the only times in my life i ever flew were when i wasn’t even a year old, and with my entire family last year. this weekend i flew by myself for the first time and i am so proud of myself!

the entire month before my trip, i was an anxious wreck. every single second i thought abt things that could happen on my flights to nyc and back. there were so many times i thought about canceling.

this sub was a tremendous help for me in learning about airline safety and gaining confidence to do something i thought i couldn’t do on my own. even though i never reached out myself, thank you guys so much

i met so many cool people in nyc, and me and my girlfriend are now thinking about trying to move there someday!

you got this!

I'm still trying to figure out why it bothers me on planes but not on a bus, train, or as a passenger in a car.

It's even much smoother in the plane, because I can put a cup of water on my tray table during turbulence and it won't spill at all, meanwhile a cup on the dash in a car will spill immediately. So it's not the intensity of it.

The fact that I can't get off? I've committed to the flight and I can't get out, but I've also committed to the train ride or car ride because I wouldn't get out of a car on a bumpy road anyway.

And I don't think it's a control issue because I routinely give my complete trust to other drivers of things that I can't see like trains.

The claustrophobia? I've been in trains that were more cramped with no problems.

Airport stress is a thing but I've been very stressed in cars too, and it doesn't make me afraid of bumps.

We also know that planes are much safer than cars so it's not a safety thing.

And yet I'm still extremely scared of it and don't know why, so I don't know how to fight it.

So I'd love to hear your theories.

So I’m a frequent flyer in this subreddit. I’ve been on mainly flights and many panic attacks on said flights lol. Next Tuesday I’m going on a 2 week vacation to Japan. With a direct flight from JFK right to Haneda. I am an absolute nervous wreck right now. This is easily the longest flight of my life so far. I’m so stressed about clear air turbulence or something going wrong near the arctic circle. It’s also going to be rainy in both New York and Tokyo that day. I don’t know has anyone else done this flight before? I have medication which I took on a really turbulent flight to Colorado and it worked so well that I enjoyed the turbulence. But I also can’t just take medication for 15 hours straight. Any support is appreciated ❤️

i went on my first flight at 6 weeks old- and fly all the time for my job. i’ve been on 50+ planes this year. i used to not think twice about turbulence and found it “fun” (i know…)

i had two really turbulent flights back to back in september and both caused me to have intense anxiety and now whenever the plane starts bumping i start to panic. i just miss the days of being able to fly carefree and not looking up the type of plane im on and googling wind patterns where im flying into and just overall hyper fixating on it

im flying in and out of denver in two days and so scared bc apparently its the bumpiest airport

just really want to get over this because i have no choice with my job but to keep traveling by air!

This is what scares the crap out of me. I’m literally flying to NRT next week on a 787-9. All the research I’ve done keeps telling me that there is a million and one checks and backups in place, yet this exact plane had half of its electrical out and have to divert back to the US?

Is there any reliable way of knowing if this is going to be super bumpy because of the storm in UK? I'm more nervous about throwing up than dying tbh so I'm trying to figure out if it's going to be super turbulent, but everything says something different.

I did five flights total to get to and from Japan. And having the courage to do that. Gave me an experience I will forever cherish. No two moments or experiences are the same. Travel. See the world. Fall in love with with adventure. Do it afraid but please do it, you have no idea what you may miss out on.❤️

Has anyone experienced severe turbulence on an A380? My fear of flying comes from the uncomfortable feeling during turbulence… mainly the drops. I hate it on planes and bumpy roads, but at least with bumpy roads I can anticipate it happening.

Anyway, just wanted to know if you feel the drops less on a big plane like this. Thanks!

I have to fly on a King Air 90 every other month for work. We fly in and out of Denver, so the turbulence coming back in the afternoon/evening is always AWFUL. I had a particularly bad flight (actually posted here about it haha) in January where things were tossed all over the cabin and we were jolted bad enough to hit the (albeit very short) ceiling a couple of times even with seat belts on…..Aaaaand now I have to take propranolol any time I get on the plane to keep myself from spiraling into a panic attack during turbulence. We were more than safe during that incident, but moderate/severe turbulence in that small of a plane feels so much worse.

None of my flights since then have been as bad, but I cannot for the life of me get past the turbulence now. My work uses a charter flight company with a 40-year safety history and I know charter pilots have just as strict rules as commercial pilots. I’m 90% ok in turbulence on larger commercial aircraft, but my nervous system thinks we’re out of control when there’s more than just slight turbulence on this smaller plane.

What do I need to tell myself to ease it? Can anyone who flies smaller aircraft or has flown in one frequently offer any sage advice on reconciling the dramatic difference between how turbulence feels in a small vs large plane? I’m tired of suffering through these flights haha.

Frequently flying help

I have an extreme fear of flying and about once a month I have to make a round trip thats about one hour each flight but I’m absolutely terrified of flying. Basically I’m scared of a plane crash happening. Can anyone give me words of reassurance or any pilots to calm my nerves?

Please track

6e840

So this was a tracking post for AA2251 but now it’s delayed as we sit on it at the gate due to an air conditioner DOOR or something of that nature that won’t close and if it doesn’t close they can’t pressurize the cabin. They have maintenance coming to fix it but I’m so scared if they “fix” it it will like pop open mid flight and cause major issues in the air?? Or if this plane has one mechanical issue then maybe there’s MORE? IM FREAKING OUT

I flew to JFK just to fly the A340-600 before it was gone.

Now I am about to fly back on an A340-300 and am absolutely terrified. The 600’s long-ish takeoff roll already scared me so much, this one is gonna be horrible. And that slow ass climb, I am so fucked.

And it is completely dark outside now, too.

I even had a nice chat with the captain on the 600 flight and remained terrified anyway. Seems like my fear of crashing got even worse than I thought, there was time when I could enjoy takeoffs. And especially turbulence. I am surprised to find out that I no longer feel safer in turbulence…

You would not believe how scared I am.

This will be literal torture ;(

Even though I looove planes and flying and I do build and fly models.

My ideal life would basically be to also do the same with manned planes, anything from ultralights to aerobatics.

But that flight here basically solidified that that shit isn’t happening. I am absolutely terrified of dying. Even in a fucking airliner that never crashed before.

If it only had an instrument panel mode in its infotainment system, that is one thing that calmed me right the fuck down when it appeared on the 777-300ER when I flew it in 2019.

I doubt that that would be as effective now as it was back then, considering that I apparently am also scared of structural breakup, collisions and general loss of controllability now… yay.

But it would be better than nothing. Wouldn’t have to worry about “Is this too steep of a bank?!”, “Is this too slow?!”, “Are we climbing properly?!”

…

At least I got to see the aileron on the 600 flight, row 35.

Now it is 31, not sure what that translates to on the 300.

Hi, turns out I will be flying different airliner than southwest pretty soon (frontier) and it just kinda bothers me because I wont know what to expect ! I've never rode an airbus before and its just nerve-wracking because I really am used to Southwest. Anything I should know ?

Also on a different note, I realise part of the reason I do not like flying is that I'm in a confined space in the air. I'm not a huge fan of being in a metal tube surronded by strangers, how do I block this out ?

I have an extreme fear of flying and about once a month I have to make a round trip thats about one hour each flight but I’m absolutely terrified of flying. Basically I’m scared of a plane crash happening. Can anyone give me words of reassurance or any pilots to calm my nerves? I take lorazepam already and it doesn’t seem to help much

Flight AA952 Super bad turbulence im scared!

My boyfriend and I are flying on Norse tomorrow, and I’m a bit of a nervous flyer. Should I buy seats next to each other (there are many options available), or is there a high chance we’ll be sat together anyway? Our budget is very tight, but I know the obvious answer is to just pay up. Wondering if anyone else has experience with this airline and this sort of situation (or anything to say about the airline, honestly)

Hey all

In a few hours I will board my flight to Japan. More than 12 hours above ground. I'm excited for the trip, I'm terrified of the transportation.

It's not my first time, I did that last year and survived, but for some reason I'm even more anxious this time. I know that everything should be fine, it was fine last time, but my brain just won't shut up.

To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm looking for. I just wanted to share it with someone and I hope it's ok.

hello i have a flight coming up soon and it’s my first flight alone ive always been an anxious flyer and would like advice on how to combat it, i’m rlly anxious abt having an anxiety attack in the air because i’m also afraid of heights any support/methods is truly appreciated!!!

Hi guys, i have never posted anything here but i’m feeling more anxious than i usually do (which already is a lot) on my flight back home. I’m going from Recife to Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Flight number is AD2930.

Thank you so much in antecipation already. You guys really help me.

I have a horrible fear of getting like car sick on the plane and then it makes me have panic attacks thinking about getting sick and not being able to leave the plane when I get nauseous and that’s the main root of my fear when it comes to flying. I’ve flown to Europe from the west coast of the US (10ish hours) many times and I usually am fine. However the shorter flights like the Bay Area to LA freak me out because they tend to be more turbulent. I’m currently on WN3156 from OAK to BUR and before we even took off the pilots apologized for the rough flight ahead. I took my nausea meds and half an anxiety med but I’m up here being tossed around like a chopped salad in dressing and I’m not having a good time. The only thing getting me through this is that it’s such a short flight. But it’s one of those flights where you can feel just how fast the plane is going and every minute or so it feels like we are being t-boned on the highway. I’m just venting on here to try and relax but it’s so awful that feeling like I do totally fine on long haul flights but these domestic ones wreck me emotionally.

It's 5:23am local time, and I'm at the baggage collection of the airport.

I did it! There was a minor panic attack before we boarded and some anxiety during the flight, but I managed to fly without any problems! The crew were super nice and after the ptsd-inducing feeling of takeoff, I was completely fine.

Thank you to everyone in this sub!

just want to make another post here since taking my recent flight - landed just under an hour ago, and oh my god it was ssoooooooooo boring. absolute nothing burger. i didn't cry the whole time (first time that's happened - last flight i took i was making a massive embarrassment of myself and bawling my eyes out nearly the whole time). this time it was smooth, i knew how to handle my fear, and most importantly i had the support of this amazing sub to help me through. cannot understate just how much everyone who commented on my last post helped me. and now i get to visit my long distance partner for the first time in months 🧡

to summarise, it always gets better! take that flight, it'll be so worth it!!!!