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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

To think people should think before they get on a plane

218 replies

AndSpinAround · 07/08/2018 09:08

Yeah yeah I know some people are scared of flying, but right now I have no sympathy.

Yesterday DH was on a 7pm flight from London to Barcelona. We live in the outskirts of Barcelona.

Everyone got on the flight then one woman decided she didn't want to fly after all. She got off the plane. This means that everyones hand baggage has to be rechecked. Then just as they are about to go. Another woman decides she is scared and wants her and her family off the plane. The second woman had hold baggage so that had to be taken off, then all hand baggage checked again. Because of this the runway slot had been missed so they had to wait again.
The plane landed after midnight.

The last train for DH to get home leave Barcelona centre at 11.55. The flight was due to get in at 10.20, no problem. Because of these two he had to get a taxi to another part of Barcelona, then a night bus. He got home just after 2.30am.

He's knackered and can't work today.

These two woman should have thought before they got on the fucking plane.

OP posts:
ihearttc · 07/08/2018 11:14

My DH flies all over the world for his job...in fact sometimes it feels like he spends more time on planes than he does on the ground.

Like your DH he would have to get off a plane and go to work a few hours later so a situation like this would have annoyed him too.

Until last year when I received a phone call from a paramedic 4 hours after Id dropped him at Heathrow saying that they were now taking him to Hillingdon hospital as he'd suffered some kind of incident just as the plane was taxi-ing. I immediately assumed the worst such as a stroke, heart attack etc and found childcare and was literally about to drive the 2 hours to Heathrow when DH called. They'd found nothing wrong and it eventually transpired he'd had some kind of huge panic attack. To this day we still don't know what caused it-he certainly isn't scared of flying (ironically he works in the Aviation industry) so it was just one of those things which happened at the wrong time and in the wrong place.

You have no idea what those women were going through or why they needed to get off that plane.

PorkFlute · 07/08/2018 11:17

Great to know that anxiety treatment and medication is unnecessary as you can just ‘get your shot together’.
Clearly the woman thought she could fly having paid for and got on a flight. Maybe she’d been having treatment/was medicated.
And I’m not sure why you are downplaying it as ‘being nervous’ op. People who are nervous stay on the plane (me included!). To waste money, not get where you want to go and leave the plane she will have been more than a bit nervous.
And speaking of selfish why are you wasting nhs resources by calling an ambulance for a panic attack? Do taxis not exist in your area?

Original poster
AndSpinAround · 07/08/2018 11:18

You have no idea what those women were going through or why they needed to get off that plane.

I didn't say I did. I can be annoyed about the situation though.

OP posts:
serbska · 07/08/2018 11:18

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Ghanagirl · 07/08/2018 11:19

@BarbarianMum
I think that’s a great idea as it would put off people who were repeat offenders and allow someone like OP’s husband to be compensated enough to pay for long expensive taxi journeys...

Bombardier25966 · 07/08/2018 11:20

I think there's some confusion here about an anxiety attack vs a panic attack...

The confusion is the OP not understanding that we all exhibit signs of anxiety/ panic/ overwhelmed differently, and neither she nor her husband have the right to judge or minimise what the other passenger was experiencing.

Original poster
AndSpinAround · 07/08/2018 11:20

why are you wasting nhs resources by calling an ambulance for a panic attack?

My neighbour called it because she thought I was having a heart attack in the street.

OP posts:
Gromance02 · 07/08/2018 11:20

YANBU OP. I have suffered from panic attacks and if I knew that getting on to a plane could cause one, I simply wouldn't get on a plane. Obviously. I have anxiety but that would be over-ruled by the thought of inconveniencing hundreds of people.

PorkFlute · 07/08/2018 11:21

So an older gentleman who has a heart attack - is he fucking everyone on the plane around as well. After all he should have known before he flew that he was in the at risk age range.
No-one would be blaming the victim of a physical condition!
And as a pp pointed out this may have been the very first panic attack that woman had. Maybe no-one should fly just in case?

LEMtheoriginal · 07/08/2018 11:21

Of course. It is deeply annoying and frustrating but that is not what your thread title says. Nor your OP.
A reasonable response would be to this thread would be - ah yeah maybe iababitu and recognise that i shouldnt be annoyed with the person involved.

PorkFlute · 07/08/2018 11:21

Well op it’s not like you didn’t know you had anxiety so why did you let her call an ambulance?

Original poster
AndSpinAround · 07/08/2018 11:22

SheWoreBlueVelvet Exactly that.

OP posts:
PorkFlute · 07/08/2018 11:22

Very inconvenient to people with genuine medical emergencies who may have needed that ambulance.

LeftRightCentre · 07/08/2018 11:22

Id like to think that people would be understanding if i were to panic.

Nope, I wouldn't be if I were travelling with my own child with SEN and your issue caused us to miss our connecting flight or be delayed to the point of missing our slot.

TranslatorHere · 07/08/2018 11:23

You are in Spain and in the land of late nights and later starts (2.30 is just getting started!)

Not when you have to work the next morning, it isn't. Most people in Spain start working at 8.00.

Original poster
AndSpinAround · 07/08/2018 11:23

PorkFlute I couldn't speak and could barely breathe.

OP posts:
Baumederose · 07/08/2018 11:23

Who knew?

World and people in it can't be controlled by one woman in Barcelona. And more so, the world doesn't operate according to scheduling.

Some thing must be done immediately!

Think of the children!

Bombardier25966 · 07/08/2018 11:24

If someone gets on a plane with 'flu and infects you all...you'd be pretty pissed of yeah? But that person had a medical condition! How were they to know it would impact so many people?? They weren't selfish, they were just in the middle of a medial thing.

But if you'd previously had flu and weren't aware that you could still pass on the virus, that would be unfortunate but not selfish.

Plenty of people manage to fly with anxiety, myself included. That's not to say that it won't unexpectedly impact me in the future, but that's not a reason to stop flying altogether.

April241 · 07/08/2018 11:25

Pissing myself at some of the responses here. The professionally offended is right!!

OP I feel for your husband, I’d be annoyed too.

Spa day? WinkGrin

LizzieSiddal · 07/08/2018 11:25

"You have no idea what those women were going through or why they needed to get off that plane"

OP I didn't say I did. I can be annoyed about the situation though.

Yes you did! Your whole Opening Post is you saying that people who are scared of flying should 'think about this' before getting on a plane.

You just wont admit the premise of your thread is a load of old tosh!

PorkFlute · 07/08/2018 11:25

Well maybe you should inform your neighbours about your anxiety to avoid wasting Nhs resources in future.
Oh sorry - do you want sympathy for YOUR anxiety? Because I suffer anxiety and don’t get panic attack’s so I don’t see why you should.
Not a nice attitude is it op?

HolyPieter · 07/08/2018 11:25

YABU.

Have some empathy for the poor women, for goodness sake. Surely your husband can survive one night with a little less sleep than usual?

MysteriesOfTheOrganism · 07/08/2018 11:25

I understand the frustration - who wouldn't feel pissed off? But people don't plan anxiety attacks in advance. Even if you're a nervous flier you won't know in advance whether this time you're going to be 'normal nervous' or go into meltdown. Sorry for your DH's experience, but sometimes in life shit happens.

Bombardier25966 · 07/08/2018 11:27

Nope, I wouldn't be if I were travelling with my own child with SEN and your issue caused us to miss our connecting flight or be delayed to the point of missing our slot.

What about if a child (perhaps your child) became unwell and caused a flight delay?

CocoaGin70 · 07/08/2018 11:27

I've long held the belief that if anyone disrupts a flight for whatever reason - they should be fined for it. Whether it is an anxious passenger or someone drunk, if they had to pay for it I think behaviour would improve massively. Why should other passengers be made late/disrupted and why should the airlines pay the cost of it.