Destinations Magazine

How to Cope with a Fear of Flying on Your Honeymoon

By Honeymoonblogger

When most of us envision our honeymoon, we think of a hot, sunny beach destination, or at least somewhere very new and different from what we’ve had for the rest of our lives. This almost always involves flying, and it would be safe to say that most couples do choose a destination they have to fly to for their honeymoon. Depending on your point of view, this can be a fantastic choice, or a nightmare, and that’s because many people are afraid of flying. You don’t want to limit yourself, so how do you cope?

For those with milder fears, a few techniques can probably help to allay them. These help me, as I was formerly a fearful flyer. That doesn’t work well when you want to travel so much, though, so I have learned to defeat the fear!

  1. friendly flight attendant
    I always find looking at the flight attendants reassuring, even during turbulence. As they go about their business calmly and often chat and laugh, it does quite a bit to help diminish any particular fears. This is their job and they do it almost every single day. If they can manage that, you surely can manage a few flights.
  2. It also helps to know just how many planes are flying at any given time. There are thousands! According to Wikipedia, one 737 takes off every four seconds, so you know that there are tons of them in the air. Think about it; a plane takes off every four seconds. The flight you’re taking may operate every single day. How many problems do you hear about? Very, very few – and often those incidents take place in areas which do not have our stricter European regulations on flying.
  3. Every flight that goes in and out of the UK follows the same safety standards, no matter how cheap or how expensive the flight is. Every pilot undergoes the same training. A fun site to browse is http://flightaware.com/live/, which tracks flights over the world at any given time. As I look it’s tracking 4,353 flights over Europe alone.
  4. There have been no large commercial airliner crashes in Europe this year, and we’re already six months in. There were none last year. In fact, there have been no commercial jet crashes in Western Europe since mid 2009. Think about how many planes have flown since then and you’ll get an idea of just how safe you are. Some airlines have never had a fatal crash through millions of flights and flying gets safer all the time with innovations to existing planes. Planes are checked before every flight.
  5. If you’re really suffering or have never flown before, a fear of flying course may help to get you on the plane and feel much better about your upcoming journey. Virgin Atlantic run a very good one – and if you’re actually flying with Virgin, they will be happy to reassure you during your flight and check that you’re okay with everything going on. Many other airlines offer a similar service (aside from budget airlines, which presumably you wouldn’t use for your honeymoon anyway!) so it’s worth phoning and asking if you are a nervous flyer.

What are your favorite tips for coping with a fear of flying? Or are you effortless in the skies?


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