Nervous Need Reassurance

[zac9]

Hi,

I came across this site and have been reading, very interesting & informative.

My issue is that I need to fly to London, family committments my wife needs to attend to. I am very, very nervous.

My wife wants to go by Qantas as she has gone to london with them in 2010 on a 747. She said it was OK.

I dont want to go Qantas. Why, because every 2nd day I hear a bad story, especially relating to engines. I mean, I never hear of other airlines having these issues. The only one was Cathay a few days ago. Qantas seem plagued by problems, often relating to their engines.

A friend suggested Singapore, but I dont know if their pilots are as good as Qantas. To me Qantas have the better pilots but worse planes.

So I was thinking British Airways as I never hear of any dramas with them, not via the news, only by googling. Still, they seem safe.

Next I would be in economy and wonder if its too claustraphobic inside the A380 cabin ?

Now I have only flown once, to Melb from Syd last year in a 737 400 with Qantas. I hated it, no risk. It was very, very cramped and I had a bumpy ride. It was awful.

Any suggestions, advice, warning or help would be really appreciated.

 

[Boris spatsky]

If would suggest flying any of the majors to Europe - QANTAS, Cathay, Singapore, Etihad, Emirates, BA. All trained to an exceptionally high standard with a lot of experience. Pros and cons to all of them but I wouldn't worry about safety. You have more chance of being run over by a bus on the street than being involved in a fatal plane crash on an airline flight to London.

As for QANTAS, the Aussie media has latched onto them and won't let go. Have any of their maintenance issues recently led to a fatality? No. All airlines have these issues, it is just that you don't generally hear about them (not newsworthy in countries other than Aus it seems!)

The flight is a long way. If you are a nervous flyer, then I would suggest breaking the trip up in Bangklok, Singapore, Hong Kong or Dubai on the way over.

Economy is cramped, and you get it for about 24 hours. If you don't like the idea, pay for a business class seat. Much much better, good food and wine, lay flat beds (on most airlines now).

 

[ozmille]

I would say maybe look at a cheap J class if you are getting claustrophobic as being uncomfortable does not help the nervous flyer. There are some good fares on MH I think.
Also the stopover in BKK/SIN/KUL is a good idea to break up the trip.

Best of luck and try to enjoy the ride! Larger planes are much more comfortable.

 

[zac9]

I would say maybe look at a cheap J class if you are getting claustrophobic as being uncomfortable does not help the nervous flyer. .

Not sure what J class is or MH.

Anyway about the media & Qantas, these issues did happen with Qantas & they seem to be very frequently. Others might have some problems but from the media reports, you dont hear of them in anyway near Qantas.

 

[ozmille]

Not sure what J class is or MH.

Anyway about the media & Qantas, these issues did happen with Qantas & they seem to be very frequently. Others might have some problems but from the media reports, you dont hear of them in anyway near Qantas.

This is very region based reporting. I am from Belgium and I read the Belgian press daily and there is not much reporting about Qantas. Instead I read about issues with Brussels Airlines... Also I have noted that the media is very anti Qantas in Australia.

J class is business class. Fly - Travel Classes - International Business

MH is the airline code for Malaysia Airlines

I can honestly say that I have never felt unsafe on a QF flight.

 

[zac9]

I can honestly say that I have never felt unsafe on a QF flight.

Thanks, thats reassuring. I think that Qantas has great pilots but I just think the planes they have are not good or the maintenance is poor. There must be some reason that these engines keep having problems. I think many people feel the same about Qantas. Their brand is being tarnished so often.

 

[trooper]

I am far from a QANTAS (QF) fan.. I choose to fly long haul with NZ..

HOWEVER.. I wouldn't hesitate to fly them if safety was the main criteria... as already mentioned they just get unfair treatment from the Aussie media.

A minor problem that (rightly) has the (appropriately cautious) pilots returning to the departure airport or otherwise diverting is turned into a near disaster by the Australian media...

I don't get it.. I really don't. You are hearing about QF rather than other airlines more due to media preference than actual occurences IMO......

Given you experience on the 737 I would also have to recommend you try for something other than normal Economy for the trip...

Some good suggestions have already been made... and perhaps Premium economy is worth a look?

 

[williamsf1]

if you want a ballanced view of avaition issues read a site like avherald.com ...... may be not such a good idea if you are a nervous flyer...... but you will see that it is not only Qantas that has " issues"

 

[Awesom Andy]

Any of the big names are fine, really. It's a bit like a car, I guess. Most days, it's fine, but sometimes, it does break down. All pilots with reputable airlines are trained and regularly retrained for such incidents.

 

[TheInsider]

Fly QF!
Someone on here may be on your flight and then they may be able to get you into the QP!

 

[elbarto]

You only hear about the issues qantas has because the media reports on them. All airlines suffer reliability issues. Aircraft suffer break downs just like your car does. The modern aircraft has multiple redundancies to get it out of precarious situations, something your car doesn't. And don't forget that statistically you're safer in an aircraft than you are when you're in your car.

 

[Justinf]

Just go!
You have more chance of being killed in a car accident on the way to the airport. There are so many rogue truck drivers out there that could ram you in a car and kill you in an instant.
If you are that nervous, my suggestion is visit your GP and get him/her to prescribe some medication that can take the edge of those panic attacks. Valium works well, but is only a short-term fix. You need to addresss the issue long-term eventually.
Have fun!
An adventure in the air means you are going somewhere exciting. I would trade you places anytime.
Qantas is fine.
The media cough is just that...cough! Selective reporting.
I have no hestitation flying Qantas and Ihope you don't either.
Enjoy your trip! There's a big wide world to explore and you are going to start exploring it. Enjoy it.

 

[KLN]

there is an anti-nuseau medication..........the name escapes me.......but it is used for people having chemotherapy. it's like a pill but dissolves on your tongue, basically knocks you out a little bit. prescribed from doctor gp. i get it for my daughter who suffers terrible travel sickness,......even in business class. it will just relax you enough. mix it with alcohol and would probably be better. she's only 15 so haven't tried the alcohol part yet. but definetly try business class and lie down and sleep most of the way.

 

[tuppaware]

Just go!
You have more chance of being killed in a car accident on the way to the airport. There are so many rogue truck drivers out there that could ram you in a car and kill you in an instant.
.

Always good to take a light hearted approach to these things .. And leave it to the Onion to do this-

142 Plane Crash Victims Were Statistically More Likely To Have Died In A Car Crash | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

 

[JohnPhelan]

I can certainly appreciate that you and your wife might feel nervous, given all that we hear about Qantas. But there is no major airline in the world with a better safety record.

It is true that, in Australia, we hear a lot about minor things with Qantas, like an engine being shut down because it's running a bit roughly, or a Qantas plane diverting to another city because the pilots were concerned about an issue. We hear these things for two reasons:

1. Qantas is Australian, so everything that happens to it gets reported in the Australian media. In the UK, every minor little thing that happens to British Airways gets reported; in the US, anything that happens on United, or American, or Delta, gets coverage. It's simply a fact of media life that each country's media reports on its own airlines much more than it does on airlines from other countries, no matter where an incident actually occurs.

2. There is such a strong safety culture at Qantas that a Qantas pilot will generally turn back, or shut down an engine, or divert, if there is the slightest problem with anything. Pilots from many other airlines are likely to keep flying if they have a problem that they think is minor; Qantas pilots are more likely to land. And Qantas gives its pilots this freedom; some other airlines are much more restrictive and pilots have to seek permission from their head office to do things (there's a very unfortunate example of this with Alaska Airlines in the US some years ago; the pilot wanted to land, but his company told him to keep going - the aircraft crashed).

I agree with the suggestions that people have made that perhaps you could break the journey with a stay of one or two nights in a place like Bangkok or Singapore or Hong Kong. Taking a sleeping tablet when on board can be useful; there's also a herbal remedy called Trava-calm (not sure if that spelling's right) which may help.

As to which aircraft to fly on - any large aircraft, like a Boeing 747 or Airbus A380 will give you a much smoother ride than smaller aircraft like the 737. Then it comes down to individual preference; my preference is the 747 because of its track record. I believe it to be the safest, strongest aircraft in the skies. But others will prefer the A380, or the A330, or B777, or something else.

There really is no need to worry - when you get out of the taxi at the airport, ready to check-in, you've already survived the most risky part of your journey!

 

[mannej]

Hi Zac,

I think many people do become anxious before flying for a number of reasons.

Yes you have heard about Qantas in the media a lot lately, however there is no balance. There are a lot of incidents that happen daily, and it would take up the whole news period if you reported them all.
Take for example, Malaysia Airlines had a rejected take off out of Perth sometime during April, yet you heard nothing about this. A couple of days later a Qantas plane had the same problem and it makes the news.
I do not think that the Qantas planes are poor as such, but may have or may not have had a bad run lately.

As for the space issue, the only real thing I can offer is go in a premium cabin if you can, otherwise try and enjoy your flight

 

[Alanslegal]

Zac9 ... If you think Qantas have great pilots but poor planes ... then I am not going to persuade you otherwise* so fly someone else. Furthermore your wife said her Qantas experience in 2010 was only "OK" so again there is another reason to fly (try) someone else!

Secondly I'd recommend flying Singapore Airlines and booking onto an A380. Not only are their planes nice and new, the pilots are well trained, and on board service (in my experience) is always one of the best! Once you book onto Singapore Airlines, I recommending allocating a seat on the upper deck where the cabin has only 84 economy seats compared to economy downstairs which has 301 seats. The sense of space is increased upstairs. And if you pay for an exit row you will get no seats in front of you and thus be able to stand up when you want and without any interference from the person next to you. That's a big bonus.

Here's a seat map to give you an idea:

SeatGuru Seat Map Singapore Airlines Airbus A380-800 (388)

Thirdly, maybe you could have a stop over in Singapore, that way you break up the long trip and have a few days to explore Singapore. You did say that you haven't flown international before, so visiting Singapore is great where everywhere is safe, it's clean, modern and have cheap and efficient public transportation. Also the main language in Singapore is english, so you can get around everywhere without a worry. If you stop in say Bangkok, Dubai, Hong Kong etc and as much as I enjoy those cities .... you could get a bit stuck at times with language barriers as english is not as common, and that could increase your anxiousness and worries.

* Qantas is in my "Not Like List" right now so I am not going to say anything positive about them and encourage others to avoid them.

 

[gumpy]

I use to be a nervous flyer... the way i got over it is as follows:

1. there are a lot of people on the plane.
2. if we all die people more important than me will die.

Then it made me feel better... I don't know why but i'm sure some psyche person can explain why it comforts me...

Probably the fact that it's not only affect me but everyone else also...

 

[Sprucegoose]

QF have the superior record. I fly my family on QF, say no more.

All other comments on this thread are valid.

 

[coyote25]

QF have the superior record. I fly my family on QF, say no more.

All other comments on this thread are valid.

Totally agree. Most of the stories are stories because QF takes this seriously and turns back - this gets reported as bad I see it as good. I'd rather arrive late then have an early funeral.

That said all the major airlines you mentioned are hugely safe.

I'm much more worried about short haul trips were the plane lands/takes off 10+ times in a day. Some South American trips at very interesting times.


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