fear of flying

[Zizi444]

I'm going on a 12 hour flight next week and I'm a really anxious flyer. I've fly a couple of times a year as I like holidays so force myself to do it, but this will be the longest flight. I'm a fairly anxious person anyway and flying just makes my constant anxiety more intense. Other than drinking does anyone have any tips? I'm considering CBD oil but there are so many out there I just don't know where to start. Thanks

I've noticed other people recommending Propananol on prescription from GP. I'm currently taking it for travel anxiety. Any travel !
Hope this helps.

I don't like flying either but I do it because it's a means to an end. I always have several stiff drinks to be honest. I know Mumsnet will crucify me for that but hard luck. You could get Propanalol from the Drs as suggested but then you won't be able to have a drink if you fancy one. Personally I didn't get on with it. It sort of made me feel lightheaded whilst still being anxious - which was worse than just being anxious if that makes sense! Be interesting to hear how @MarxistMags is finding it.

It might help to remind yourself that pilots and flight attendants get up and go to work across the globe every day and it’s just normal life for them. I live right by an airport and always see crew out and about on the bus :)

My rational side would be quoting statistics at you, like how much more dangerous the taxi ride to the airport is than the actual flight. But you've heard them all before and you're still nervous. This is natural — it's evolutionarily advantageous not to go up in the air, and our reptile brains know that. So I won't deploy the statistics.

It's OK to tell the cabin crew that you are a bit of a nervous flyer when you first encounter whoever will be serving you at your seat. They will keep a smile ready for you as they pass during the flight. Obviously don't say "OMG I'm so stressed that I might kick off/pass out at any minute", but most cabin crew are great people and take pleasure in seeing passengers as something other than a seat number.

I would suggest that you avoid medicating yourself. Alcohol counts double at altitude and only provides a temporary fix, and anything else that you don't already take regularly will probably just contribute to the overall weirdness.

Unless you are going to South Africa you are probably going to be crossing several time zones on a 12-hour flight. The trick to avoiding jet lag is to set your watch and mindset to your destination's time as soon as you get on the plane. Working that out, and planning what time to sleep and when to eat, can be a useful distraction. Sleeping, in general, is one of the most productive uses you can make of your flying time, as it lets you get started quicker in the first few days at the other end.

Get a very good book and concentrate on it. Watch /download films to watch. Don’t look out of the window. Sit in an aisle seat. Those things work for me.

Are you nervous during the flight itself or just in the lead up to it and take-off?

I used to be very nervous until we were fully in the air and I found doing puzzlebooks good as the concentration needed for the task in hand helped distract me from feeling nervous, far more than reading did as that was less engrossing.

Strangely once we're at full altitude and levelled out, the idea of crashing doesn't scare me.

I used to suffer from this. Especially the landings which always seemed dramatic.
Two things helped.
A friend who is a pilot explained to me that the Boeing 737 is recommended to be landed firmly for safety reasons . It’s not a bad landing.
I also started wearing noise cancelling headphones during descent. I played a loud happy playlist to drown out the noise of the landing gear and flaps and kept my eyes closed until after touchdown. I have flown a lot in recent years for family reasons and over time I have been able to ditch the headphones. I still don’t like turbulence and landings but I’m way better than I was.

I did easyJet’s FearlessFlyer course earlier this year and it was excellent. I have since taken 7 flights - my first time flying in 15 years!

You don’t have time to do it before your long flight, but why not book it when you get back?

On the flight, I suggest breathing strategies to stay calm. They work for me. Plus mantras, about how safe flying is, etc.