Medical Escorts FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

Medical escorts are registered and licensed healthcare professionals who are trained and experienced in providing aviation medical care to patients on board commercial airlines. Our commercial medical escort service provides bed to bed, door to door medical repatriation logistics to patients and family members who would like an affordable alternative to more expensive air ambulance medevac flights.

Our medical escorts on commercial flights leverage the domestic and global network of commercial airlines to safely move patients from bed to bed, whether within the United States or overseas, our domestic and global network of medical escorts such as Flight Nurses and Flight Paramedics assist the patient safely throughout their journey, while providing ongoing medical care, monitoring, medication administration, oxygen, personal care and comfort, as well as mobility assistance throughout the journey.

We use domestic and international airlines that offer the best and most comfortable seating arrangements possible. These include all major US airlines and carriers such as Delta, United and American Airlines. We also work on a daily basis with major global airlines such as Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific and Air New Zealand, when organizing international airline medical stretcher flights.

Absolutely. Unlike an expensive air ambulance where space and passengers are limited, a medical escort on a commercial flight is able to accommodate all family members, as well as their luggage. This means you will not be separated from your loved one, or your personal belongings, as can happen on an air ambulance where space is limited.

The cost of a medical escort mission is all inclusive, and includes the airline tickets (which is the major component), the medical escort fees, hotels and meals for the medical escort, oxygen, ground transportation, and all logistics associated with a safe journey.

Luggage can be checked in with the airline and transferred with the patient. The medical escort will carry a medical kit with them, as carry on, including a Portable Oxygen Concentrator, which is approved by the airline in advance using a medical clearance process handled by our team.

It generally takes 24 hours to organize a medical escort flight, and up to 48 hours to organize an international commercial airline stretcher flight. After the mission is organized, the medical escort, such as one of our Flight Nurses or Flight Paramedics, will fly to meet the patient the day before the mission takes place, which is part of our comprehensive pre-flight safety assessment to ensure that the patient is fit to fly for their journey.

Yes. If the patient has difficulty walking, we will ensure appropriate assistance is arranged such as wheelchairs, or even two medical escorts. If the patient is completely confined to a bed, we will organize a commercial airline stretcher with one of our international airline partners.

Yes. We provide supplemental oxygen up to 4 litres per minute via Portable Oxygen Concentrator which is FAA approved, and approved for use by the airline in advance via the medical clearance process. On some flights, we may organized compressed bottled oxygen with certain airlines such as Air Canada, Lufthansa, or Korean Airlines.