10 Questions to Ask Before Booking a Medical Flight

Booking a medical flight is one of those decisions most people make exactly once, under stress, with no way to learn from experience. The good news: you do not need experience — you need the right ten questions. Ask every provider the same set, write down the answers, and the differences between companies become obvious within two phone calls. Here are the ten we would ask if we were the family, along with the answers a good provider should give.

Questions about who you are dealing with

1. “Are you the actual provider, and what is your license number?”

Good answer: a direct yes, a license number offered without hesitation (ours is air ambulance license #AIR805), and clarity about who operates the aircraft and employs the medical crew. Brokers who resell other operators’ flights exist throughout this industry; some are honest about it, but you deserve to know whether the person quoting you will also be the one responsible at 40,000 feet.

2. “Who will be my single point of contact from booking to handoff?”

Good answer: a named flight coordinator who owns your case — collects records, talks to both hospitals, arranges ground ambulances, and updates the family during the flight. If the answer is a general call center “whoever picks up,” expect the coordination to feel that way too. This one call, answered at 2 a.m. by a knowledgeable human, tells you whether “24/7” is a slogan or a staffing model.

Questions about the medical side

3. “How will you decide the medical crew for my patient?”

Good answer: “Send us the medical records — our clinical team reviews them and speaks with the treating physician before we commit to a crew.” Crew should follow condition: critical care teams for ventilated and cardiac patients, flight nurse teams for stable patients needing monitoring. A provider that names a crew before seeing a chart is guessing, and the guess becomes the patient’s problem in the air.

4. “What equipment is on board, and how is oxygen calculated?”

Good answer: a specific inventory — ventilator, cardiac monitor, IV pumps, suction — and an explanation that oxygen is calculated for the entire door-to-door journey with reserve, not just the flight leg. The phrase you want to hear is “ICU-capable”: the aircraft brings the intensive care unit to the patient rather than hoping the patient can do without it. Details on how this works are in our air ambulance service guide.

5. “Is this actually the right service level — or would a lesser one do?”

Good answer: an honest assessment. A stable, seated-capable patient may be best served by a commercial medical escort; a stable international patient by a stretcher on an airliner; a moderate overland distance by a long-distance ground ambulance. A provider willing to recommend its cheaper service — or a service it profits less from — has just told you something valuable about every other answer it gave.

Questions about logistics and the journey

6. “Is this bedside-to-bedside, with ground transport on both ends included?”

Good answer: an unqualified yes — the crew assumes care at the sending hospital bed and hands off at the receiving bed, with ambulances at both ends arranged and included by the same company. Handoffs between unconnected vendors are where long-distance transports go wrong, and “we can recommend a local ambulance company” is not the same as owning the journey.

7. “Can a family member fly with the patient?”

Good answer: on most dedicated air ambulance flights, yes — one family member typically rides along in the cabin, and the provider should confirm it for your specific aircraft and route rather than promising vaguely. Ask where the seat is, what the companion may bring, and how additional family will be kept informed while the flight is en route.

8. “How do you handle an international transport — permits, customs, language?”

Good answer (if your trip crosses borders): a concrete description of overflight and landing permits, customs and immigration coordination for a patient who may not be able to walk through a checkpoint, communication with the receiving country’s hospital, and realistic timelines — international clearances take real lead time in some regions. Worldwide service means having done this before, in both directions; a provider should be able to describe the last similar route it flew.

Questions about money and commitment

9. “Is the quote all-inclusive, and what could change it?”

Good answer: one flat, door-to-door figure covering aircraft, crew, equipment, oxygen, ground legs, and all fees — with change conditions limited to a significant shift in the patient’s condition or an itinerary change you request. Families working directly with the provider should never discover charges after landing. If a quote arrives as a base price plus a list of “as needed” items, ask them to convert it to a single number and watch what happens.

10. “What happens if the patient’s condition or our dates change before the flight?”

Good answer: a calm, specific policy — the clinical team re-reviews the records, the crew or aircraft is adjusted if needed, and the coordinator reworks hospital timing and ground legs. Plans around sick people change; the provider’s job is absorbing that change, not penalizing it. Listen for flexibility described as routine rather than as a favor.

How to use these questions

Call two or three providers and ask all ten — it takes perhaps fifteen minutes each. Take notes. You are grading three things at once: the answers themselves, how specifically they are given, and how the person on the phone treats a stressed stranger who has not paid them anything yet. That last one is the free preview of how they will treat your family mid-transport.

Most families find the decision makes itself by question six or seven: one company is answering from checklists and one is answering from experience. If you would like to hear our answers to all ten, our FAQ covers several of them in writing — or skip ahead and put us through the list by phone.