johnny5a

featured on You and Yours on Radio 4 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b0367j1n/?t=20m18s

Revenge

My girlfriend has developed anxiety about flying, despite having travelled by air extensively in the past. It has been getting worse and has affected our trips together and her flights for visits home to Canada.

I decided to get her a BA Flying with Confidence course for Christmas. She attended the end-of-January course at Heathrow a few weeks ago.

She found the course very useful and was complimentary of the speakers. The day finished with a flight (LHR-LHR) which I joined her on. Family and friends of people attending the course are allowed to join for the flight for an additional fee.

Even as a confident and regular traveller I found the flight really interesting. The sadistic side of me enjoyed being on a plane full of nervous flyers, but more importantly it was interesting observing the advice the instructors were giving to the passengers and listening to the running commentary. They describe exactly what is happening so that you know what the various sounds and sensations you are experiencing are caused by.

Overall it was a great experience for both me and my girlfriend and I am looking forward to our next trip together to test out whether it has helped her anxiety. As an added bonus, I was able to use the 10% off voucher to book my TP run for next month I'm bringing her along on an Avios reward ticket. After all, they say that you are to fly again soon after the course to put into practice what you have learned while it's fresh in your mind. ^

JumboJim

Very interesting to know.

My wife has over time developed a real fear of flying, after years of travelling for business and also extensively on holiday. It seemed to be something tiny that triggered it a few years ago.

She said only this weekend that she wanted to try the course and see if it made a difference. I'm tempted to go for the whole day too just to try and get an understanding of exactly what it is that worries her so that when we do go away on holiday I can try and help.

Globaliser

I'm sure that I've posted to a previous thread about this before, but it's worth saying again: I'd highly recommend this course, and I'd encourage you to get her to do it (whether you do the whole course with her or just the end-of-course flight). Some years ago I did the flight, joining a couple of nervous flyers who had done the whole course, and it was excellent.

And thanks to Revenge for the trip report!

marble

And, without wanting to send people to a competitor, mrs marble did the Virgin one a few years ago and found that really useful. She came back armed with all sorts of knowledge about the training and safety procedures, and it really helped put her mind at ease.

There were people asking all sorts of questions about flight 'xxx' and why it had gone horribly wrong, and the pilots/crew had a very impressive knowledge about each incident and outcomes in terms of hopefully preventing it happening again.

Globaliser

ISTR that those running the BA course didn't consider Virgin's course to be a competitor in this respect. They're all staff who see people who have very real (but objectively unfounded) fears about flying, and they all simply want to help.

Revenge

It seems this is incredibly common. Most of the attendees I chatted to seem to have developed a fear of flying triggered by some small incident even though they used to be OK with it previously.

corporate-wage-slave

Another one of BA's weepies, so tissues to the ready, and with apologies for digging up an old thread, but this is the latest BA video, in fact it currently features on the BA home page at the moment.


What struck me was not so much that some people have considerable difficulties with flying - that is hardly a secret - but the sheer impact it has in this global world. Still an interesting video, which may help some FTers / lurkers with concerns in this area.

MarkFlies

I notice on the Twitter feed of Kay Burley, Sky News, that she has been in New York lately.

She tweeted about this course before and about BA - all in a very positive manner. She flew BA to New York (obvs).

Phil the Flyer

As a follow up to the post from c-w-s I also noticed this on BA's home page yesterday. My immediate reaction - how about a scheme to cure fear of flying BA CW?

HIDDY

Flying 14 hours on the EZE route for many years in a packed economy cabin worked for me.....also helps if you're not a whimp.

nallison

Haha, there do seem to be a lot of snowflakes around from the number of 'I never fly down the back...could never do it' type posts. Though I suspect these posts are actually less about their fear of Y than actually making sure we all fully aware they fly further up.

God knows how they'd ever have coped if they'd been born into a slightly less privileged life. I'd like to see some of them on a chicken bus through Guatemala.

GaxxyFlyer

If you ever get hungry at least you can eat that giant chip on your shoulder.

nallison

The personal reply to what was supposed to be a humerous comment is appreciated, given you know nothing about me, but actually I was fully including myself in that privileged comment. It just hasn't turned me into one of hiddys wimps