

Can a fear of flying be cured in a day?
If you’re wondering, “how can I cure my flying phobia?” you’re not alone. Up to 40% of people share the fear—could a one-day course be the answer? Our writer finds out
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As my plane descends over London on a Saturday evening in spring, the city could hardly look more beautiful: A golden sunset fills the cloudless sky, picking out world-famous landmarks along the Thames.
However, on board, this is lost on the passengers, who are in a state of what can only be described as “extreme euphoria.” The mood is somewhere between a bachelor party and the bit in Jaws when the shark turns up at Amity Beach.
Because my fellow passengers on this strange flight—one that takes off and lands from the same destination, lasts only 40 minutes, and requires a boarding pass stamped “FICTITIOUS POINT UTC”—aren’t normal travelers. These are some of the most nervous flyers on earth. And they have just made a serious move towards conquering their greatest fear.

This is British Airways’ Flying With Confidence course, and I’ve joined it because I too have aviophobia—a fear of flying. One of a tiny handful of similar programs worldwide, BA’s is regarded as the gold standard in helping people not just to get on a plane, but as course advisor Bob Atkinson puts it, to “embrace it, enjoy it.” And there’s certainly demand: As many as 40% of people have difficulties with flying.
Turbulence is uncomfortable—not dangerous
I’ve long included myself in this group. Largely, I’ve managed to force myself through journeys, but sometimes it gets the better of me. I should extend an apology to fellow passengers on a 2020 flight from London to Barcelona that I spent sweating profusely and talking incessantly.
Checking in: Starting my fear of flying course
At 8 a.m. I’m in the conference suite of one of Heathrow’s airport hotels, with an early morning coffee and a name badge. Nothing obvious triggered my fear of flying, and I quickly realize after meeting Atkinson that this is common. He explains how the experience of modern travel often triggers feelings of a loss of control: From the moment of arrival at an airport you’re in a “parent-child relationship,” as he puts it, operating to someone else’s schedule, with little choice in anything.
Five tips for conquering a fear of flying
Take control
Don’t just accept fear of flying as a fact. As well as the BA course there are shorter online options like EasyJet’s Fearless Flyer, and Air France’s VR-based D Stress Aero course. Self-taught breathing exercises and mindfulness will also help throughout your flight, with meditation app Headspace available in-flight with 11 airlines.
Take your time
Airports can be stressful environments. Reduce this pressure by arriving extra early for your flight, carrying minimal baggage, and having your paperwork close to hand so you don’t have to rush for the gate.
Upgrade if you can
Being around other nervous people generates a lot of ambient stress. If you can, gain access to a lounge pre-flight and upgrade to premium economy. More space, fewer people, less noise and a more relaxed environment can help enormously. Failing that, many airports now provide prayer/meditation rooms, sensory areas or quiet spaces (Pittsburgh’s is fully soundproofed).
Be forewarned
Knowing roughly when turbulence is expected can normalize it. Shortly before take-off, check your flight path on the Turbli site, which gives a turbulence forecast for your route.
Don’t suffer in silence
Let your cabin crew know on boarding that you’re an unusually nervous flyer. They can not only keep an eye on you, but answer any questions you’ve got during the flight.
The day-long course works to reframe this loss of control, as you gain the knowledge that the people and machines that you’re surrendering to are, statistically, phenomenally safe.
Clearing security: Overcoming flight safety fears
As the morning session kicks off under the guidance of Steve Allright, a pilot with 30 years’ experience, key themes emerge: that air travel is perhaps the most regulated of all industries; and an almost inconceivable volume of flights criss-cross the world disaster-free. And just how routine the actual process of flight is: the physics that keep planes aloft (and can do so safely for an hour with no engines), the forces that allow them to take off, and how much junk science we’ve all absorbed (“air pockets,” for example, aren’t a real thing).
Talking to some of the 120 fellow aviophobics here today, I also realize how relatively mild my own case is. One huge, bearded young man with a fearsome array of neck tattoos tells me how he recently had such an intense panic attack before a short flight to Switzerland from London that he bolted from the plane shortly before take-off. An Italian mother shares how her terror of transatlantic flights had led her to lie to her children. “I keep telling them that we can’t go to America because they’re too young, but the truth is it’s me: I’m petrified.”

The real cost for everyone I spoke to wasn’t just short-term fear or anxiety, as bad as that can be—it was missed opportunities and forgone experiences. Not going on holidays with friends, being unable to visit grandchildren living abroad, drifting apart from relatives they’d left back home. And all of them wanted to change that, to unlock the experiences they’d missed out on for so long.
The morning session concludes with a long module on turbulence—for me, the most common trigger of anxiety. The mantra is that “Turbulence is uncomfortable, but not dangerous,” and the course successfully reframes it as a simple matter of air pressure and weather patterns, roughly akin to driving over a bumpy stretch of road.
Preparing for take-off: Techniques to help with a fear of flying
The afternoon session is led by psychotherapist Kerri Newns and focuses on coping techniques, such as breathing exercises used by U.S. special forces, and basic cognitive behavioral therapy, plus detailed information on what your brain is actually doing when you panic. “The one tool you have, 24/7, is you,” she tells us.
With that, we break into small groups and move towards the flight that will conclude our day. For some in our group, this will be the first time that they have ever set foot in an airport, and the stress is palpable. One man turns back at this point (the average completion rate for making it to the flight is around 96%).
We clear customs smoothly, phantom boarding passes in hand, then embark and hear the familiar voice of Allright over the intercom. Unlike a normal flight, he talks through every noise you hear during the journey, demystifying the process: That mechanical noise that sounds like a barking dog is the hydraulic Power Transfer Unit (PTU); the slight feeling of “drop” as the plane climbs is just a standard correction of trajectory; a flickering of the lights or screens before take-off is a blip as the plane’s electrical supply switches from the ground supply to its own battery. The sheer normality of flying is underlined.

The perfect landing: Facing our fears, and winning
Of course, for this group of flyers, this day is anything but normal. As we hit the runway at Heathrow in a smooth landing, cheering and applause breaks out. It’s genuinely moving. People embrace each other, thank the pilots who sat with them, and glow with pride.
On the way off the plane I speak to the young man who’d run from the Swiss flight and ask him how he was. “Oh, it was terrible, I was in a really bad way,” he says, his face still puffy from crying. “But I did it. And I’m really proud of myself. I’m not cured, but I’m getting there.” He pulls me into a bear hug, and we disembark together.
A smooth onward journey: Did the course cure my fear of flying?
After clearing customs, I sit in Terminal 5 for a while with a coffee. Every 45 seconds or so, a plane takes off or lands in my field of vision, the sun setting as planes deliver and dispatch thousands of people to all corners of the globe: on vacations and business trips, to unforgettable family reunions, and to new lives. In the near future, some of the people I have spent the day with are going to be on those planes. Not just having conquered a fear, but having opened up entirely new possibilities for themselves. For all 120 of us, the world just got an awful lot bigger.
BA’s Flying With Confidence course takes place monthly, with additional courses for smaller groups and individuals also offered.

Justin Quirk
Writer
Justin Quirk is Associate Creative Director of Editorial at Expedia Group, as well as a writer and editor who has worked for titles including The Sunday Times, The Guardian and Esquire covering music, design, and current affairs. He is also the author of Nothin’ But a Good Time, an acclaimed cultural history of 1980s heavy metal.
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