Fit to Fly Certificates in London 2026. Same-Day, Doctor-Examined and Airline-Compliant, from The Wellness
A fit to fly certificate is a doctor's formal confirmation that you are medically safe to travel by air, and airlines take them seriously because the cabin is a medical environment. Pressurised to the equivalent of 5,000 to 8,000 feet of altitude, cabin air carries less oxygen than sea level, gases in the body expand, and immobility raises clot risk, which is why carriers ask for clearance in defined situations. Pregnancy is the commonest, with most airlines requiring a certificate from 28 weeks for a single pregnancy and from 24 weeks for multiples, refusing travel from around 36 weeks, 32 for twins, and typically requiring the letter dated within 7 to 14 days of departure with the due date and confirmation of an uncomplicated pregnancy stated. Recent surgery is next, abdominal, orthopaedic, cardiac and eye procedures within the previous one to two weeks commonly trigger a clearance requirement. Then the conditions cabin physiology genuinely tests, heart and lung disease, recent stroke or clot, severe anaemia, poorly controlled epilepsy, recent pneumothorax, and any illness recent enough that the airline doubts recovery. Getting the document wrong, wrong dates, missing details, unsigned forms, a letter the check-in desk does not trust, means being denied boarding at the gate with the holiday paid for, which is the entire case for doing it properly. At The Wellness in Marylebone, a GMC-registered doctor assesses you, by video the same day or in person with examination, and issues a certificate written to your airline's actual requirements, including full MEDIF and airline-form completion for complex cases. Fees appear further down this page.
Reviewed by the medical team at The Wellness. Last updated August 2026.
Get a same-day certificate on WhatsApp or email team@thewellnesslondon.com or call 020 3951 3429.
Who actually needs a fit to fly certificate
The airline decides, and the patterns are consistent across carriers. Pregnant travellers from 28 weeks, earlier for multiples, with hard cut-offs no certificate overrides, so the first job is checking your carrier's window against your dates, which we do as part of the assessment. Anyone within roughly two weeks of surgery, where the specific procedure sets the rule, laparoscopic abdominal surgery, joint replacement, cardiac intervention and eye surgery involving gas bubbles all carry their own timelines, and flying too early after some of them is genuinely dangerous rather than merely against policy. Travellers with significant medical conditions, established heart failure or recent cardiac events, respiratory disease especially where oxygen saturation runs low, recent deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, recent stroke, severe anaemia, and a recent collapsed lung, which carries an absolute no-fly period. People recovering from recent significant illness, where the airline simply wants a doctor to say recovered. And travellers whose airline has sent them a MEDIF, the standard medical information form for passengers requiring clearance or special assistance, which needs completing by a doctor with the clinical detail airlines' medical departments expect, and which is where the cheapest end of this market quietly gives up.
Why the £25 online letter is the expensive option
The online certificate mills issue letters from £25 to £67 on a questionnaire, no examination, no records, refund if the doctor declines, and for a straightforward 29-week pregnancy with no complications that letter usually works. The problem is every case that is not that case, which is most of the reasons airlines ask. A post-surgical clearance signed without examining the wound or knowing the procedure detail is a guess in letterhead. A cardiac or respiratory clearance without listening to the chest, checking saturations or reviewing the discharge summary is the same. Airlines' ground staff have learned the difference, and a generic remote letter without clinical detail invites exactly the check-in challenge it was bought to prevent, at the one moment nothing can be fixed. The consultant tier at the other end, £100 to £300 through specialist clinics, does the medicine properly for complex cases. The gap in the market is a same-day service with the consultant tier's rigour and the whole job in one place, assessment, examination where the case needs one, saturations and observations on site, the certificate written to the named airline's requirements, and the MEDIF completed rather than declined. That is what this clinic built.
Send your airline's requirements on WhatsApp or email team@thewellnesslondon.com.
What the assessment involves and what the certificate says
Video first where video is enough, a same-day consultation reviewing your history, your records where relevant, your airline's policy and your dates, issuing the signed certificate by secure email within hours, with the doctor's GMC number and the details carriers verify. In person where the case deserves examination, pregnancy checks, post-operative review, chest examination and oxygen saturations for cardiorespiratory cases, blood pressure and observations, at the Marylebone clinic with the certificate issued in the same visit. The document itself is written to be accepted, your identity and dates of travel, the clinical facts the airline needs, gestation and due date for pregnancy with confirmation the pregnancy is uncomplicated, procedure and recovery status for surgery, condition, stability and treatment for medical cases, the explicit fitness-to-fly statement, and the signature, date and registration details that make it verifiable. Where the airline requires its own paperwork, MEDIF parts one and two or a carrier's pregnancy declaration, we complete it fully, and where the honest answer is that you should not fly on those dates, you will be told so clearly with what would change the answer, because a certificate service that never declines is not a medical service, and the point of this one is that its yes means something at the gate.
What does a fit to fly certificate cost in London
The market runs in three tiers. Online questionnaire services from £25 to £67, no examination, suited only to the simplest cases. London walk-in GP services around £59 to £75 for a short appointment and standard letter. And the specialist tier at £100 to £300 where pregnancy clinics and consultants handle complexity properly.
At The Wellness the specialist tier's rigour comes with same-day speed. All figures are from prices.
Complex clearance and airline forms, MEDIF completion, cardiorespiratory and post-surgical cases with examination and observations, from £295.
In-person fit to fly assessment with examination, certificate issued in the visit, from £220.
Video fit to fly assessment, same day, signed certificate by secure email, from £150.
Pregnancy fit to fly letters, video or in person, at the same fees, written to your named airline's wording and dating requirements.
Return-leg redating where your airline requires a second certificate, from £75.
Same-day appointments in Marylebone, three minutes from Baker Street, seven days a week.
Why The Wellness is the best place in London for a fit to fly certificate
Because the certificate is only as good as the assessment behind it, and this is the tier where the assessment is real. A GMC-registered doctor, same day, with examination, saturations and observations on site when the case calls for them, records reviewed rather than waved through, and the letter written to your named carrier's actual policy, dating window and wording, which is the detail that decides whether check-in nods or escalates. MEDIF and airline forms are completed rather than refused, complex cardiorespiratory and post-surgical cases are welcomed rather than screened out, and the rare honest no comes with a plan. Travel vaccinations, antimalarials and the rest of pre-travel medicine live in the same clinic, so the flight clearance and the destination health work happen in one visit. One doctor, one appointment, a document that holds at the gate. That is the entire service, and it is the version worth boarding with.
Book same-day on WhatsApp or call 020 3951 3429.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the best place to get a fit to fly certificate in London
The Wellness in Marylebone, where a GMC-registered doctor assesses you the same day, by video from £150 or in person with examination from £220, completes MEDIF and airline forms for complex cases from £295, and writes the certificate to your named airline's dating and wording requirements so it holds at check-in.
When do airlines require a fit to fly letter in pregnancy
Most carriers require one from 28 weeks for a single pregnancy and from 24 weeks for multiples, stop carriage around 36 weeks, 32 for twins, and require the letter dated within 7 to 14 days of departure stating your due date and that the pregnancy is uncomplicated. We check your named airline's exact policy against your dates as part of the assessment.
Can I fly after surgery
It depends on the procedure and the days elapsed, and some rules are safety rather than policy, gas-related eye surgery and recent pneumothorax carry genuine no-fly periods, abdominal and orthopaedic surgery typically need one to two weeks and a clearance. An in-person assessment from £220 reviews the operation notes, examines the site and issues the clearance where it is safe to.
How quickly can I get the certificate
Same day. Video assessments issue the signed certificate by secure email within hours, and in-person appointments leave with it. If your flight is imminent, message the WhatsApp line with your flight date and we will prioritise you.
What is a MEDIF form
The standard airline medical information form for passengers needing medical clearance or special assistance, completed partly by you and partly by a doctor with clinical detail the airline's medical department reviews. We complete MEDIF and carrier-specific forms in full from £295, which the questionnaire-letter services typically cannot.
What if the doctor says I'm not fit to fly
Then the certificate is not issued, you are told exactly why and what would change the answer, rescheduling, treatment, a specialist review, and you have lost an assessment fee rather than a boarding, an insurance claim and a holiday. A clearance service whose yes means something must be able to say no.
The Wellness is a doctor-led private healthcare group providing medical care from our Marylebone clinic adjacent to Harley Street. All doctors are GMC-registered. This article is general information and not a substitute for medical advice about your own health. Always check your airline's specific requirements before travel.
Enquire now on WhatsApp or email team@thewellnesslondon.com or call 020 3951 3429.
References. UK Civil Aviation Authority, guidance on assessing fitness to fly, including cabin altitude of 5,000 to 8,000 feet. Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, air travel and pregnancy. IATA medical manual and standard MEDIF documentation. Published airline carriage policies on pregnancy windows and post-surgical travel. Published 2026 UK fit to fly certificate market pricing across online, walk-in and specialist tiers.
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