Travelling with someone with a phobia of flying

If your like me and love to travel then planning a trip with a significant other who suffers with aviophobia (fear of flying) can be difficult.

Aviophobia affects around 7% of people although up to 25% can feel anxious when flying say the US National Institute of Mental Health.

There are quite a lot of things you can do to help overcome the fear or you can work with it. The options are really down to the person and what they’re open to.

  1. You can go to your doctor and get some anti anxiety medication to help you calm down before and during your flight. This is an option that most people choose.
  2. You can try hypnotherapy and see if it helps you overcome your fears, you may need to go for a few sessions to have the best results.
  3. You can get on a plane and hold on for dear life to the arm rail and maybe have a few drinks while on board.  This is an option I wouldn’t recommend, but I would suggest maybe taking short flights maybe 2-3 hours long then build up your confidence and good flying experiences before travelling to the other side of the world.
  4. You can avoid flying and plan a staycation and travel by train or car to somewhere in your country.
  5. You can stop flying and use alternative methods to get to your destination.

The last two options are the ones that has worked for us.  I don’t have a fear of flying, it’s actually one of the bits I love most about travelling. However it means that I often travel without my boyfriend.

We are very lucky that we live in the UK as we have a few travel options available to us with Europe nearby. Last summer we travelled by train via Eurostar to the south of France  Click Here to find out what to do in Marseille.

This summer we are planning a few staycations and visiting parts of the UK that we’ve never been to.  I don’t know about you but there are loads of places I have never been to in the UK.  I hope to travel to the coast and go to northern England.

I’m also hoping that we will go on a cruise but with so many destinations to choose from I’m sure where we will end up.

I decided to ask my significant other a bit more about his flying fear to understands more about it.

Flying at

Q: Have you always had a fear?

A: Yes, as long as I can remember.

Q: Have you had any bad experiences flying? 

A: Yes, I was returning on my own from Trinidad, when just after takeoff, we were told to say in our seats as there was a technical problem and that the plane was turning back to land.  The plane made a forced landing in Barbados as the airport was closer.  It turned out that there was a problem with the de-icing mechanism on the wing so it was definitely the right thing to do.

Q: What happened next?

A: We landed safely and then we were told that we would be getting a different plane home, we stayed in Barbados for two days and one night, but when is was time to return I realised that we were travelling back on the same plane.

Q: How did you know it was the same plane?

A: We had the same seat numbers and I noticed the seat in front of me had the same mark as the previous plane.

Q: How was your journey home?

A: It was fine, but your flying over the ocean, so you just hope the plane is going to be ok.

Q: Have you taken a flight since?

A: No, it made flying worse.

Q: Do you think you will take a flight again?

A: Yes, I want to overcome my fear as the chance of anything like that happening again is unlikely.

Q: If you could travel anywhere, but didn’t need to fly to get there, where would you like to go?

A: Honolulu, Hawaii.

While I understand that some people have a fear that something might go wrong, it is unlikely to happen and if it does happen like in my boyfriends instance it’s not likely to happen twice.

“statistically the chances of being in a plane crash is 1 in 11 million, your more likely to be attacked by a shark” say Elite Daily.

His experience has changed from an irrational fear to a more rational fear. Its something that I think you need to respect, while I don’t necessarily understand the exact fear because I actually love flying, I do have my own fears that are irrational so that’s where I can be empathetic.

Do you or a family member have a fear of flying and how do you overcome it when travelling? Let me know and leave a comment below.

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