Originally Posted by
jkumpire
I believe much of it revolves around not being comfortable; having to sit for so long, not being able to sleep, being crowded, seats not being easy to sit on...
She also is not comfortable with 'being confined in a tube for hours on end', an interesting statement that could mean several things...
I really think business class would help, if she is willing.
Okay, a couple of things..
First re uncomfortable, not being able to sleep etc...
Solution - business class. Problems solved.
In a tube for hours... Not uncommon, and not necessarily just claustrophobia. Yes, it's a big tube, but there are also unfamiliar sensations - bumps and dips for no good reason, noise (a constant background roar) and of course acceleration/deceleration.
Solution(s) - business class on a big widebody, window seat, noise-canceling headphones. Sit in the last row of business class, which will usually put you close to or right over the wing - the smoothest place on the plane. Also look at daytime flights eastbound, which run from most of the big east coast cities plus Chicago to London. They're quick, you can look out the window, plenty on the seatback monitor or out the window. Book a hotel at Heathrow and you sleep in a bed rather than an airplane seat. For me (and many others) they also really help reduce jetlag.
Iceland - maybe, but the only planes flying to Iceland are narrow-bodies without decent lie-flat business class. With many nervous flyers, take-offs and landings are the most stressful, so why double them, in addition to really being in a narrow tube?
Standby option - Queen Mary II - lie flat beds, great food, a surprisingly cheap waterfront hotel that moves. No jetlag. However, six days instead of six hours.