FlyingSloth

I'm a very nervous flyer which is somehow related to my clinically diagnosed PTSD (from 8 years ago). I have done therapy for "aviophobia" and was doing better with flying. But that was during pre-coronavirus times when there were hundreds of flights to choose from, so it was possible to select the airline and aircraft that felt most comfortable and felt most safe to me. I know that rationally 99.99% of air travel is safe, but emotionally it's a different story.

I have had some intense and long-lasting panic attacks mid-flight over the Pacific Ocean, and these were some of the scariest and most terrifying things. It's hard to explain if you've never had a bad panic attack mid-flight over the ocean. It sort of feels like the world is ending and you suddenly feel like you are dizzy and about to pass out or do something crazy, and you suddenly feel like you're unable to breath, etc. That's it in a nutshell.

I mean, I have had great flights that I genuinely enjoyed as well. But those were flights that I chose and felt extremely safe and comfortable with and going to places that I was genuinely looking forward to. The fact is I'm NOT looking forward to traveling during the COVID-19 pandemic, but I have exhausted all options to extend my visa for Singapore, and very likely must return next month to the U.S.

I have been in Asia for much of my adult life (over 15 years). My kids are in Asia, etc. But now all countries are closed and there's no way to go anywhere else. It's a situation that I never imagined would happen. But here we are. I've posted on FT several times in March, pre-COVID-19 I had all my plans in place.. visiting Japan for the sakura season and then back to my home city in the U.S. Those plans all went out the window when all the flights I booked were cancelled and then Japan disallowed entry. Even transit hotels at the Tokyo airports are closed until June, so there are very few options. Well, now ANA has also cancelled the flights I was planning to take to Seattle, so there are only a couple of options.

I have two options currently to book to get back to the United States from Singapore.

Option #1 ) Singapore Airlines to LAX.. it's on a A350-900. It's a 16 hour flight. The longest flight I've ever done almost entirely over ocean, and not land, which makes me extremely nervous. Half of the flight will be red-eye. I don't think I can sleep on the plane. I've never been able to sleep on an airplane, and I have tried to in the past. Maybe I could close my eyes for a couple of hours. I worry about the long flight. The A350-900 is also a relatively small plane for such a long flight in my experience. Normally I'm used to doing such long trips (12 - 13 hours) in a A380-800 or 777-300ER. For this option to work I'll need to get a hotel at LAX for a night.. and then change to a domestic flight with Alaska Air the next day to get to Seattle.

Option #2 ) Lufthansa to Frankfurt.. it's like a 13 hour flight.. mostly over land (that's good).. but it takes off at 12 midnight.. and again the issue with never being able to sleep on an airplane. I like that the plane is an A380-800 though. I feel comfortable with the 4 engines. But then there is a 4 hour layover at Frankfurt.. probably after no sleep.. there's a chance if I fall asleep.. that I miss the connection.. then another extremely long flight to Seattle.. 12 - 13 hours. The one thing I DO like is the second flight almost touches (or does?) touch the Arctic circle? I LOVE looking out the window on airplanes especially when flying over interesting terrain.. this flight would go over Iceland, Greenland, and northern Canada.. very cool! The second flight would also be on a 747-400.. I prefer the newer -800 model.. but in general anything with four engines makes me feel more comfortable. That's just a personal feeling. Plus, the bigger the plane is the better. But this is an extremely long trip for me.. with no stopover.. and passing through Europe.. and it's all red-eye. Like 27 hours total for this trip?

I'm surprised that Lufthansa is still using an A380-800 for travel between Singapore and Frankfurt.. are they mostly moving freight? I can't imagine there are that many passengers. I'm also surprised that Lufthansa is running flights between Frankfurt and Seattle.. are there a lot of people doing this route during COVID-19? Or is it mostly for moving freight? I don't know if anyone here knows the answers to these questions?

If you were me.. which flight would you choose and why? I'm genuinely curious to get as many responses as possible so I can have more confidence in choosing one. It would help me a lot to get some feedback on it.

The scariest thing of all is that one or both of these flights could get canceled anytime.. and there's no way of knowing! The Covid-19 situation is making things extremely hard. For me as someone who has a bad case of aviophobia.. I usually need weeks to prepare mentally for a flight. But now I don't get to chose my ideal flight.. and I don't even know which flight will be available until almost the last minute.

I don't know if anyone else on FT can relate to my situation? I know most people on here are frequent fliers who love flying, and probably there isn't too much "fear of flying." But I also found people on these forums to be very understanding and smart with travel planning, so I wanted to pose my situation and ask these questions on here.

WillTravel

Logistically, I would avoid adding another country (Germany) into your flight plan if you can avoid it. Who knows what rules might apply next week? Whereas if you get to LAX, you can surely find your way back to Seattle by some mechanism. I know a 16-hour flight is pretty awful, so get the best seat you can afford. You don't have to actually sleep, if you close your eyes and rest quietly. I'm sorry about the PTSD, and I know that makes it all worse. Personally, I think I would find it helpful to have something like a large shawl to put over my head to give me a cocoon-like feeling.

kiwifrequentflyer

I have suffered some pretty bad panic attacks mid air over the ocean, as I have an ongoing fear of flying that comes and goes, yet I live in New Zealand, and you need to fly over large sections of ocean to get anywhere.

I agree, do not go to Germany. And also, buying nicer seats is the easiest way to instantly make the anxiety much less. Part of what drove me to start flying business was it drastically reduced my fear of flying. I don't know if you can buy business class or premium economy these days, but I strongly recommend it if you can.

s0ssos

You can just take a 1-stop to SFO (UA is still flying there from Tokyo), and then drive the rest of the way to Seattle. Or just get another flight from SFO to SEA once you arrive.
You can also do SIN NRT LAX as well. SQ has released their schedule for May already and I'm pretty sure they'll keep those flights to NRT. And I'm pretty sure NH will keep flying their reduced schedule to California as well. It would be a long layover in NRT though, don't know if that is good or bad for you.

Another possibility is flying into YVR, which is very close to Seattle (maybe even closer than Seatac for you). But I'm not sure what the current situation is for US citizens, they do allow transit but I'm not sure if this is considered transit if you just hop off and drive back to Washington.

747FC

OP: Do you have time to seek treatment before you have to fly?

LondonElite

I'm not entirely convinced you will be permitted to transit in Frankfurt, so you should check with the German embassy in Singapore. I would also take the most direct flight via LAX. The A359 is a fantastic aircraft (not small) and you really don't have anything to be concerned about. Hint: the aircraft does not know it is above water! Good luck!

MSPeconomist

At least on DL in business class, the A350 doesn't seem smaller than the 777.

Normally I like the very long flights because I can enjoy a leisurely dinner and then get a full night's sleep. However, once or twice I was eager for the flight to end because it just seemed too long.

I agree that it's risky to plan to fly through a third country if you can avoid it, so this points to the SQ SIN-LAX nonstop as the best option.

Instead of taking a connecting flight from LAX to SEA (other airlines such as DL fly this route and would interline luggage with SQ if you can get a travel agent to put the flights together in a single ticket/PNR), but my suggestion would be to arrange the trip so that you have something to look forward to. If you enjoy or feel comfortable with driving (a rental car), how about planning to sleep for one night near LAX upon arrival, then pick up a rental car and drive up the coast to Seattle, following mostly the Pacific Coast Highway, taking at least several days and stopping to do some fun things such as walking around Santa Barbara downtown/village, and doing the same for Santa Clara or Big Sur/Carmel/Stanford, drive across the Golden Gate (there probably isn't a lot of traffic in San Francisco now), maybe visit Sausilito village (it should be empty of tourists), look at some big trees near the coast in Sonoma or Mendicino country, and enjoy Oregon's beautiful rocky coast. Flying would be cheaper but doing this would be a lot of fun.....or you could do the much faster interior route, IIRC I-5, to avoid the connecting flight after your long flight.

Polytonic

Does anyone know if Taiwan is allowing transit passengers? OP could fly SIN-TPE-SEA entirely on BR (or SQ onto BR). I agree that going to Germany seems like a mistake, so maybe adding Taiwan in there would be equally awful, but at least it's the right direction, and would be a 5h flight followed by a 10h flight.

Transborder US/Canada flights aren't really a thing right now. Air Canada transborder schedule basically completely scrubbed, so you'd have to connect on AS if you wanted to fly YVR-SEA.

Practically nothing is open right now, at least, in WA anyway, not sure about CA, but from what my friends down there are telling me, it's pretty much the same story everywhere. PCH drive could be fun, but having done it solo, it can be quite exhausting (took me ~3 days to drive from SNA to SEA). I'm not sure I'd want to do that after stepping off an airplane.

s0ssos

Nope, Taiwan extended the ban. No end date set.

FlyingSloth

I don't know why but the worst panic attack I have had on a flight happened on a relatively short flight in business class on SQ. Basically, you would think that everything was perfect with such nice seats on SQ (it was on a 787-10). Maybe there was something going on with me that day mentally. I did have an extremely long stopover at SIN (around 8 hours) and was sitting in the lounge and drinking free espressos at the lounge. Since that time I have quit all caffeine and alcohol. Physically my body is the best it's been in several years. That's also why I worry about a 16 hour flight non-stop, because there is definitely something with fatigue that seems to trigger the panic attacks.

FlyingSloth

Thank you for the suggestion.

I checked into this option. I found there is one flight operating between SIN and NRT. But that flight leaves after midnight, so that would be the part regarding lack of sleep on an airplane that I'm most concerned. Here in Singapore, due to anxiety / panic attacks, I try very hard to keep a regular sleeping schedule (00AM - 8 AM), so no doubt the jetlag will messed up everything I've tried to do to fix my sleep over the past few months. But boarding a flight at 12 midnight, I think would be hard for me. I likely would not be able to get any sleep on the plane, and then I saw the flight from NRT to SFO is at 16:00PM. That is a long time at NRT airport waiting for another longhaul flight. Oh wow.. and looks like the arrival time at SFO is 8AM. Unfortunately, this schedule does not seem to work at all in terms of jetlag.

I looked into YVR.. I've flown into / out of YVR several times over the years, because it's usually the cheapest and shortest option between the Pacific Northwest and Japan (most of my flights to / from Asia have been this route).. that's hard.. because it's a problem with getting to Japan.. the bad schedule for jetlag.. and then I'm not sure whether transit through Canada is viable unfortunately.

MSPeconomist

I understand that most stuff is closed, which is why I didn't suggest museums, Hearst Castle, Muir Woods, other national/state parks, etc. but one can still enjoy the gorgeous scenery and some interesting towns. I was very clear to say not to start on the day of arrival and to allow enough time for the trip.

FlyingSloth

I have been seeking treatment since 2012.. and no doubt it has helped. I have things in my mind that can help with panic attacks. Somehow I've made it this far without killing myself, etc. :-/ But I know that I still worry due to past experiences I've had where a lot of stress or fatigue triggered panic attacks which at the time felt extremely scary. I have tried to prepare a lot of material (videos, audios, ebooks, etc.) for the plane. But these are challenging times with COVID-19. In a better situation, I would not even be returning to the U.S. I am trying to think of things to look forward to.. but as I've stayed in Asia much of my adult life.. there is nobody waiting for me in the U.S. I am really just planning to go back because it seems to be the only option. Thinking back two months, it is amazing how much has changed due to the pandemic.

FlyingSloth

I ended up booking an Airbnb in Seattle, because I have no other home and nowhere to stay. I even booked 14 nights of an Airbnb (extremely expensive), thinking I'm doing the most responsible thing and voluntarily self-quarantining. So I pretty much have a certain date where I need to reach Seattle.

The drive is not a bad idea though. Depending what happens with COVID-19, after the 2 weeks in Seattle, I'm considering trying something different.. like moving to a new city / state that would be cheaper than Seattle. As someone who has no income anymore.. and limited savings.. I'm curious to try something new in the U.S.. possibly Arizona.. Tuscon? I've never been to southern Arizona before.. and I don't know how safe / nice it is to stay there. But deserts would be a chance of pace.. and it seems significantly less expensive than Seattle / Portland, etc. Right now it's just an idea because some COVID-19 forecast models (like the one from University of Washington) show the epidemic in the U.S abating by mid-June.

FlyingSloth

This made me sad when I found out Taiwan's CDC had extended the ban "indefinitely." In March, I was supposed to fly BR from SIN to KIX.. and those plans got cancelled, then I was strongly considering SIN->TPE->SEA it would have been nearly perfect.. but then they extended the transit ban. It's really too bad.