Hi All,
As you can see it is the best part of a year since I started this thread. Quite a lots has happened in the last year. IMO, the patient should have made the move to a western hospital much sooner, however he has now recovered to the stage that he needs serious rehab. This is simply not available in the Philippines.
I flew over to Manila late in January and spent a few weeks working with him, getting him strong enough to make the flight. Then I followed the recommendations of
Jamair,
Chuckles and
Tropicalchief, (thanks one and all), we booked a row of seats in business and brought him here on PAL. He is now in Albury preparing for rehab treatment beginning next week.
I must say that the advice to fly him here on a commercial flight had not occurred to me prior to it being recommended to me. I am glad I asked the question and very grateful to those who gave the suggestion!
Although the trip was a bit stressful (the patient has mobility issues and crew cannot help with transfers) we coped extremely well and the staff were very helpful. The biggest vote of thanks must go to the Qf team that escorted us out of the aircraft and all the way through immigration, baggage claim and customs. Because the patient is in a wheel chair we had to allow the rest of the SLF to de board before us, then we were helped off the Airbus and out. Last off became first out and away from the airport as we went through the express/special service lanes at high speed everywhere we went. The customs guy came over and cleared us through customs as we were collecting our bags from the carousel (nothing to declare).
Coincidently we had friends on the same flight, I found out later that we had left the airport and were on the highway home before they got to the car park. Now that is service. Thanks guys. (Especially since it was a Qf team and we flew PAL).
Cheers All,
ABX
