Long Haul Flight

[Hart50]

Hello,
I am flying from Calgary to London (9 hours) on British Airways in Business class and I was wondering if anyone here has had experience sleeping without their CPAP on a long flight. I gather their seats can be extended into a bed which is great but without the use of my machine the quality of my sleep will be rather poor. I also gather that one can hook up one's laptop etc. to a power source in their business class but I doubt they would allow me to hook up my machine. I was thinking therefore that I would be better to try and sleep in the sitted position thereby hopefully avoiding any apneas. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Hart

[oceanpearl]

Some airlines will allow you to hook up in business class and I think that British Airways is one of them.
I was asked to edit the link, so you will need to Google British Airways Health and medical information.

[Hart50]

Thanks very much!

[billbolton]

I also gather that one can hook up one's laptop etc. to a power source in their business class but I doubt they would allow me to hook up my machine.

You can hook up your CPAP machine and it it may work, as I have done so in BA business class.

However, be aware that the power available is limited so if you need a highish pressure you may be out of luck. Remember that at cabin pressure altitude (equivalent to ~2400 metres) your xPAP machine will need to work harder to supply your tritation pressure than it will at sea level, so it will draw additional current which might exceed the power available at the seat.

Also keep in mind that at-seat power is not guaranteed by the air carriers, and in my experience at least some powered seats on many flights will simply be without working at-seat power for one reason or another.

After a bad experience with just this sort of issue on a BA flight, I elected to go with ~12 Volt NiMH battery packs for in-flight CPAP power on my most recent trip, so I am independent of at-seat power availability. Two battery packs (each 1Kg weight) can supply enough power to run my Resmed S8 Lightweight CPAP for over ~8 hours at 14cm H20 pressure and with altitude set to ~2400 metres. This worked out very well for me.

Cheers,

Bill