Scared to fly after Air India crash - should I cancel?

[Springhare76]

I am an extremely nervous flier at the best of times and can barely hold it together for an entire flights (crying, panic attacks etc). I try to cling to the fact that it's so unlikely to crash but after the recent Air India crash I am more terrified than ever as what happened is basically what everyone says can't happen. God rest their souls. Anyone else cancelling their flights this summer?

It's a horrible thing to happen but won't put me off flying apart from with Air India. Overall its safer than being in a car. I think everyone accepts crashes do happen very rarely but for me I would rather live my life and enjoy it than live in fear of the minute chance of that happening.

I am on a multi stop holiday with 6 flights all in and you just have to get on with it I am afraid! Live life to the fullest!

How many planes fly normally? How many car crashes or other accidents are there? Sure cancel if you want not sure what good it will do

Literally the safest place to be on planet Earth is a plane.
Check the statistics!

Just keep reminding yourself it’s illogical, commercial plane travel is the safest travel in the world

car travel is the worst unsafest travel, you’ll be over 10 x safer on a plane than in a car

You can do a course in the airport to help you with this. As others have said, cars are much more dangerous but we are driving so feel we have control. Go and enjoy your trip. Tell yourself it will be OK, arm yourself with rational information.. I had a friend who had these written down and she'd read them before take off. Once you're in the air, any tiny risk is hugely lessened.

Every day since the Air India crash 70,000 civilian aircraft worldwide have taken off and landed safely (stat courtesy of Captain Chris who did a very reassuring post on Instagram just after the event) I don't enjoy flying but even I can see how safe it is.

As others have said by the same measure you can’t get in a car again either if you apply this thinking logically !

Statistics. Understand them and you'll be fine.

Every time I fly I have anxious thoughts I do my best to ignore, but I usually tell myself that while I'm waiting at the airport, already 1000s of flights have taken off and landed safely all over the world that day, and that no one would work as a pilot or cabin crew if the chances of an accident were in anyway likely. And when I fly home, I never feel the same, as I know I can't stay abroad so it seems like a more reasonable decision to make than choosing to fly out in the first place. Plus for those Air India passengers, it was all over in a split second so you most likely wouldn't know much about it if anything did happen....

You've got to live your life. One accident doesn't mean another will happen soon, and actually lessons are learnt from these things. Plane crashes are far less common than they used to be.

I’m assuming that you don’t travel by car either? or bus or train? All more dangerous than travelling by plane.

When I’m anxious I look at flight radar and the hundreds of safe flights just doing their normal stuff, and that there are over a million people in the air at any one time, all safe.

Understanding statistics doesn't prevent air accidents.

Would your reply have been the same to someone who said they were about to board the Air India flight? Would they have been fine?

Are you taking children with you?
Im asking this because if your normal state as you say is crying and panic attacks on a flight, then this crash is likely to increase that state and therefore I would cancel because you don’t want to pass that fear on.

If you aren’t taking children then I think I would feel the fear and do it anyway. Lots of flights have taken off successfully since the crash.

Cars kill people every day, crossing the road kills people everyday, plane crashes kill people rarely.

Agree with pp. Look at Flight Radar and see just how many flights are taking off and safely landing all the time. It’s mind blowing how many aeroplanes are in the sky at any one time.

F

I do this too.

It’s really helped with my fear of flying.

I understand your anxiety OP I really do, but how upset will you feel if you cancel and then you see the flight you should have been on has made it safely to your destination?

I suggest seeking some help with your fear rather than cancelling x

Do you live in constant fear of accidents and injury?
Do you drive?

Nobody can say 'you'll always be fine' because we all die

I think some people have yet to come to terms with that

I don't live in fear of anything at all, my point is that just because something is extremely rare doesnt mean it won't happen

Think about it, did you know that the Air India plane was going to crash? Obviously not so you would have told all the passengers on they flight that they would be fine yet all but one are dead.

The most you can say is that it's statistically extremely unlikely that any plane will crash but it's not impossible

Get some low dose valium.

Given what you say about your normal response to flying I would probably in your position get some help before you get on another plane. If you are is usually crying and having a panic attack there’s every chance it will be worse at the moment and that’s hugely stressful for you (and prob impacts on others).

Yes fear of flying is irrational but it’s also very real and unsettling in the moment.

There are plenty of reasons not to fly Air India, believe me - delays, discomfort, terrible food, chaotic service - but safety isn’t one of them. You’ll be fine.

It's not air India that's the problem, it's Boeing

Stick to BA then. No fatal crashes since 1976.

You are more likely to die on the way to the airport in a car accident than on a flight. I would do the course for nervous flyers as they have had some amazing results on that course.