Parents Mark and Elizabeth.

A family with children who had contracted chicken pox was refused a return flight to the UK on board Air Malta even though the children were declared medically fit to travel.

Mark and Elizabeth Bartolo travelled to Malta from the UK together with their three children Mia, Lennie and Jack, to attend a family wedding. Mr Bartolo is Maltese and the family are frequent flyers on Air Malta, visiting the islands up to twice a year.

While in Malta, Jack, 2, and Mia, 10, came down with chicken pox. Ms Bartolo said the family visited a doctor who prescribed medication and informed them that the children would not be fit to fly for the subsequent 10 days.

After contacting their insurance company, Ms Bartolo said they were advised to return to the doctor after 10 days to obtain a “fit to fly” certificate so that their return flights could be rebooked.

After examining the children, who no longer had any spots on their skin, the doctor declared them a being fit to fly, Ms Bartolo said.

“The doctor also provided us with an additional medical certificate that was specifically for Air Malta, as apparently they could be rather fussy about chicken pox. With the ‘fit to fly’ certificates, the insurance company set about trying to book us flights to return to England.”

By that point, the family had already extended their stay in Malta by five days. The children were missing school while the couple had to take unpaid leave from their jobs.

The insurance company had confirmed they would solely refund the cost of their accommodation and flights.

However, last week Air Malta did not accept the bookings, saying that according to its policy, passengers who had chicken pox could only be allowed on board 15 days after the rash appeared.

We find this incredible. Even the insurance company said it had never experienced anything like this from an airline before

“Despite being declared fit by the doctor, the additional certificates obtained and the fact that the children had no sign of chicken pox on their exposed skin, the airline still refused to take us.

“We find this incredible. Even the insurance company said it had never experienced anything like this from an airline before and that it was unheard of. Every other airline was happy to take us, but they just didn’t have the available seats.”

Since Air Malta did not give them medical clearance to fly, the family had to extend its stay by a further three days to catch a return flight with Easyjet last Monday.

If Air Malta had taken them, they would have flown at an earlier date, Ms Bartolo said.

“It’s been an extremely stressful few weeks, and this stress has been heightened by Air Malta.

“We strongly feel it needs to review its out-of date-policies. The children were perfectly healthy and fit to fly. It’s ridiculous that we have been grounded here in Malta for longer than needed and we feel they have been rather discriminatory against our children.

“All our family are frequent flyers with Air Malta, but we feel disheartened by the company now and will reconsider ever using their service in the future.”

An Air Malta spokesman said the airline received its advice from its specialised medical doctors qualified in aviation medicine.

In this case it was given the advice that the patient should not travel for 15 days.

Aviation medical doctors put forward recommendations to the airline after reviewing the circumstances of each case. Such a specialist considers the risk factors involved in air travel, including the confined space of an aircraft and the close proximity to passengers and crew, he said.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused, however the safety of our passengers and crew is paramount.

“The airline was in touch with Ms Bartolo and explained the airline’s decision in this regard.”