I have a lot of irrational fears, one of which is flying. Even though I know planes are way safer than cars (or even walking!) I still get white knuckles on every flight. I know I’m not the only one with flight anxiety. So I’m hoping this post will help some of you deal with YOUR flight anxiety.
Arrive at the Airport Early
Reduce any additional anxiety by getting to the airport early. If I’m rushing to my gate, then I’m already anxious before I’m even on the plane! Get to the aiport with plenty of time so you’ll have time to sit and relax before boarding.
Be Prepared
Feeling prepared is something that calms me down. When I board the plane, the first thing I do is locate the emergency exit doors. When I sit down, I touch the life jacket under my seat. I remove my headphones for every single announcement.
Be Informed
Knowledge is power. Learning a little about the physics of flying, and knowing what turbulence really is helps a lot with anxiety. This video has been trending recently which has helped calm the nerves of millions of travelers using an analogy involving Jell-O.
@anna..paull Fear of flying tip ✈️❤️
If you Have a Choice—Avoid Smaller Planes
Anyone with flight anxiety can agree that turbulence makes our hearts drop. Well, smaller planes make turbulence feel so much more extreme. If you have the option, choose a larger plane, and avoid the additional turbulence.
Sit Near the Front or Near the Wings
You will feel much less turbulence if you sit near the wings of the plane, or closer to the front. The wings are meant to balance the plane—they are the center of gravity—so the turbulence has less of an impact.
Have a Good Playlist
I got a new phone a few days before my last trip, and totally forgot that I didn’t have any music saved to it yet! I didn’t realize it until I was in my seat, and at that point it was too late. And I never realized how much music calmed me down during take off until I didn’t have it. As soon as we landed, I downloaded all my favorite playlists on Spotify. While some people prefer classical music or something calming, I prefer upbeat, happy music. I will post my flying playlist here! It’s nearly impossible to be anxious listening to this playlist. Just make sure if you’re listening to Spotify, to download the playlist before you board.
Deep Breaths
As cliché as it sounds, it’s a cliché for a reason. It works! When I feel myself start to get worked up (usually during take-off), I start taking deep breaths. In through my nose, out through my mouth. But, I always am aware of the people around me. I don’t want to freak anyone else out, so I try to stay tactful and discreet even if I’m panicking a little on the inside.
Close the Shades
I don’t know about you, but it especially freaks me out when the plane is tilting and all the sudden I’m very aware that the plane is almost sideways. Not only does it make me anxious, it makes me a bit motion sick. Closing the shades helps me forget that I’m 39,000 feet in the air.
Visualize the Plane Landing
Whenever there is turbulence, I close my eyes, and I picture that we’re inches off the ground, and the plane is just straightening out to land. This is much easier to do when the shades are closed! It’s easier to think about a shakey plane inches off the ground, than a shakey plane thousands of miles off the ground. I’ve never been one for “visualization”, but this is one situation that I am an advocate.
I’ve been on many planes throughout my life, but my flight anxiety is fairly new (within the past two years). I feel like getting older has made me more anxious in general, lol! I really like the idea of counting the rows between your seat and the emergency exit, I may have to try this next month!
omg SAME! I grew up flying a ton, and my flight anxiety just started about two years ago. Weird how that happens. Thank you for reading!
Love this! I’d never had issues with turbulence until I took my first small plane ride and it was just like nopenopenope. My mom always told me to look at the flight attendants, if they’re freaking out, you should too.
Thank you! I had never rode a small plane until two-ish years ago, and now I try to avoid them at all costs! lol. The flight attendant tip is a great point too. Thanks for reading!
My hubby HATES flying! I’ll be sure to share these tips with him!
Thank you! Hope they help him out!
I have flight anxiety too! I will definitely remember the playlist idea next time. That will help for sure!
A good playlist is super important – find what works for you!
Traveling over 30 years in my life I think I mastered it, I can see the difference traveling with friends who don’t frequently travel, they struggle in a lot of things
It’s so funny, I grew up flying a lot, and I didn’t develop flight anxiety until a couple years ago. I hope these tips can help some of your friends!
OMG! Travelling is crazy. This is an awesome list of tips. I find myself doing all of these tips except for the last two. For some reason, I love looking out of the window, because it calms me. And I love the rush I get from the landing. Lol.
I can only look out the window once we’re steady and way above the clouds. But when we’re taking off or landing? nononono. It freaks me out so badly when the plane tilts hahaha.
Since I live in Des Moines, Iowa, avoiding small planes is pretty much impossible. But I’ve found that getting to the airport early and planning ahead have been huge in managing my flight anxiety. Lots of deep breaths and some good music (or a distracting audio book) are a must. Great post!
Ooo that’s rough! Tiny planes are my nemesis lol. An audio book would be a good alternative to a playlist – I’ll have to try that on my next flight! Thank you for reading!
Great advice. My husband often gets anxiety over flying. I will have him read this post.
Thank you! I hope some of these tips will help him on your next flight!
Great post! I always make sure I have my playlist ready to go 🙂
Thank you for reading!
These are all great tips! I’m terrified of heights so even though I’ve flown loads I always get nervous while taking off and landing. For some reason I’m okay once we reach the maximum height and even out!
Thank you! And same! Once we’re leveled out, I’m ok. But I get soooo anxious during takeoff and landing.
I’m lucky that I’ve never suffered from any form of anxiety over flying but these are great tips for anyone who does so thanks for sharing!
Thank you!
I worked for an airline for a quite a while and people would tell us all the time that they had issues. Sometimes notifying the flight attendant that’s in your section can be a relief because they man be able to calm you when you get worked up. I hope you don’t let this get in the way of exploring the world.
I never thought of letting a flight attendant know, but that’s a good idea! And don’t worry – I definitely will not let this get in the way of my travels 🙂
One thing my mom always suggest to do when feeling uneasy is to start at the letter A and list off everything you are grateful for that starts with that letter, than move on to B, C,D and the rest of the alphabet. She does this well imaging the whole plane has a huge white bubble of positive light around it.
Sounds silly I know, but I did it once and it helped me so much.
It doesn’t sound silly at all! Anything that helps is awesome!
I have serious flight anxiety and find I tend to do much better if I am distracted. So if I can watch a movie, talk to my neighbor, read, or listen to music it really helps me get my mind off my fears. I also recently discovered that melatonin produces a calming sensation in me that doesn’t make me too groggy that I don’t know what I am doing but adds just enough that I am not so scared. Great suggestions.
I get motion sick when I read on flights for too long! But if there’s an in-flight movie, I will definitely watch that. Movies are more distracting than music for me, but I hate watching movies on my tiny phone screen.
Hey thank you for sharing your experience.
Me too, I never had fear of flying and then all of a sudden I am terrified.. but in my case is more the fear of fear that freaks me out.. is the fear of having a panic attack in the plane feeling sick or fainting and being a burden to others.
My routine is very similar to yours but I add chewing gum to my trip.. I always carry a lot with me.. so I can keep chewing.. apparently if you chew something you send a message to your brain that you are eating and if you are eating everything around you should be fine and your brain is more focused on digestion than on a fight or flight reaction this helps me to get distracted.. I also download a couple of episodes of a Netflix series or a movie and watch comedians someone telling a joke is always helpful because you pay attention to the joke and forget about the situation. One more thing that helps me is to play all possible wrong outcome and realise that in my case (my fear of having a panic attack or being sick) nothing too bad will actually happen and if I am actually sick people will understand that I didn’t do it on purpose and that there will always be someone that will help me.. I get cold sweaty hands and feet and my heart pounds and my stomach flips and i get very dizzy so u take 2 prescribed medication for these symptoms which only help a little bit.. but I deal with it by remembering that I want to get to the destination 🙂
Good tip about chewing gum! I usually chew gun anyway because my ears always hurt.