Originally Posted by LapLap
It's actually when I'm within the airports that I'm most susceptible - A GPS won't help. Perhaps others think I should just get a direct flight, but they are MUCH more expensive. As my flights involve seeing my partner, there's no way I'm halving the number of my trips to accommodate my phobia. I just wish the airlines would offer a little bit more assistance when they screw up, arrive late, and then leave it to me to deal with navigating the entire length of an airport while my anxiety builds up further and further.
Alas, it's impossible to control your breathing when you have to run to make a connection.
Perhaps this will be too obvious, but while I don't have this very specific phobia, a lot of my anxiety relates to the various machinations involved in getting to and into the airport, waiting, security, bathrooms, boarding, etc. It's just so involved, particularly if you've got a lot of stuff to carry (and I have more now than ever with a nearly-2 year old). The best thing I ever did was join AA's Admiral's Club, and I also got a Platinum Amex card, so that I can use some of the other lounges if I'm on one of the participating carriers.
Knowing that I've got somewhere comfortable, calm and clean to sit and wait if that becomes necessary, ratchets down my anxiety tremendously. When flying from EWR to ORD this summer, with my wife and daughter, my connection was delayed by three hours, and we'd just deplaned from a 13ish hour flight. Without the club, I would have been completely stressed about sitting around near a gate, in uncomfortable chairs, trying to keep an eye on my daughter, our belongings, etc., and then having to use a filthy lavatory.