How do I help my son get over his newly found flying phobia?!

[Wills]

My son is about to turn 16. He’s had a phobia for the last 4 years (which admittedly is a quarter of his life) but we’ve always flown with him (short haul) right from an early age and until he decided it was an issue, to be blunt, it wasn’t! He’s on the spectrum and I can’t help but feel he’s taken his cue from his oldest sister (I have 4 kids all on the spectrum) and therefore haven’t really ‘allowed’ him space to have this phobia. However his oldest sister has made a big big deal out of ‘recovering’ from her phobia and is now 12hrs flight away doing an internship. After 4 years of adamantly making a massive deal out of the idea of flying I feel that I should try to help him. Are there others out there with a phobia of flying and if you’ve overcome it to go somewhere wonderful, what tips can you give me? Before anyone complains the British isles are wonderful and yes we holiday all over them but we’d like to take our youngest two to Egypt and immerse them in as different a culture as you can get in October. Equally my son is desperate to visit Japan, but is considering sailing options…. I know I may come across as unfeeling in terms of his flight phobia, but I’m willing to do a lot to help him access this form of travel and would appreciate some serious guidance.

Thanks

My adult son decided he had issues with flying aged 20, despite his having flown many times short haul when young and doing various combinations of the UK- Aus and Aus-UK flights which are not for the faint hearted a number of times. Tbh his strategies now are (a) avoidance, (b) having a few stiff drinks before/during the flights and (c) flying business class so more space, less hassle, easier access to (b)! Not sure if that is helpful for your 17yo tbh.

DS can obviously do it when he has to (eg, his wedding and honeymoon both involved longish flights and he is planning a trip later this year to see a close friend he hasn’t seen in years) so maybe it is a question of talking yourself into it if you want something badly enough? Maybe some CBT with a counsellor might help your son?

I strongly recommend a Fear of flying choose, I refused to fly and was a nervous wreck yet the Virgin course cured me. There are other ones but I would go for one with a flight as part of it as it's really important to put it into practice

Thank you both. I’ve put him down for a teenage course with BA as Virgin are currently informing me they’re booked for the year?! 😱