I’ve had flights delayed and occasionally even cancelled completely, but never in my 28 years of travelling have I been denied on a flight until today. As I write this I should be on the second leg of my trip back to Melbourne, however, instead, I’m sitting in my parents’ apartment in Vienna still.

When I flew over to Austria, I was 26 weeks pregnant and according to Qatar Airways website (this is who I flew with) I wasn’t required to organise any paperwork, nevertheless I did so anyway just to be safe, and also because I knew I was going to be 29 weeks when flying home and a doctor’s certificate would be required at this stage.

I downloaded the medical certificate available on their website and organised for my midwife to complete it for me. On the form, I put down my flight details not only from Melbourne to Vienna but also the return ones from Vienna back to Melbourne, all of which were signed off by my midwife.

Now, the Qatar Airways website states:

“The medical certificate must be dated within 10 days of the scheduled date of the passenger’s initial departing flight and remains valid for the entire journey.”

For this reason, it was my understanding (and maybe I’m just stupid and shouldn’t have interpreted the above the way I did) that I wouldn’t require an additional certificate for the return journey home as all flights were listed and signed off on my first medical certificate. The certificate template provided by Qatar Airways even has the wording “Fit to Travel for the time covering the entire journey,” so again I assumed if all my flights were listed on the document and signed off, all would be fine.

Well, I guess I was wrong because upon trying to drop my bags at the Qatar desk in Vienna airport this morning I was asked for my medical certificate, which I presented, only to be told that because it wasn’t dated within the last 10 days that I would not be cleared to fly. I’m sure you can imagine the result of telling a 29 week pregnant lady that she can’t go home – picture lots of tears.

Long story short, I now have to see an Austrian doctor to get clearance to fly and have been placed on a new flight for Tuesday morning. I can understand from a liability point of view the need for a medical certificate for the situation, what I can’t understand is that the certificate I provided – although more than 10 days old – isn’t enough to allow me to travel, given it’s been completed by a medical professional who has been seeing me for my entire pregnancy and knows the ins and outs of it. Instead, I have to see a doctor who knows nothing of my medical history or anything of my pregnancy to hopefully give me the thumbs up to get on the plane.

What frustrates me most about the situation is the treatment I’ve received from the Qatar Airways staff from the minute I left Melbourne and the general lack of information provided both by staff and the website. Despite not needing the medical certificate for my initial travel from Melbourne, at no stage did any staff even ask how far along I was to confirm whether I was at a stage where medical clearance was required or not. I’ll admit, the actual flight from Melbourne to Doha was alright and I didn’t encounter too many problems. The Doha to Vienna leg, however, was another story. I was in tears before we’d even taken off as a result of the flight attendants.

Although Sahara is technically at the age where I can opt to have her on my lap and not pay for a seat for her, I decided to spend the extra money for her to have her own seat due to my growing belly and knowing that a 14+ hour flight with a wriggling toddler and baby bump would have been a disaster waiting to happen. I booked our flights directly through Qatar Airways’ website and at no stage during the process was I told I couldn’t opt for a seat for Sahara, quite the opposite actually. Luckily I had no issues with our longest flight (Melbourne to Doha), however, our Doha to Vienna leg proved to be more challenging. Upon boarding a flight attendant (rather rudely) told me that Sahara could not be in her own seat and would have to sit on my lap, I tried to explain how we’d just come off the 14+ hour flight from Melbourne and Sahara was in her own seat the whole time and I wasn’t told otherwise then. She proceeded to say that Sahara was too young and had to be on my lap; I politely but firmly explained that I had paid and booked for her to have her own seat because I am pregnant. To which I got the response “Oh I didn’t know that, um, well she can’t really be on her own” along with a very puzzled look as though she’d never encountered this situation before. We were going around in an endless circle; on top of that Sahara was getting cranky and I was tired, cue the waterworks from me. In the end, I won but not without having a complete meltdown. To top it off, just before landing, I had the same flight attendant come back to me and say “Wow you got very upset before”… Eye roll, no shit!

It baffles me that they can have a section when you’re checking in online to ask you to declare if you’re carrying any illegal things in your bags but they can’t have a section where you can declare if you have any medical issues (pregnancy or otherwise). Perhaps if they added this, and you had the option to say “yes” they could give clear instructions of what it going to be needed from the airline as opposed to having to do your own research and guessing, which is what I feel as though I had to do.

Rant over, here are my flight-specific tips if you ever find yourself travelling while pregnant:

• Research the shit out of the website for the airline you are travelling with, understand all of the requirements for every stage of pregnancy not just the stage you’re in,
• Whether it says you need it or not, organise a medical certificate dated just before every initial flight you take just to be safe,
• Whether you think it’s obvious you’re pregnant or not, clearly state it to the staff when checking in/dropping your bags at the airport – you know what, go over the top and even announce it to the gate staff when boarding the plane and then again to the flight attendants on board.

I do just want to say that of all places to get stuck, I’m very grateful that it is where my parents live (not some random country I happened to be visiting) and it’s ultimately resulted in getting a few extra days with my family. I think if I wasn’t so heavily pregnant I probably wouldn’t have cared as much, but of course it’s hard to not think worst case scenario of “What if I don’t get home in time to have the baby?”.

If you’ve ever flown while pregnant, leave a comment below – I’d love to know your experience (good or bad) and if you have any specific tips to help avoid being denied onboard.