Anxiety Attacks, Insufferable Experiences, versus Fear of Flying....

[hlthe2b]

I need to rant a bit. Here are MY concerns:

I'm not afraid to fly out of any real or imagined risks from terrorism. I don't believe 90% of what has been reported, and the remaining, very real risk-- is a roll of the dice with long odds anyway. What will be, will be. I can be pragmatic about it and I am no casual traveler. I used to travel worldwide for work. I was a "warrier" of the old red-eye late night coast-to-coast flights, that were worth the jet lag, only for the sake of being less crowded. (Sadly, I note that these seem to have disappeared or are so limited now that they are just as crowded as the rest). Flying was often inconvienent but not routinely miserable, if you don't count all the flight-induced respiratory infections or the occasional insufferable fellow passengers.

HOWEVER. I've been thinking, given today's bizarre overreaction over a woman's anxiety attack (still don't know the facts), how very unpleasant flying has become since 911. Think about it: the snarly security officers, often embarrassing subjection of humiliated large-breasted women to "overly touchy" inspections (whose tears once brought me and several other spectators to anger and tears as well), last minute requirements to ditch those minimal belongings that make a flight survivable (drinking water, snack, mini-sized toiletries sufficient for 24 hours in the event ones checked baggage is lost, etc., etc), crowded and ever more often delayed flights, decreasing air exchange rates in an effort to save fuel--that further diminish air quality on the plane-- and the not-infrequent incidents of planes being stuck on tarmacs for hours with passengers not allowed to get off, to move around, or to receive beverage service (FCC regs, we are told). Perhaps the last straw, for me, were the two Chicago events where the passengers roasted in their metal tube "oven," with no AC-- which either failed (umm humm :eyes:) or was turned off to save fuel (far more likely). I don't (normally, anyway) suffer from claustrophobia or overt panic attacks, but I admit to feeling freaked out at the thought of being held against my will in 100 degree suffocating temps on a crowded plane, with no water, no airflow, no AC for a long (and unknown) period of time,-- subject to criminal charges if I refuse to remain seated in my increasingly miserable circumstances. THIS is what I fear....


My concern is that it will be ME that succumbs to a panic attack (and ends up the subject of Faux news' latest terror threat). :shrug: ANYONE else?

[Gormy Cuss]

1. Quite frankly, I fear that I would 'go postal'

because my 'fight or flight' mechanism (no pun intended) would be in overdrive.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. I agree. I was flying 42 weeks a year, just a few years ago. I had no

tolerance for delays at the 'gates' or sitting on the tarmac waiting for another plane to leave the gate. I was doing my traveling circus from a small airport, so always had to change planes at some 'hub' to get to where I was going. In the last year, 2000, I twice rented cars and drove home. Once was from DFW and once from St. Louis, and beat the 'next flight' there. Most times I got home late on a Friday night, only to have to fly out again early on Sunday. I got so I hated it and gave up my 'dream job' after two years.

I doubt I wouldn't come unhinged today.

[warrens]

3. I used to travel about 50 percent of the time

About a third of that was international. I now travel as little as possible. I like where I live and I like being home. I'm a total burnout and deliberately fly at weird hours to get a row to myself and just be left alone.