Flying in rain!

[TexasErin]

and maybe even in some thunderstorms! I HATE FLYING! And now to make things worse for me, the weather won't be great.

We leave today flying from Dallas to LAX. Pleas reassure me that everything will be okay!

I'll have some Alprolazam (sp?), magazines, and a couple of Shrek movies on my iPad. Our flight is at 7:15 tonight.

 

[magicaldisney]

If it's bad enough they won't take off. People drive cars all the time in thunderstorms, just think of it that way. You probably won't even notice a difference. The biggest problem will be delays. You're going on vacation! Enjoy!

 

[supersnoop]

Ground crew won't work if there's lightning in the area, so you might be delayed. But taking off and landing during a storm? It might be a little bumpy until you gain some altitude. The weather is always beautiful if you fly high enough.

 

[xnascar2x]

If the storms are bad, they will generally try to fly around the storm instead of going through it.

 

[nacho113]

Take off and landing may have a few extra bumps but once you hit cruising altitude (35,000-40,000 ft) you will be well above any rain or thunderstorm activity. If it's extremely severe (hurricanes/tornadoes) they may change the flight path to go around the cloud formations which can spread above 50,000 feet in these severe storms. This may add some extra time to your flight but usually not more than a few minutes.

 

[dis_guy]

Texas has had a lot of weather lately. I was checking on a flight to Houston yesterday and it was delayed 4 h. As previous posters said, they won't go if it's not safe and once on your way there lots of ways to avoid the worst of it.

 

[BadPinkTink]

if weather at your departing airport is bad or weather at your landing airport is bad, like PP have said expect delays and it may be a bit bumpy. I have flown all over Europe and USA and in all sorts of weather.

In bumpy flying I have 2 tricks
1. Watch the flight crew. Flying is their job so they know how to deal with turbulence. Most of the time, they just continue with the in flight service. If it is bumpy but the flight crew are still serving drinks, watching them will calm you down and give you something to focus on.

2. In bumpy flights, I just image that the plane is actually a train and the bumpiness is the train changing tracks.

 

[DaretoDis]

To the OP: Just to be safe, could I fax you a dollar to put in the insurance machine?

 

[CheshireSteve]

Seeing as OP's flight is already over, this advice may be tardy but I once spoke with a commercial pilot about turbulence and he mentioned that when the air gets choppy, it may feel as if you are really moving around, but even in most severe turbulence you are actually only moving 10-20 feet side to side or up and down. That always helped me out when I was spooked by bumpy rides.