What is the ruling for breaking the fast on a plane? We traveled by plane from Egypt to Canada. A scholar advised us to fast even though the flight is 11 hours. We boarded the plane at 1:00 p.m and broke our fast according to the Egyptian local time. However, the problem is that we broke our fast while the sun was still high in the sky and did not set except towards the end of the journey i.e. after 10 hours.

It is permissible for a person traveling by plane to break his fast when the sun sets at his location. He is not to break his fast according to the [local] time of the country of his departure or that which he is flying over but when he sees that the whole disk of the sun has set.

If it becomes difficult for the traveler to continue his fast, he is to break it due to the excessive hardship posed by travel and not because the fasting hours have ended; and he must make up the day on which he broke his fast.

The in-flight announcements made by some pilots concerning breaking the fast according to the local time of the country of departure or the plane's current location without giving heed to seeing the sun set is legally invalid. A fasting person is to break his fast when the sun first sets and is to ignore its subsequent appearances and disappearances which occur due to the plane's speed.

Allah Almighty knows best.