I am very sorry for the OP's predicament, and for others in such situations. As someone else pointed out, for the OP to classify Southwest planes (all 737s) as also being too small, the problem--for this person--seems to extend well beyond RJ's. Pretty soon, of course, with the increasing popularity of the 70-90 seat aircraft (of whatever manufacturer), there will be arguments about what is and what isn't an RJ, and the whole question will become very fuzzy and subjective, especially if mainlines start flying them.
There used to be classes available that featured a combination of techniques to deal with claustrophobia, along with exercises designed to help with the "loss of control" issue, to help folks with these problems. You might wish to check the web to see what's out there now.
Naturally, anyone is free to try to avoid RJ's if they want to, whether or not their reasoning is well-founded. As a fan of nicely-built aircraft, I personally object to referring to them as not "real" airplanes, but to each his own. As Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, everyone is entitled to their opinions, but not to their facts.
Originally Posted by
Boraxo
I'm not claustrophobic or airplane-phobic, I just don't like the accident stats for small planes.
Certainly it should be doable for travel within the continential US.
Like Boraxo, I don't like the accident stats for small planes. But then I don't like the ones for big planes either. But I fly both because I choose to travel, and to do so reasonably conveniently. I wonder if Boraxo would like to cite stats that prove that small planes (and we're talking airliners here, not private aircraft flown by weekend warriors) are less safe than larger ones.
Finally, Boraxo is less than correct in saying that it should be "doable" to avoid RJ's for travel within the Continental US. Maybe if you live in or near a good sized city, but if you live at a smaller line stop, you probably have little choice in the matter. On the other hand, most folks feel that RJ's are a nice step up from the turboprops that they've mostly replaced. Plus, if you have no real claustrophobia issues, you can waste a lot of time both in planning and in the travel itself in the pursuit of an RJ-free life. Right now, RJ's are used for some New York - Washington flights, Chicago - Washington flights, along with many other trips between major cities. In some cases you can plan carefully to avoid them, but what a hassle!
I was also interested that somebody talked about MD-80's flying from the east coast to Amsterdam. I didn't know they had the tanks or the ETOPS rating to do that. But maybe they do.