Flying in early 3rd tri

[Susie]

I have a couple trips that I'm taking in March, one for work and one to visit friends.  For the first one I'll be 27+ weeks, and for the second one, I'll be 29+6 when I fly home (SFO-EWR, then connection).

I mentioned the trips at my 20w app't, and my OB was fine with it.  I'm more worried about airline headache.  Re: traveling while pregnant, United says:

Any woman traveling before 36 weeks of pregnancy will be allowed to travel on a United flight without medical documentation.

A woman traveling at or after 36 weeks of pregnancy must have the original and two copies of an obstetrician’s certificate, which must be dated within three days (72 hours) prior to her flight departure. To best assure the pregnant traveler’s safety, it is preferable to have a certificate dated within one day of flight departure.

The certificate must state that the obstetrician has examined the customer and found her to be physically fit for air travel between the specified dates. The estimated birth date of the baby must be after the date of the last flight on the itinerary.

The customer should provide the original certificate to a United Representative at check-in. The remaining copies are for reference during air travel.

...which is great, but it relies on the gate agent taking you at your word that you're <36 weeks.  Has anyone ever had trouble with that?  Is there anything I should ask my OB for as backup documentation before I go?

I've never been asked for ID for DD, or proof that she was <2, even when she flew as a lap infant at 22m.  So I may be worried about nothing.  I am just worried that a United employee might decide I look awfully big at nearly 30w to be getting on a cross country flight, and I'd have no way to prove otherwise.

[miamigirl]

I wouldn’t worry.

Last pregnancy I traveled internationally at 28 weeks and had no issues. They didn’t even ask me how far along I was...

First pregnancy I traveled at 24 weeks, no issues.

[cherryvalance]

I wouldn't worry since you'll be far before 36 weeks, but if you're that concerned, just get a note stating anticipated due date.

[gastro]

I’m flying at 31 weeks. I flew during my other pregnancies quite far into them 30+ weeks. Gate agents never said anything me - with trying to get people on the plane etc they never seemed to notice or care.
My OB prefers I don’t fly past 32 weeks, especially with this one being my third.

[namasteak]

Can you bring something with your EDD on it?

[scm1011]

Feb 13, 2019 8:21:51 GMT -5 namasteak said:

Can you bring something with your EDD on it?

That's my thought, too. I'd print out my recent OB appointment write-up (mine are on my patient portal), which lists my EDD just for peace of mind.  

[G22]

I don't go here, but I flew a ton in late pregnancy. I flew internationally at 25 and 28 weeks, and then again at 34-35 weeks. I did have a letter from my OB stating I was within the EDD parameters for flying for the last flight. But no one literally batted an eye or said anything to me about it. The flight attendants did pay more attention to me and asked me a few extra times if I needed anything. That was it.

[aprilsails]

When I flew at 33 weeks for work last time I wound up wrapping up my meeting three hours early and went straight to the airport.

The gate agent moved me up to an earlier flight and gave me a seat in business class so that wasn’t too shabby!

[woowoo]

I'll be flying six trips between now and 32 weeks. My last trip is a baby moon which will be a long weekend and I'll hit 32 weeks the day we fly home. I can't imagine them denying my boarding, but if needed I'll show them the date stamped photo from our transfer day. Maybe that will help? Can't get much more accurate than that....

[Susie]

ok, I won't worry about it.

Commercial air travel just sucks so much now, wanted to avoid any potential snags.

[namasteak]

I would just add extra time for security. I refused to go through the X-ray machine thing and it took awhile for them to get a female TSA agent to do a pay down.

[aprilsails]

Feb 13, 2019 13:33:14 GMT -5 namasteak said:

I would just add extra time for security. I refused to go through the X-ray machine thing and it took awhile for them to get a female TSA agent to do a pay down.

Yes I did this in Austin when I was 15 weeks and the TSA agent gave me so much flack and basically spent 4 minutes while I was standing off to the side berating me. Some nice man in the line behind me gave the agent shit, asking him to provide peer reviewed studies that it had been tested on pregnant women and was absolutely safe.

It was like 5am, I felt like I was about to puke everywhere, and I loved that man with all my heart.

[Susie]

Yes, I hate the ordeal TSA often makes a pat-down into.  Fortunately I haven't had to do it much this pregnancy, I have TSA precheck, and most of the time am just going through a metal detector.

We can't take all kinds of really useful medicines because a clinical trial can't be designed in an ethical manner to demonstrate safety in pregnant women, but TSA is oh so quick to assure us that full body scanners are definitely 100% safe.  Mmmhmm.

[aprilsails]

Feb 13, 2019 14:06:06 GMT -5 Susie said:

Yes, I hate the ordeal TSA often makes a pat-down into.  Fortunately I haven't had to do it much this pregnancy, I have TSA precheck, and most of the time am just going through a metal detector.

We can't take all kinds of really useful medicines because a clinical trial can't be designed in an ethical manner to demonstrate safety in pregnant women, but TSA is oh so quick to assure us that full body scanners are definitely 100% safe.  Mmmhmm.

Yeah, and I can’t have dental X-rays while wearing a leather vest but a full body X-ray is a-ok!

[knx9211]

My OB told me that the full-body scan was fine, so I believed them. My kid's ok.

[pinkplasticdoll]

I flew many times while pregnant, my last flight was at 32 weeks and nobody said anything about my pregnancy which surprisd me.

[steamboat185]

I flew at 28, 29, and 34 weeks for work and it was no problem. No one said anything.