Any ideas for seeing inside a plane before committing to a ticket?

[M1M2Sibling]

Hi everyone. Thanks for reading. I have an 8 year old who has never flown and he’s obsessed with the New York Subway so I’d one day love to take him. It’s too far (and too expensive!) for now so I’m considering a short haul domestic UK flight in the near future.

My son is autistic. He can communicate well but does have extreme anxiety over doing something new. He’s told me how desperate he is to see the NYC subway and he likes the plan of a short haul to try it out. My worry is that he will step one foot on the plane and panic and we’ll need to get off and that will be lost money and he’ll feel bad.

This is most likely impossible but does anyone know if there is a way of him looking inside a plane without the need to fly? I’d then know if he’ll be able to handle the environment without having to get us tickets, go through security etc only for him to board and possibly panic (which then brings on feelings of failure for him).

Thanks again for reading. From looking online it looks like this isn’t possible, but I thought it may be worth an ask 😊

I’m sure there’s something at Manchester airport for nervous flyers where they just go in a little loop and back down? Not sure how near that is for you or if that’s done at other airports too.

Also at Manchester visitors centre you can go aboard a disused airplane which is quite interesting but not wholly similar in appearance to a modern day plane.

One of the airports (Heathrow if memory serves) has an aeroplane on the ground that you can tour - might be worth it. I guess though that it doesn’t simulate the real thing and you won’t know until you do go. Maybe book a couple of really cheap easy jet flights (there and back) to see. And you can tell him that the long haul flights are just bigger and nicer planes!

A lot of flight museums let you inside the plans too. But I expect if a working airport has a nervous flyers thing then that would be the best thing to try with him.
Good luck!

Duxford air museum if you are anywhere near. Great day out anyhow and has a lot of planes you can walk to through including typical passenger ones as well as military stuff.

There’s some kind of air museum near Bristol where you can go in a plane. Hang on let me look for it…

Fear of flying courses are likely to be more expensive than very cheap day trips on Ryanair, but might obviously achieve confidence in flying without risking going somewhere where he refuses to board on the way back. Look on extreme day trips on Facebook, latest craze, people are going to Ireland and mainland Europe on day trips.

There's likely to be aircraft in museums? Possibly also a New York Subway train at the railway museum in York?

Which is your nearest airport?

This isn't as good as irl, of course, but worth seeing if YouTube has a video for that specific airline (even the route itself eg LDN-JFK) because they tend to be super detailed showing all aspects of seating, service etc.

Thank you so much for all the recommendations so far! I wasn’t expecting anything so what a lovely suprise to see so many responses already.

I really do appreciate the advice and will be looking into every answer I’m given 😊

Who do you expect to fly with? Some airlines have 360 videos of the inside of their planes. I've certainly had that on at least one airline I've flown with. But they've been Asian or middle Eastern airlines.
If I remember which airline/s I'll find a link

@M1M2Sibling two tools, one is seatguru https://www.seatguru.com
If you search for flights and get the details you can search for the exact aircraft seat plan.

The second is YouTube - Google airline, plane & class e.g. BA 777 economy there are loads of videos on the seat, the interior etc.

Once you have bought the tickets go into the booking and select assistance. You can specify what you need. Personally, in your circumstances I would get it from check in through to departures. You don’t need a wheel chair but there are ways to avoid an overload to the senses. It can cut out the long walk through all the shops, perhaps early boarding so it’s a calmer environment as he adapts to a new space.

I also meant to say go on airport websites as they are good for accessibility. https://www.heathrow.com/at-the-airport/assistance-and-accessibility

I agree with pp Duxford or a local airport would give him a good idea of the inside of a plane.

Also check YouTube. Here's a video of a Singapore airlines Boeing 777, for instance

The VR headset route may also be an option, e.g. https://www.emirates.com/uk/english/experience/the-emirates-vr-experience/ - not sure if other airlines do them.

I've no suggestions on actually looking on an airplane, but YouTube has lots of videos of the inside of them and boarding process, if helpful?

I just googled Virgin Atlantic inside plane, tapped video results, and got loads of results. Like this one (from 2:30 ish onwards)

Depending on where you are in the country there are various aviation museums that have planes you can go inside

Duxford which is near Cambridge has already bedn mentioned but there are others

How is your DS with travelling on buses and trains @M1M2Sibling?

I was thinking about how he would be in proximity to so many passengers.

@M1M2Sibling a note of caution about YouTube videos, manage your DCs expectations as economy vs first/business class are very different prospect as well as £££.

East Midlands airport have an aeropark which might be useful if you are local!

There is an old New York Subway car at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre.

bucksrailcentre.org/new-york-subway-car/

It might be best to book a really cheap domestic flight as then he'd not only get to see the plane, he'd also get to experience check-in, security, boarding etc as well as seeing what it's like with other people - airports are very stimulating places so whilst he might turn out to be fine with the plane, he might find it too difficult to cope with other aspects like the crowds for example; the worst thing about flying for me is waiting at an overcrowded gate, I oddly find that much more claustrophobic that the flight itself! Plus, I'm not sure an empty plane would really give him a good idea of what a full, moving plane is like. As you won't need big bags it shouldn't cost much. I'd get him an aisle seat so he doesn't feel trapped, and if he really hates the plane and can't face the return, you can just get a train back.

Brooklands museum in Surrey

At the airport you can probably request to be among the first to board (families with children usually can anyway, but you could ask to be first so that the aisles aren't crowded and claustrophobic)

mediacentre.britishairways.com/factsheet/details/222