand then the wrist itself I understand) so no need for a cast; just a sling for a couple of weeks and it should heal itself by then. We are obtaining a letter from the doctors to say he CAN fly. If not we are are going to cancel.

Definitely no good if he wants to wave on departure.

Broken ribs are a no no for at least a week.

The issue with broken bones is in the first 24 hours they swell, coupled with being in plaster + a pressurised cabin = recipe for potential dramas.

Hence the requirement for the plaster to be split if you're travelling within 24 hours of the break. (easyJet policy, 48 hours)

However, as you've just stated the break is several weeks old and it's not in plaster, it's ok to travel.

Here's easyJet's policy. Scroll down a bit.

If cast is fitted within 48 hours before it would have had to be split otherwise it's ok.

I thought you meant the pilot. It is OK as long as he can handle the control column and the throttles.

From sore experience..!
 

He should be absolutely fine to fly. In July I managed a displaced compound fracture (clean snap) of the wrist (radius) knocking around with a football - I actually stupidly tried a bicycle kick, which the doctors found hilarious. That was exactly 14 days before flying to the Costa del Sol. I then needed an operation to screw the arm back together, which I received exactly 7 days before flying. That was general anaesthetic and an overnighter in hospital.

Despite all that, I just had to call into the GP a couple of days after my op to check my temperature, the practice nurse removed the bandage from my arm and I put on a velcro splint with a piece of metal in it.

Upshot is, with any luck, even if it is a pretty serious break (fingers crossed it's not) he should be OK for holidays/travelling.

Thanks all.

After all that, the hospital has now decided it was not broken after all, but was severely sprained - doh! So skiing here we come!

Standing by for the broken leg question :E

Easy jet and Ryan air will probably charge extra for flying with a plaster on.

So skiing here we come!

These words suggest you might not entirely be out of the woods, yet, as far as broken limbs are concerned. Just joking, have a great time. Plenty of snow visible out of my window here in Spain.

More forecast for Sat/Sunday night, snow line dropping to 800 metres then 600 "and below" Sunday morning.

Thanks all. I hope that Junior does stay on his feet and avoids breaking any further limbs. I wonder what it costs to charter an air ambulance back to Manchester from Geneva??

Too much lol

But that won't matter, will it, because you're the kind of responsible parent that has proper holiday insurance (bit of a thing of mine, sorry).

Coincidentally, (and apologies for thread drift) my father was flown back from Geneva to Birmingham by Air Ambulance. Absolutely amazing (Dutch) crew, incredibly slickly planned/done. I never saw the bill for it, but thank God we had proper insurance.

Have a great time Espada. There's certainly plenty of good snow about! :)

Good point here, be SURE to tell your insurance company.

Can you just imagine, your son's sprain wrist causes him to lose control, he bumps in to you, you fall breaking a leg but only after you knocked your wife who . . .