Bonus Tip: If you or a family member becomes sick or injured in the days before a flight, you can expect to receive a flight credit or refund. Although some airlines offer this for political reasons or as a courtesy, there is no rule requiring it. Travel insurance is designed for exactly this situation.
You may need a medical certificate
Most airlines have pretty similar rules. But there are outliers, and one of the strangest came from Turkish Airlines. Passengers with Parkinson's disease were required to present a doctor's certificate of fitness to fly. There was no mention of any other illness in the policy, and no other airline that I could find had such a disease-specific policy. (Some airlines require such letters from passengers who are heavily pregnant, which of course does not constitute illness.)
Judy, of Chapel Hill, N.C., was unaware of the rule when her husband, Carl, revealed while checking in for a domestic flight in Turkey that he had Parkinson's disease and was referred to an airport doctor who charged him about $400 for a last-minute letter. The BBC reported a similar case of a journalist, Mark Mardell, who was unable to check in for a flight from Istanbul to London for the same reason. Mr. Mardell wrote to me in an email that he was also told he could go to an airport doctor, but he thought it was a scam.
Last week, the airline said in an email that it had removed the requirement, adding that it was “deeply saddened” that the policy “to ensure the safety of our passengers during the flight” was “perceived in this way.” The airline also reimbursed Judy and Carl approximately $400 (in Turkish lira) for the doctor's visit.
Don't take their word for it
Finally, a rule of thumb: Verbal promises are worthless. Jean from Berkeley, California, wrote me a very typical story of woe. Her trip from San Francisco to Syracuse, NY, on United was canceled due to technical issues, and a United representative was unable to find a way to get her to Syracuse on other United flights. Jean, along with her partner and son, found a seat on a same-day JetBlue flight for a total of just under $3,000 and asked the agent to book it. She didn't want that – in the United States, airlines can book you on other airlines, but they don't have to – and told Jean (three times, she said) that United would refund the cost of the original flight and compensate her for the difference.