How long did you actually wait to fly after a hip replacement?

Had my right hip done in early December and the plan is to visit my daughter over Easter, which would be about 16 weeks out, so I am not worried about that trip. The one I AM worried about is a work thing in March, roughly 11 weeks post-op, four hours each way.

My surgeon just said "should be fine by then" and moved on, which is not really the reassurance I was after. What did people actually do? Did you go by the wound or by the clot thing everyone mentions?

The clot thing is the bit that matters for the timing, not the scar. My scar was basically closed at three weeks but that is not what keeps you grounded.

I flew at 7 weeks after my hip (short-haul, about 2 hours) with my surgeon's blessing and it was fine. I wore the stockings and got up twice. At 11 weeks and four hours you are in a much more comfortable spot than I was, honestly.

Nigel, the reason your surgeon sounded relaxed about March is that the part that pushes the flying wait out after a hip or knee replacement is the raised clot risk, and that risk is highest in the first couple of weeks and then falls away over the weeks that follow.

As a general guide, short-haul is often reasonable after about 2 weeks with clot precautions, and long-haul is usually best left until around 6 weeks, purely because a longer flight is a bigger clot exposure. At 11 weeks and four hours each way you are well past the window that causes concern, which is almost certainly why you got a "should be fine". The usual waits by operation are collected in how long to wait before flying after surgery if you want to see where a hip sits against everything else.

The one thing I would still do is ask him directly for a yes on that specific March date rather than reading it off a general table, because he knows things about your recovery that a table cannot. What I would not do is lose sleep over 11 weeks.

Went at 9 weeks after mine, aisle seat, walked the length of the cabin every hour or so until the crew probably wanted to trip me up. No bother at all. The stockings are hot and annoying and I wore them anyway.

Update for anyone who finds this later. Did the March trip at 11 weeks, asked the surgeon for a straight yes first like Helena said and got one. Wore the stockings, drank water until I sloshed, walked every hour. Completely uneventful, which is exactly what you want. Thanks all.