Travelling isn’t easy – and that is true for most people! There will always be challenges and hurdles to cross. For people with a disability, travel is much more of a challenge. One way airlines try to make travel more accessible and create equality is to allow passengers to travel with medical luggage for free on their flights because it is medically necessary for them to bring it.
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Understanding Medical Luggage: What It Is and Who Needs It
Traveling can be an exciting adventure, but for individuals with medical needs, it also comes with extra considerations. One of the most important things to understand when flying is the concept of medical luggage—essential medical supplies and equipment that passengers can bring on board, often free of charge (as it should be).
What Is Medical Luggage?
Medical luggage includes any necessary medical equipment, medications, and assistive devices that a passenger needs during their journey. Airlines typically have policies allowing passengers to bring these items in addition to their regular baggage allowance, but specific rules vary by airline.
Some examples of medial luggage are:
- Wheelchairs
- Walking aids
- CPAP machines
- Epipens
- Medications
- Safe food
Who Might Need Medical Luggage?
Many different people may require medical luggage when traveling, including:
- Autistic individuals – Sensory-friendly items, noise-cancelling headphones, weighted blankets, and safe foods that may not be available on the plane. Here are some of my favourite sensory items for travelling.
- People with allergies – Special dietary foods, EpiPen, and other emergency medications for severe allergic reactions. Check out some of the essentials I travel with for my child with a food allergy.
- Individuals with diabetes – Insulin, blood sugar monitors, and syringes.
- People with mobility impairments – Wheelchairs, walkers, and prosthetic devices.
- Individuals with respiratory conditions – Oxygen tanks, CPAP machines, or nebulizers.
- Patients with chronic illnesses – Specialized medications and medical devices necessary for managing ongoing health conditions.
Finding Airline-Specific Medical Luggage Policies
Each airline has different rules regarding medical luggage, including what is allowed, weight limits, and any required documentation. To make things easier, we have compiled a list of the top 25 international airlines along with direct links to their medical luggage policies.
Top 25 Global Airlines and Their Medical Luggage Policies
- Qatar Airways Medical Luggage Info: There is not a great detail of information here. I will try to do more digging… You can find basic information on how they transport wheelchairs and walking aids.
- Singapore Airlines Medical Luggage Info: More details about medical luggage specifically is further down the page I’ve linked for Singapore Airlines in the section called personal medical equipment and then in some sections below. There is no definitive answer on how much medical luggage you can bring on your trip but their website discusses some different types of medical equipment and their stance on transporting it.
- Emirates Medical Luggage Info: Emirates seem to allow medical equipment to be brought onboard the plane without it counting toward your hand luggage allowance. The page I linked is specific to passengers with disabilities and what they are entitled to as extra baggage with Emirates. They also have an entire section dedicated to accessible travel and you can find that here.
- ANA All Nippon Airways Medical Luggage Info: ANA All Nippon Airways shares a bunch of information about different types of medical equipment you can bring onboard, but I can’t see anything specific about whether medical luggage is free or not. They do have a cool feature on their website – the Disability Desk. You can use the disability desk to contact them by email or telephone call for more specific answers.
- Cathay Pacific Airways Medical Luggage Info: With Cathay Pacific, they allow medical luggage for free and it does not count as part of your luggage allowance. You can find a little more information and links to further reading on this page about mobility assistance.
- Japan Airlines Medical Luggage Info: The information that I have been able to find about medical baggage with Japan Airlines is quite restricted and focuses on either wheelchairs and mobility aids or medical equipment that you bring because you have to use it on the plane. I will keep digging. In the meantime, there is a special assistance team you can contact and you’ll find the details here.
- Turkish Airlines Medical Luggage Info: There seems to be no mention by Turkish Airlines about whether you can bring medical baggage for free or not. I have personal experience of flying with Turkish Airlines and even when speaking directly with their call centre, they couldn’t answer questions about whether I could bring my sons disability stroller for free or not (and due to his age we were able to bring it onboard for free, but this will not always be the case). Turkish Airlines have an interesting discount for disabled passengers, but it seems to be extremely hard to get the discount unless you can present yourself at a sales office to prove your disability – expecting people to travel and present paperwork for a discount is not really very disability-friendly.
- EVA Air Medical Luggage Info: EVA Air has a lot of information on travelling with wheelchairs and has extensive breakdowns for different types on their information page. You can bring a wheelchair free of charge alongside your regular luggage. I can’t see any mention of their policy for medical baggage that contains something other than a wheelchair but I will continue to look. They do, however, list a North American accessibility services support email: laxrrbr@evaair.com.
- Air France Medical Luggage Info: Air France has some really clear information about travelling with medical baggage! It is a little hard to locate, where I found it doesn’t feel logically sound to me but at least I found it. Alongside your regular luggage, you can also bring 2 personal mobility items and 1 extra bag or case to transport medical items weighing up to 23kg. It is not as clear when reading up on cabin baggage: Air France state that you can bring 1 cabin bag weighing up to 12kg and measuring 55 x 35 x 25 cm, but it doesn’t seem to clarify if this is in addition to your normal cabin bag or if this is the standard allowance. You can find out more by using their special assistance contact options.
- Swiss International Air Lines Medical Luggage Info: Scroll right down past all the information about jet lag to find information about travelling with medical equipment. There are expandable sections for a random selection of medical concerns, which makes it harder to find generic information about medical baggage. What I have been able to find is that they will carry up to 2 wheelchairs and an assistance dog at no extra charge. There is some mention of liquid medical equipment on the hand luggage page but it does state to only bring enough liquid medication to last the flight in your hand luggage, and does mention being able to bring liquid food for babies, small children and those with food allergies but it doesn’t talk about anything that is not a liquid.
- Korean Air Medical Luggage Info: Information about disabilities, illnesses and medical equipment is not easy to find. I can see that wheelchairs may be able to travel for free, you’ll have to find out about your specific wheelchair to know. It is free to travel with an assistance dog. In the page I have linked there is information about those using a stretcher service and there is a brief mention of liquids having to be 100ml.
- Hainan Airlines Medical Luggage Info: Hainan Airlines will transport a wheelchair for free for those who require it. If it is not medically necessary but you want to bring it as a checked item you can use part of your luggage allowance to bring it or pay for additional luggage space. Smaller mobility aids can be brought as carry-on luggage at no additional cost.
- Lufthansa Medical Luggage Info: The link I have left for Lufthansa is for a page with a list of some medical conditions or mobility concerns that you can expand to read into each one. So far, I have not spotted any generic information about travelling with medical equipment. They will transport 2 mobility aids for free in either the cabin or the hold. You are also able to bring an assistance dog free of charge. They do have a medical team you can contact for more information: medicaloperation@dlh.de.
- British Airways Medical Luggage Info: British Airways with a medical condition or disability have fantastic options for transporting medical luggage – but how much you can bring varies based on where you will be travelling. The best information on the link I’ve included is in the ‘medical supplies’ section which you can expand to read. It seems that within the US, you can check an unlimited number of 23kg bags with medical supplies in them. For flights outside of the US, you can bring 2 extra bags up to 23kg if they contain medical supplies for your own personal use. If you bring bags with liquid food, you’ll be entitled to 4 bags which weigh up to 23kg each.
- China Southern Airlines Medical Luggage Info: The information for China Southern Airlines says it is ‘provided by British Airways’ so I assume they are partners in some way. You can bring two extra bags which can weigh up to 23kg each if they are packed with medical supplies.
- Qantas Airways Medical Luggage Info: In the ‘additional equipment’ section of the page linked, it states that you can bring medical or life dependant equipment and two pieces of mobility equipment for free. Unless the flight is in the US, where there is no limit on how much disability equipment you can bring. There is a bit more detail on this page.
- Austrian Airlines Medical Luggage Info: Austrian Airlines say that you can bring medical and mobility items free of charge. Anything brought to the cabin that is a medical or mobility device does not count toward luggage allowance, but it may need to go in the hold if it is not necessary during the flight and space is limited. One really amazing thing that they offer to do is refund you the difference in fare cost if you have to book a more expensive flight to be able to fit your wheelchair on it.
- Air New Zealand Medical Luggage Info: The information on the link I provided is very detailed, but it just doesn’t clarify how much medical baggage you can bring and what it can weight. On this page, there is mention of only being able to bring two mobility devices but I have found no other mention of other medical baggage yet.
- Bangkok Airways Medical Luggage Info: The information for Bangkok Airways is the only one so far that I have seen which clearly states that medical luggage is also available for food for those with special dietary requirements! That doesn’t mean this is not the case for the others, it just means they aren’t making it clear. There is also a little more information on the special baggage page about some specific medical pieces and their terms around bringing them.
- KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Medical Luggage Info: KLM seem to be guarding their information a bit more than the other airlines have… there is mention of medical baggage but they ask you to call for further information if it isn’t one of the very few they have mentioned already. They do state that they will transport a wheelchair for free but so far I haven’t managed to find out much more than that.
- Vietnam Airlines Medical Luggage Info: I can’t find out much about medical baggage with Vietnam Airlines, but they do say you are able to bring one piece of mobility equipment if it meets their standards for carry-on baggage.
- Finnair Medical Luggage Info: Finnair claim to allow passengers to bring medical baggage on the flight as carry-on luggage for free, without it counting toward their standard carry-on allowance.
- Virgin Atlantic Medical Luggage Info: The information for Virgin Atlantic is broken down by different types of medical condition on their website. They mention in the allergy section that you can contact Virgin Atlantic before you fly to have them increase how much hand luggage you are able to bring if you plan to bring safe foods. It would be interesting to know if they will do the same thing for those with autism and other dietary restrictions. You can sift through each category of medical equipment that you need to bring and read each one to see what they say about if you bring it for free or not. There is more information about mobility equipment here.
- China Airlines Medical Luggage Info: So far, what I have found specifically refers to medical baggage for mobility aids. This page refers to being able to bring special items for special needs or caregiving purposes, but does not specifically mention if there will be an additional cost or not.
- Asiana Airlines Medical Luggage Info: This has been the hardest information to find so far! I’ve left the link, but there isn’t much available on there. What it does include, is a list of contact numbers for different regions who you can contact to ask the questions you need to about your medical luggage.
Flying with medical luggage doesn’t have to be stressful! Knowing airline policies in advance can help ensure a smooth and hassle-free travel experience. Always check with your airline before flying to confirm current guidelines, and consider bringing any necessary medical documentation to avoid delays. Whether you or a family member require special dietary accommodations, sensory aids, or life-saving medication, proper preparation can help make your journey as comfortable and worry-free as possible.
For more travel tips and resources for families with disabilities, explore our other guides here on Autism Family Travel Guide!
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