Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
/ KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to All Press & Travel Professionals
Two Chinese private airlines now require elderly travelers intending to board their flights to issue body and health fitness certification documents on-line before they purchase their tickets. These airlines are Spring Airlines and OKAir.
Elderly passengers aged 70 and above who intend to fly with Spring Airlines from Singapore to Shanghai-Pudong and within China to any part of the route networks of Spring Airlines or from other international destinations of Spring Airlines are advised to show the airline headquartered in Shanghai and its branch offices if any outside Shanghai their body and health fitness certification documents prior to purchasing an on-line ticket. Likewise and with more stringent requirements are from OKAir on elderly passengers of this age range.
The certification documents should include comprehensive medical health data, X-ray photo and report and a health professional declaration stating that the elderly passengers are fit to travel onboard a flight before purchasing a ticket. This is to ensure the passengers' health do not affect normal flight operations and to reduce frequency of passenger health emergencies due to inflight turbulence and flight diversions as a result of passenger emergencies due to health reasons which may cause unforeseen flight delays.
An elderly passenger aged 70 years old and above has to capture shots of the X-rays before emailing the relevant certification documents and health data to Spring Airlines. For further information, please contact Spring Airlines at its Facebook page and for OKAir at its web-site www.okair.net.
If the elderly passenger is deemed not fit to travel by the two airlines due to heart disease and other health reasons, he will not be allowed to purchase a ticket of Spring Airlines or OKAir.
This is despite the availability of comprehensive travel insurance and passengers' health insurance.
Spring Airlines and OKAir have no such restrictions on younger passengers.
Spring Airlines flies from Singapore, Kota Kinabalu, Suvarnabhumi, Hong Kong, Incheon, Japan, Siem Reap, Taipei and many more Asian destinations to Shanghai-Pudong. It also operates many flights from Suvarnabhumi to Shijiazhuang and other Chinese cities while OKAir has flights from Suvarnabhumi, Jeju to China and domestic flights in China.
For the news source in Chinese, please refer to the news from Beijing Evening Press below.
/ KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to All Press & Travel Professionals
Two Chinese private airlines now require elderly travelers intending to board their flights to issue body and health fitness certification documents on-line before they purchase their tickets. These airlines are Spring Airlines and OKAir.
Elderly passengers aged 70 and above who intend to fly with Spring Airlines from Singapore to Shanghai-Pudong and within China to any part of the route networks of Spring Airlines or from other international destinations of Spring Airlines are advised to show the airline headquartered in Shanghai and its branch offices if any outside Shanghai their body and health fitness certification documents prior to purchasing an on-line ticket. Likewise and with more stringent requirements are from OKAir on elderly passengers of this age range.
The certification documents should include comprehensive medical health data, X-ray photo and report and a health professional declaration stating that the elderly passengers are fit to travel onboard a flight before purchasing a ticket. This is to ensure the passengers' health do not affect normal flight operations and to reduce frequency of passenger health emergencies due to inflight turbulence and flight diversions as a result of passenger emergencies due to health reasons which may cause unforeseen flight delays.
An elderly passenger aged 70 years old and above has to capture shots of the X-rays before emailing the relevant certification documents and health data to Spring Airlines. For further information, please contact Spring Airlines at its Facebook page and for OKAir at its web-site www.okair.net.
If the elderly passenger is deemed not fit to travel by the two airlines due to heart disease and other health reasons, he will not be allowed to purchase a ticket of Spring Airlines or OKAir.
This is despite the availability of comprehensive travel insurance and passengers' health insurance.
Spring Airlines and OKAir have no such restrictions on younger passengers.
Spring Airlines flies from Singapore, Kota Kinabalu, Suvarnabhumi, Hong Kong, Incheon, Japan, Siem Reap, Taipei and many more Asian destinations to Shanghai-Pudong. It also operates many flights from Suvarnabhumi to Shijiazhuang and other Chinese cities while OKAir has flights from Suvarnabhumi, Jeju to China and domestic flights in China.
For the news source in Chinese, please refer to the news from Beijing Evening Press below.
航司要求70岁以上须有体检报告 年龄歧视？
眼下正是旅游旺季，不少老年人也想出去转转，有人在买机票时却被告知，必须先去医院做个体检，有了健康证明才能购买机票，否则航空公司就有权拒载。这种强硬的做法让不少老年人觉得自己受到了歧视——这是哪门子规定？我身体好好的，为什么要开证明才能坐飞机？
70岁以上坐飞机要先出示体检报告
孙健最近打算带父亲出去玩一趟。父亲72岁，于是他通过航空公司的网站订票，没想到还会遇到年龄上的限制——春秋航空公司的客服人员告诉他，70周岁以上老人订购机票需要提供180天内的乘机证明或者提供180天内的医院开具的医院体检报告才能乘机！
这份报告里要有心电图、心率数值、血压数值、呼吸道检查（也就是胸透）的结果。而且还要将这些检查报告拍照后发送到对方指定的邮箱，航空公司审核通过后，老人才能购票。如此复杂的乘机要求让孙健很迷惑。“我父亲才72岁，身体很好，现在为了坐个飞机还要专门去医院做个体检，这也太麻烦了！”孙健说，不仅要专门跑趟医院，一向节俭的父亲更是为这笔体检的费用耿耿于怀。“全做下来的话，大约百十块钱，为什么平白无故要多花这些钱呢？”
航空公司表示是为老人安全着想
有同样规定的还有奥凯航空公司，而且要求比春秋航空更加严格，他们把年龄的限制定在了75岁以上，要求体检在乘机前的一周之内，还得是县级以上或三甲医院的检查结果才行，要求检查老人的心脑血管、高血压、心脏病、冠心病等情况。起飞当天，老人需要带着体检结果去办乘机手续，各项检查指标在正常范围内才会被允许乘机。
“老人身体好好的，为什么非要多此一举让我们去医院做体检呢？”面对疑问，客服人员回答，这也是为了老人的乘机安全着想。“高空环境中，可能会因为气压的变化导致血压升高、呼吸困难、缺氧等情况，还有气流变化导致的颠簸等等，老人要是有心脏病、呼吸系统疾病就可能会有危险。我们也是为老人的乘机安全着想。”客服人员的解释听起来似乎也挺有道理。
但孙健又觉得，现在老年人的寿命都提高了，70岁尚且算“年轻”的，很多80多岁的老人依然精神矍铄，健步如飞，还硬生生地定一个70岁或者75岁的门槛，这不是给很多健康的老年人平添了烦恼吗？“要是真有高血压、心脏病之类的，老人和子女也不会轻易让老人坐飞机啊！”
仅是少数航空公司的自行规定
记者向其他航空公司咨询，发现这仅是少数航空公司的规定，像国航、南航、东航、海航这四大航空公司就没有这样的要求，厦门航空、山东航空等公司也不做特殊限制，只是有些公司会强调乘机的前提是老人身体健康，最好有年轻人陪同等，但并不强制要求出具体健康证明等。
对于老年人乘机是否需要出示健康证明的问题，记者咨询了荣达律师事务所律师刘小明。刘小明介绍，《中国民用航空旅客、行李国际运输规则》当中并没有对老年人乘机做出特殊要求，只是要求重病旅客购票应持有医疗单位出具适于乘机的证明。但刘小明同时也表示，飞机作为在高空飞行的一种特殊交通工具，航空公司要求乘客的年龄和身体健康状况也是为了保证乘客的安全，出发点是好的，乘客也应该给予理解，不必心存芥蒂，但航空公司应该尽量简化流程、方便乘客，别让好心变成了乘客的烦恼。
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