Hi everyone! I’ve been asked by twitter user http://www.twitter.com/TiffanyMoniz to give information and share my personal experiences of travelling through airports while wearing a prosthetic leg.

Hope this is a helpful read for you all – I wish something like this had been around the first time that I had travelled on a plane!



What is PFFD?

Proximal femoral focal deficiency (PFFD), also known as Congenital Femoral Deficiency (CFD), is a rare, non-hereditary birth defect that affects the pelvis, particularly the hip bone, and the proximal femur. The disorder may affect one side or both, with the hip being deformed and the leg shortened.

Because of this condition, I personally have had to wear a prosthetic leg from birth, and undergone operations to fix the deformed leg including having the foot amputated.

Pre-flying experience (1st time)

I had booked my flights from Birmingham International Airport, UK to fly to Belfast Airport in early 2015 to visit family. This is a flight that takes roughly 1hr, so is a very short flight.

As an amputee that wears a prosthetic leg, I was so incredibly nervous about airport security and had absolutely no idea what it would entail – I searched online but really couldn’t find anything at all, even from the airports themselves there was little to no information on the standard security procedure for a prosthesis.

To put it simply – I just wanted to read something that told me EXACTLY what to expect & prepare for. I especially wanted to know if I’d need to take proof of my disability and prosthesis with me to show airport security – as a precaution, I contacted my Doctor and asked for a note explaining this.

(I’d read a post from an American man saying he’d had to remove his prosthesis in front of the public! This horrified me, I was terrified of my upcoming flying experience).

What actually happened 1st time flying?

I approached the security gate clutching onto my previously mentioned Doctor’s note, expecting to have to remove my leg in front of everyone and be made a complete spectacle of.. What happened is the opposite.

I saw everyone else removing their shoes (something I have a little difficulty with myself, ESPECIALLY without sitting down) so I struggled and removed my own.

I walked through the security scanner / metal detector and as expecting, it beeped and flashed red!

The lovely lady security officer at Birmingham International Airport looked at me with kind eyes as I showed her my Doctor’s note and said, “Please, next time don’t struggle to remove your shoes. You shouldn’t ever have to again” – I audibly sighed from relief! How sweet of her I thought!

She used another handheld scanner type device and scanned my prosthesis – again, it flashed red and beeped. The lady then used what I can only describe as a large swab, swabbed my prosthetic and then she placed the swab into a machine – she asked me politely to stand aside while she waited for what I think was an explosives test to come back with a result.

After about a 5 minute wait, the machine she had put the swab in made a noise and flashed green – I’m assuming this gave her the OK that everything was well and good, as she then sent me on my way!

I honestly couldn’t believe it, I’d been sick with worry – imagining a scenario where I’d have to wait around for hours maybe as people inspected me closely & asked me to remove my prosthetic leg!

It was simple, easy and I’d only had to wait an extra 5-10 minutes maximum than everyone else – just to have the swab & other metal handheld scanner device done.

What about your other flying experiences?

Since the previously mentioned first experience, I have flown another 5 times (including return flights) and they have all pretty much been the same. I’ve never had to wait longer than 5-10 minutes for the swab and handheld scanner to be done.

I have never had to remove my shoes again – and I don’t even take a Doctor’s note now.

I simply tell the security officer I wear a prosthetic leg when the machine beeps as I walk through, and they have been lovely and understanding each time.

Security abroad have also been just as accommodating and kind as those here in the UK, also! (I was worried the language barrier may have made things harder, but it didn’t!).

Side notes

My other destinations so far only include different parts of Spain – so please keep this in mind if you are travelling on very long flights as I can’t comment on whether the experience will be different.

I hope to of course travel to more places and will update this post in the future every time I do travel if any experiences change.

If you are travelling for the first time with a prosthesis – or with a family member who wears one, I’d suggest taking a note from your Doctor just to put your mind at ease and calm any nerves.. This way you will have a starting point of conversation with the security officers about it.

If I’m lucky enough to have any airports mentioned here or even airports around the world read this post, PLEASE consider updating your websites to include what to expect for people wearing prosthetic limbs. It’s such a worrying experience for the first time, especially when there is zero information out there.

I’m also fairly certain that as with everything – people out there, maybe even people reading this will have had different and negative experiences.. please feel free to leave comments and replies if this is you, so we can help spread the word and message of diversity and equality to include everyone.. this way hopefully we can all have positive experiences like mine.

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