How to Overcome Fear of Flying

Who hasn’t had, at least once, a flight with turbulence that left them thinking: as soon as I get off this plane, I’m never boarding another one. Yet, after that flight, many others followed—smooth, uneventful trips that reignited my love for travel.

The writer of Theluxurytravelexpert shares practical tips for dealing with fear of flying.

1. Fly with just a few airlines (for me, it’s usually British Airways and KLM) on most trips. This makes the flying experience more predictable and eases my nerves. What truly helps is that British Airways not only provides an inflight video to reassure anxious flyers like myself, but their highly professional and consistent crew always stick to the same communication routines. For instance, the flight deck always addresses passengers over the intercom before takeoff and about forty minutes before landing (no matter how short the flight), and the cabin crew make their announcements right after. This familiar routine—often missing from other carriers—makes me feel much more at ease.
2. It might sound counterintuitive, but watching all the episodes of Mayday or Aircrash Investigation (reliably found on YouTube) helped me understand why air travel is so safe today. While the show covers some of history’s most heart-wrenching air disasters, it focuses on the actual events and the causes as uncovered by official investigations, never sensationalizing the story. That’s how I learned one of my biggest fears—a mid-air collision—is highly irrational, as modern planes have systems to prevent that scenario.
3. I have read articles on Aviation Herald, which reports daily on civil aviation incidents and accidents. This excellent site is run by Simon Hradeck, an Austrian aviation safety expert. Reading Aviation Herald and the comments from airline professionals made me realize that commercial aviation is among the safest industries, with multiple layers of protection in place should anything go wrong. I learned, for example, that planes can fly for hours on a single engine, cargo fires can be suppressed, and cabin smoke—while terrifying—is usually harmless.
4. Flying in Business or First Class is a privilege and a joy. Premium cabins offer lie-flat beds, great food, and excellent service. The whole experience is better, from priority check-in and faster security lanes to lounge access. But for me, the main benefit is that Business or First offers a less claustrophobic environment —with more private suites where I can manage my anxiety discreetly and in peace. For a nervous traveler, it’s a distinctly more relaxing way to fly compared to Economy, where stress and anxiety levels can soar for everyone in the cabin.
5. I used to drink alcohol and/or take sleeping pills onboard, my only aim being to knock myself out so I wouldn’t have to consciously endure the flight. In reality, this backfired—it made me feel foggy and exhausted (since I rarely managed to sleep), and at one point I started having hallucinations from taking too many pills (I saw little green aliens crawling over the seats). Since then, I’ve stopped using alcohol or medication  on planes—and it paid off: I’ve found peace in the skies again, and even learned to fall asleep naturally for a couple hours on most long-haul flights.
6. Flying at night makes my fear worse, probably because I need to see my surroundings out the airplane window—which calms me for some reason. So now, I always try to  avoid overnight (red-eye) flights, even though it’s not always possible (like on most European-US routes that operate at night).
7. Even though I know turbulence can’t bring down an airplane (and it’s never happened), it still scares me every time. Just watching a clip like this on YouTube makes my palms sweat (I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t help it). What does help is when the captain gives a pre-warning about upcoming turbulence. It’s easier to handle when you know it’s coming. Before a flight, I also check Turbulence Forecast, which offers tools estimating the likely turbulence on your route. Don’t let it scare you into cancelling or changing your plans—use it to make turbulence, or the lack of it, a more predictable and less frightening event.
8. When I can, I  sit directly over the plane’s wing as turbulence is always least intense here—the wings keep the aircraft stable, while the rear section (near the tail) generally experiences the most movement during rough air.
9. As I’ve said, flying over vast stretches of water—hundreds of kilometers from the nearest diversion airport—triggers catastrophic scenarios in my mind (fire onboard, total nav failure, weather radar malfunctions, engine failure on a twinjet, etc.). But I’ve read up on the subject and now have a basic understanding of ETOPS flights over water, which are held to the strictest requirements (reassuring when I have to cross an ocean). ETOPS stands for “Extended-range Twin-engine Operations,” or jokingly, “Engines Turn or Passengers Swim.” As explained on this very useful Wikipedia page, ETOPS certification is a highly regulated two-step process, where irregularities would immediately downgrade or suspend the airline’s ETOPS capabilities:
   • First, the aircraft/engine combination must meet ETOPS requirements during type certification. Tests may include shutting down one engine and flying on the remaining one for the full diversion time—often carried out over open ocean. It must be shown that the remaining engine is highly unlikely to fail, and that the crew workload remains manageable during diversion.
   • Second, airlines must prove to their country’s aviation authority that they can safely conduct ETOPS flights, which involves extra engineering and operating procedures, above and beyond standard requirements. Pilots and technical staff need specific ETOPS training.

10. The single most effective thing I’ve done to overcome my fear of flying is to have something else to focus on during flights. That’s why I started taking photos and videos on flights and publishing them on my blog and YouTube channel. The fact that they’ve become so popular has only encouraged me to write more trip reports—which, ironically, means I fly even more!
11. Last but not least, I never fly with airlines that have a poor safety record. I always avoid airlines on the European Union blacklist. That’s an official list of (unsafe) carriers banned from entering the EU. I also check the safety reputation of any airline on Airline Ratings. While I know that scoring airlines for safety is a controversial and much-debated issue, it’s always very reassuring when my airline enjoys an excellent safety reputation.