Worried about our flight, any suggestions?

[donald@home]

I know this advice is coming a little late to help on this trip, but maybe it will help on a future flight. I too used to be a very anxious flyer. It was getting worse and worse and I knew I had to do something when we booked a trip from Boston to Paris (to visit Disneyland Paris). I bought the book "Flying without Fear" by (I think?) Dr. Something-or-other Brown. I read half of the book on the way to Paris, put the book down and haven't been afraid of flying since. On the way home from Paris the captain announced we were in for some major turbulance, and I was surprised to realize that I was actually looking forward to it! I had never experienced MAJOR turbulance before, how fun! I take the book on all of my flights and read a chapter or two if I need a "booster shot".

I have recomended this book to many people. It is available on Amazon if you are interested.

I used to take Dramamine to help with my anxiety because it made me VERY sleepy, and I figured if there was ever a problem with the plane I would be too drowzy to care. But I realized if there ever WAS a problem with the plane, I should be as alert as possible to deal with the emergency.

 

[dandelion]

This may be too late for the original poster too, but she never mentioned how old her children were. If they are very young I KNOW the airline will do everything possible to keep them together. And if the airline doesn't the other passengers will.

When flying out of MCO last fall, they had a overbooking problem on our return flight. My dh's friend, a paraplegic, and two other wheelchair bound folks were part of the passenger list. Lots of folks milling around the gate, looking angry. Suddenly my DD (then barely 4) was paged. I carried her up and said "this is Maddy, did you need her for something." The agent rolled her eyes and said "I don't suppose Maddy could give up her seat ..." Um, no.

Meanwhile dh's paraplegic friend was saying "oh no, did I bump Maddy?" I guess there are only certain seats which can accomodate the wheelchair bound. But it wasn't Dan, it was this other family with THREE small kids who all wanted to be together and were trying to get Maddy moved for some reason.

Things were still a madhouse when we got on the plane, I know at least two people agreed to being bumped. Somehow it worked out that dh, Maddy and I were all together AND across the aisle from dh's friend. The flight attendant said she gave up figuring out who was where, as long as everyone was happy and safe.

So, no matter what your seat assignments are, things generally work out ok.