30 Heartwarming Pics Of People Overcoming Flight Anxiety

My grandma is 101 and recently fell and broke her hip and then got shingles, so I knew it was time to fly out and see her. I am so happy I did and would have regretted it forever more if I didn’t get on the plane.

Flew from Lihue, Kauai to Seattle the other day, and I was totally amazed that the pilot came out and not only spoke to us in first class, but walked down the entire plane to speak with all passengers on the flight!
He cracked a few jokes, talked about our ride into Seattle, and if we needed anything to let his FA’s know.
I do not love flying, often get pretty nervous about turbulence and flying over the ocean for hours on end, but this gesture from this pilot made me feel SO much more at ease, safe, and comfortable on the flight knowing him and his team were in control.
I will never forget this! And I hope more pilots do the same thing. It truly puts passengers at ease. Just wanted to share!!

Whenever I’m nervous, I look at flight radar. This screenshot isn’t even every flight visible, because there’s so many my phone glitches out lol. But when I’m scared, sometimes I click on random planes, see the type of plane, airline, and how far they are to their destination. It makes me feel so much better seeing everyone else going about their lives and knowing I can do the same.
It might feel scary actually doing the thing, but you’re just one person in a sea of people in the exact same situation as you.

So I’m the queen of handing out but not taking my own advice. I’m nearly landing from a 9 hour flight back to London. It is a red eye so I was super tired and cranky in the build up. As we are waiting to board the plane I had a full blown incredibly embarrassing panic attack. I literally had to crouch on the floor in the queue with my head on my knees and try to breath. But I couldn’t stop crying and hyperventilating for a good 15 minutes. There were tons of people around me but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. And all my knowledge and practice around panicking went out the window.
But somehow I still got on the plane. I paid a small amount to be bumped up a class. Didn’t make eye contact with anyone as I was mortified. Even more surprisingly I fell asleep and woke up to a sweet note someone had left me on a napkin.
Now I don’t even feel scared about landing. This sounds terrible but I’m so emotionally exhausted I just feel like well…we are coming down one way or another. 😂
Last photo is my final sunset in Florida.

I can not express the gratitude I can offer to you guys. After years of wanting to go but was far to afraid I made it to Japan. This has been a long journey both mentally and physically (13 hours) but I'm here and enjoying every minute!

I saw another post and wanted to copy this idea because I found it very inspiring! A weekend in London was well worth it!

I made it to Guam from Frankfurt through Tokyo with Japan airlines! I was pretty anxious and was not able to watch any movies at all during both flights, but I managed to sleep a little on the way to Tokyo. My least favorite parts are definitely take off and landing. I managed to cope through turbulences by picturing the airplane in a block of jello analogy, that helped a lot. First I felt pretty ridiculous being so scared of something so trivial but decided to tell the crews about my nervousness. I am happy I did because they were all super sweet. They checked on me regularly, brought me water after bumpy events and even candy for take off. It definitely made me feel better. Also knowing that if they had time to check on me it meant nothing terrible was happening with the aircraft. Right before landing on Guam, one FA gave me this super sweet card. I did a lot of box breathing and silently repeated in my head like a mantra, that the FA and pilots do this every day as their job, so it can't possibly be that dangerous! I am happy to finally be on solid ground and will enjoy my 3 weeks here before doing it all over again to go back home...

Norway has been the top of my bucket list for as long as I can remember, and I finally made it! An 8.5 hour flight to Oslo and 2 hour flight to Tromso, and I’m not 100% anxiety-free, but it was so worth it!

This is what the pilot gave to a FA to bring to me when things started getting bumpy. This captain and his copilot’s boss is about to get a very long letter about how awesome his employees are. I will be keeping this for the rest of my life lol.

I took 5 flights in total for this trip, and it was well worth it. I want to thank everyone in this subreddit who helped me through the stress of flying. Don’t let your fear control you! If anyone needs support, don’t hesitate to reach out to me!

My 20 year old on a flight alone from Boston - San Diego. This is the conversation.
No…I did not track her flight. I just got the notification when she landed. Yeah, she’s a pilots daughter…yeah, she’s been flying her whole life. When she was young, she was afraid of turbulence too. So we talked about it, much like I talk to y’all…I share the good and the bad with her, and I’m proud of this reaction as a 20 year old flying alone.

Recently traveled from the US to Germany (and back). Traveling back home, I let one of the flight attendants know I was a bit of a nervous flyer. He was EXTREMELY kind, showed me the cockpit, gave me a stuffed animal and an insane amount of snacks and sweet treats, let me change my seat to sit closer to him, checked on me frequently, and pretty much spoiled me throughout the entire flight. I’ve had so many great experiences speaking to flight attendants about my anxiety, they’re usually super helpful and I definitely recommend talking to them!

Greetings to my amazing fear of flying community! I’m currently at the gate waiting to board my 10 hour flight from JFK to Athens for my honeymoon. I’m feeling relatively calm (thanks to medication) but I always have a horrific panic attack when I board and there’s still time to get off. There’s no turning back, because I only have so many meds and I can’t miss my own honeymoon! But I’d love some words of encouragement! And if anyone is able to track me once we’re in the air (we should have wifi). Flight is DL212. Thank you in advance!!

Detroit to Cancun.

You heard that right! I have been cancelling flights for 15 years. I was able to get on a flight with a family member a few years ago, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I could fly alone. EVER.

I took a red eye flight, the WiFi on the plane didn’t work and the screen in front of me was frozen. I couldn’t contact my family, which in my mind was worst case scenario (would they have really picked up at 3 AM, though? I think not!). I did have a little bit of anxiety, but looking around at all of the other passengers and realizing I’m not alone - I am absolutely not the only nervous flyer on the plane, really helped. 6 hours in the air and we landed before I knew it!

If I did it, you can too! The book Flying with Confidence really helped me learn what all the sounds were, how airplanes work, etc., watching YouTube videos of pilots, and of course this amazing community would be my suggestion for those of you that have flights coming up.

SWA 4028 if anyone wants to track it. -not as nervous as i was on the flight here but a still a touch nervous.
so i finally got the courage to ask to meet the pilots and see inside of the cockpit. its a 737-700 and oh my god its so amazing. and the captain and first offcer were super nice. the captain has been flying for 37 years and the first officer for 25.
so to all those wanting to see and talk with the pilots dont be afraid to ask! they helped calm down my nerves and im actually excited for this flight.
i hope everyone reading this has a safe flight where ever youre headed.

It’s been a year since I flew alone for the first time and was reminded of a lovely experience I had with an older woman I was seated with.
On the day of my travels, we experienced more turbulence than I was used to due to some bad weather in the area where our connection airport was. I don’t do a good job of hiding my anxiety, and at every little “drop” sensation I was grabbing my seat and closing my eyes, trying not to cry.
The older lady next to me noticed and immediately checked on me and gave me reassurance that it’s okay and normal. She knew exactly how to make small talk with me and actually distract me almost completely. We talked about our travel plans, her life, she told me about her happy marriage, her children, so much info I was happy to learn.
When she found out I’d have to stay a while at the connecting airport overnight, she offered to give me money to buy myself dinner. I politely declined, but it made me feel so cared for. She also gave me candy from her purse and told me that if I needed to hold her hand during any moment I felt scared, to do so. So I did, and every time I got nervous and instinctively held her hand, she would rub my shoulder. She told me “I’ve been on many flights, trust me, if I’m not freaking out, you have nothing to worry about”
She also called the flight attendant and the attendant was just as reassuring.
Once we landed, I found her and her husband at the terminal and gave her a big hug and thanking her for being so good to me. And then I left.
I’ll always remember how compassionate she was and every time I look back on this memory it gives me more courage to fly. Also, enjoy a pretty sunset picture of one of the connection airports I stopped in.

y’all, i am nearly 25 years old and avoided flying my whole life. i went on an airplane to japan a couple of weeks ago and it was my first time ever, so i was terrified!!! now i can say- i will definitely fly again! i ended up on 5 flights total (2 on the way back, 3 on the way home!) one of the flights was a little spooky and rough, but we landed safely! coming home was especially scary for me because the AI incident happened a few days prior but this subreddit helped me more than i can express. when i was feeling nervous i would just go through things in my head like how many flights take off and land safely a day and “the pilot wants to go home too” and it helped alleviate some of my anxiety and made the flights bearable. so glad i’m not letting my fear of flying hold me back anymore! time to plan my next trip! here’s some of what i would have missed! :)

I am 30 years old, and I have never flown. I have been having panic attacks since I was preverbal. I am terrified of heights and agoraphobic. I travel often by train—it’s long and inconvenient and restricted to North America, obviously. Well, today I missed my 19-hour train from NYC back home by FOUR MINUTES. I made the decision to just. . . do this. I feel like the only way I will ever get this first experience over with is to just plow through without overthinking it, so that’s what I’m doing. I didn’t tell anyone but my mom because I want to wait until I land to announce it. My therapist and best friends won’t believe it!! Send happy thoughts or anything I should know! I have a window seat in the last row!

Successful flight! Landing was a little Hectic because the pilot made all sort of crazy turns and banks, but otherwise good.

So last about a month ago, I took my first flight ever. I flew with Delta and it was an amazing experience! As a larger person, I was always afraid of flying and thought I was too big and there was no way I could do it. I’m excited for my next flight ❤️

pictured: note from an incredibly kind flight leader today who knew I was nervous.
not pictured:

• last month’s FA that gave me her eye mask thinking it would help my anxiety
• December’s pilots that took time to answer my questions during boarding and cheered for me at the end of the flight
• an off-duty pilot 2021 who CHANGED HIS SEAT on our flight to sit next to me and talk me through turbulence.

Hi everyone,
I just wanted to say thank you to this amazing group. This morning I successfully landed after a 2 hour and 45-minute flight within Europe.
Despite my last post and all the helpful advice I received, I was extremely anxious in the days leading up to the trip. I barely slept for two nights. At the airport, I seriously considered not boarding the plane at all.
But something changed the moment the aircraft door closed behind me and I took my seat. The panic didn’t disappear entirely, but I’d say about 95% of it just… eased off. It was still there, humming quietly in the background, but I could breathe again.
The flight itself was turbulent the entire way – nothing extreme, but the seatbelt sign stayed on from takeoff to landing. And despite that, I even managed to take a photo during the flight, which is something I never thought I’d be brave enough to do. I honestly thought I’d keep my eyes shut the whole time.
Right now I’m sitting here sipping a beer, feeling proud, grateful, and honestly a little emotional.
To everyone in this community: thank you. Your words, your support, your shared stories – they help more than you know. Today I realized it wasn’t just the fear of flying I had to overcome… it was me I had to overcome.
(Although, I will admit: seeing that news about the Air India incident flight did not help to wait the flight back home. If I’d read it earlier, I might not have boarded …)
Anyway – good luck to everyone who has a flight coming up! Maybe, just maybe, the fear will fade once your body is actually there

Hello all, like the title says today was my first time flying in 4 years. After numerous trips I didn’t go on (cause I was scared, but I’m not anymore :)) I had a flight today to Nashville, TN. Very short flight it was only an hour. Heart started to race during boarding, even when I was walking to my seat I thought about turning back but I said nope I’m gonna do this.
I just want to thank this subreddit, you guys are awesome! To that person that’s next, YOU CAN DO IT! YOUR ANXIETY IS LYING TO YOU! GET ON THAT MF PLANEEEEEEE 🕺🕺

I know these are trying times for all who experience Fear of flying. But I just wanted to share my experience flying to Chile and cruising to Antarctica. First flight was 8 hours to Santiago Chile. Second flight was 3 hours to Punta Arenas Chile. And the last flight was 45 minutes to Puerto Williams Chile. In the last flight we did have to do a go around due to birds but I didn’t panic because of my past experiences with go arounds. It was all worth once we were in Antarctica and saw all the beautiful scenery and animals. I recommend if you have the opportunity to travel to Antarctica do it! After Antarctica we stopped in Santiago Chile and brought in the New Year. I am so thankful to have these opportunities and I wouldn’t be able to do it if I let this fear control me. So we still have to keep getting on these planes and experience this world. 🌎

Hi everyone,
Just wanted to share some positives today. I am someone who has flown (very occasionally) my whole life, but started randomly developing more anxiety about it when I was in college. It had gotten progressively worse over time, and most of the times i have had to fly in the last decade have been solo which added to the anxiety & sense of dread.
I flew a handful of times 2023-2024 and it was getting progressively better, but I had to fly again this week and it has now been almost a year since I had been on a plane.
I have spent so much time on this subreddit the past couple of years and it has been immensely helpful. Thank you to everyone who contributes, especially the pilots who take the time to reassure us, it is a huge help.
From all the reading I’ve done this past year I don’t have any true concerns about the safety of flying when I am on board. My anxiety in recent years stems more around the discomfort of turbulence and the way it triggers a flight or fight response. I have been calm when it’s smooth sailing but as soon as I feel the first bump I anticipate the worst. However, I have been using all the tools at my disposal that have been recommended — including leaning into the excitement of the flying and the aerial views.
This is all to say that I did have a mildly turbulent return flight (and we were pre-warned it would be bumpy for a while), but I would look at my water bottle and think about everything I read here and I didn’t have a breakdown 🎉 lol
So anyway, I had a successful interview— did not induce a migraine from stressing about the flight — and had a great trip overall 💕

Before finding this reddit my past plane travels were the worst part of my life, today after taking 3 differents planes I just can say that I conquer my fear, all thanks to you guys, telling so many awesome stories, kind words and of course technical advice. Me, my wife and my sweet little angel here are forever thankful. Now it’s time to celebrate and enjoy my one month vacation in Brasil. Cheers ❤️❤️❤️

Btw: now im in love with 737max 8 and the dreamliner 10

We live once ! 99 percent of life is mental …don’t let the fear of flying EVER prevent you from living life to the fullest ! I am a Military vet as well who use to fly 100 times a year while I was active duty …I am here for any support as well !

I am a longtime anxious flying, but I do it a lot for work and for pleasure, so I cope. However, DCA is my home airport so I have had more anxiety recently than usually.

But today I had a bit of a breakthrough. I share not to diminish anyone’s fears, but with the hopes it can resonate with others the same way it did for me. I took this picture flying over Appalachia (beautiful day to fly, btw). It was a bit bumpy, as it always is, but before I let my anxiety kick in I became acutely aware of how small I was. I am just one person, on one plane, flying over a space millions of people have flown over and been in awe of. Millions of people that have hiked these trails, millions of animals that have called this place home.

People have flown over these mountains for funerals and weddings and work trips and reunions with friends. They have been excited, grieving, scared, happy—but they have landed on the ground and moved forward with their life upon doing so. And these mountains have been here for thousands of years before me and will continue to exist long after I am gone.

The smalls bumps and dips I felt in the air didn’t change how the mountains looked out the window. They stayed snugly nestled in this frame, a reminder of how minuscule what I was feeling was. I am just a mere traveler out of millions passing through this landscape. As much as I fear it, flying makes my life bigger, brighter, and bolder. I have seen some of the most beautiful places in the world, and I never want fear to stop me from experiencing that. I cannot live a life without risk because that means living a life without experiencing what the world has to offer. At the end of this flight, I will safely walk into the airport and continue my day. And for the first time in my life, I am excited for the next time I will be up in the skies.

You can do it.

yes i'm the one that requested everyone to track my BR32 flight two weeks ago🥲 the return trip back to Taiwan took even more time than going to JFK, but i was much less stressed or anxious!!! i even had the mood to take this amazing photo. whenever there were bumps, i kept telling myself that this was not even close to the shaking in NYC metros (lol) and that turbulence was just like running into road cracks when driving on a highway... also i told myself that anxiety was my body's method of trying to protect me and i appreciated its work a lot🥺🥺🥺this mindset helped greatly! lastly i want to thank everyone here for the help and comforts i got from my tracking request last time, i couldn't have done this without yall🙏

Sincere thank you to the members and pilots of this sub! Special thanks to the member who broke down every sound and sensation for takeoff for me in a comment on an earlier post. I hadn't flown in 24 years after the single time I flew in 2001 and promptly said, "Nope not doing that again!" but this week, I DID IT.

I had taken a promotion at work about 6 months ago that will require me to fly 1-2 times per year, and I promised myself that with said promotion, I would tackle my fear (panic attack inducing just thinking of flying) head on-AND I DID!!!

The support here, coupled with some Fear of Flying podcasts on Spotify, and I made the flight from Chicago to Orange County, CA and back! I didn't take anything, as I wanted to be fully aware of my thoughts and emotions (my choice but do not judge other choices!).

We even had a couple not ideal landings and the pilots handled both incidents like pros!!!

The landing in California was right after the earthquake on Monday and just as we had descended and about to land, without warning, the pilot pulled up (what felt like straight back up) into the clouds as they had to check the runway for cracks due to aftershocks! It was intense. I started having paranoid thoughts and otherwise, but I breathed through it and most importantly made it through with a safe landing at SNA.

On the way home into O'Hare, we had to "hold," or circle about above the airport for what felt like eternity lol but then finally, once again, SAFELY landed.

Turbulence and takeoff did not scare me surprisingly! Landing was the hiccup for me but that is likely due to the extreme extenuating circumstances; however, I trusted the pilots and they did not disappoint.

All this to say both THANK YOU to this community and if I can do it, ANYONE CAN. ✈️✈️✈️

I haven’t flown since 2019 but was asked to fly out for a final interview for an honestly life changing job. I got the offer and just accepted! It was a short flight and I brought my noise cancelling headphones. Thinking about the jello analogy kept me less anxious about turbulence. I’m so proud of myself. I barely slept the night before the flight because of the flight nerves.

Flew 28h round trip, from Europe to Japan.

Both flights went very well !! Flights attendants were super nice and attentive and ANA is such a great company to fly with IMO.

In my case, 99% of the anxiety came from anticipation. During the flight, all the techniques I mentioned in my previous post as well as the meds helped a lot.

I can’t believe I did it ! This was one the most challenging experience of my life but I am so happy I did not cancel like I wanted to before the trip so many times.

You can do it as well !

Here are a few pictures of what I would have missed. I hope this will help you ! Do not hesitate to ask questions.

I work for an airline. I get free flights. I shouldn’t be afraid right? Wrong. It gives me severe anxiety. Last time I was on a plane I had to put my head in my last and decided not to fly for a long while. But I refuse to let my fears rule my decisions. Life is about facing what you’re scared of or it controlling you. I actually love airplanes so if anyone would like to talk with me about their fears or concerns I would be glad to tell them what I know!

The whole world just opened up for me.

I never posted on this Reddit. I just started following a week or so before my first ever flight. All my life I wanted to travel but I always had the fear of flying just creeping about in my head. Once I turned 34 I just pretty much gave up on my dreams and let that anxiety take over and cause havoc throughout the year. But this year (my 35th year) was different. I decided to face my fears. My fiancé planned a trip to the Oregon coast and even though I spent the week leading up to it being an anxious mess; I still got on that plane. And it was… fine lol. The ride was fine! Right after I realized that the whole world opened up! Finally at the age of 35 I can truly explore what earth has the offer! It’s such an amazing feeling! And if I never got on that plane, I would’ve never seen the ocean for the first time. I would’ve been stuck in my Midwest surrounded by endless cornfields lol.

Today was a flight home after a work trip from Chicago to Atlanta. (DL1178) The panic hit me a little before boarding, and I was crying as I got on the plane.
I remember seeing several posts about talking to the flight attendants and how they can calm your nerves. When I was getting seated, I let the nearest attendant know that I had really bad anxiety and that I had heard that talking to them could make you feel better. He laughed and instantly made me feel at ease. Throughout the flight he would stop by at my seat just to check on me and see if I needed anything. He was incredibly nice and understanding. At the end of the flight, he even wrote me a note and gave me wings!!
Joseph A (Joe) if you see this THANK YOU for your kindness and patience with me on our flight. You are wonderful at your job and I know you will help so many others!! (I will also be leaving a review for Delta so they know you are totally awesome)

In Louisiana and got to feed some wild raccoons on our swamp tour

We literally just met on the flight that day and she was nervous about the interview she had after we landed so I offered to do a mock one with her to get her in the mindset. I get anxiety while flying and talking helps so it was a win for us both and honestly I'm just glad I could help!

I took a total of 4 flights totaling in over 20 hours of in air time and topped it off by flying in a C-17! Yes I cried and panicked on pretty much each flight but I did it anyway! And of course every flight went smooth and safe. And now I get to spend 5 months on the bottom of the planet

I got on my first ever flight on Monday morning at almost 36 years old and this community helped me do it! Round trip it was 4 flights altogether. It was honestly incredible and the views from above the clouds is unmatched. I'm looking forward to taking my next flight (and bringing my husband along for HIS first flight)!

Had a flight Tuesday, my first since joining this community and my nine year old’s first ever! She was able to meet the captain and sit in the first officer’s seat! The captain also gave her a shoutout in his welcome announcement and all the crew signed a note and sent it back with wings! 🥹 Thank you, UA1278 on Dec 31!

Ngl, I was really scared at many points during the flight, but this community really came through for me! I was freaked out about something I didn’t understand and posted an SOS. Within minutes, I had several responses that put my mind at ease and made me so much less anxious for the rest of the flight and about future flights! My gratitude can’t be overstated! Thank you so much for the support, u/Mauro_Ranallo, u/pattern_altitude, u/azulur, u/w_w_flips, u/Awkward_Procedure903, and u/Capital_Listen_5863

That night in Cancun we got to see multiple New Year’s Eve fireworks shows from our hotel balcony and I cried tears of joy. Even though flying can be uncomfortable, it is so worth it to see the world! We can do it!

Yesterday I flew from London to Beijing finally after 8 years of consciously and unconsciously avoidance. I want to share this experience with you guys here.

For this trip I have started to prepare my brain two months beforehand. I started to explore in this Reddit group, and I have been listening to the Lovefly podcasts religiously every single day. I want to thank you all for the knowledge and encouragement I received from you guys. And I am so glad I have thoroughly prepared myself for this trip! That has allowed me to stay calm enough to cope with any scary moment during my flight.

But there are still moments when I feel anxious and worried. For example when we first boarded the flight, the crew announcement said our plane is having some technical issue, to make sure we can have a safe flight, they were waiting for the engineer to come. So at the end we were delayed for one hour before we could depart. This is the first time I ever experienced such a problem. So that made me quite nervous and kept wondering what kind of technical issues they were talking about and would it happen again once we are in the air.

The 9.5 hour flight after the departure was kind of half bumpy and half smooth. I definitely felt more turbulence than my previous flights on the same route. I don’t know whether it’s because now is summer time or it’s because I was sitting towards the back of the plane. But thanks for the preparation work I have done beforehand I have really managed to stay calm. (Still sweated a bit) Whenever the turbulence hit, I would speak to myself in my head:”turbulence is uncomfortable but safe”. I think I would absolutely have gone crazy about all this turbulence if I haven’t equipped myself with the knowledge from here and the podcast.

It’s definitely a progress! But I think I should do more and more flying to be able to really normalize it.

I hope everyone a safe and happy flying!!!

First of all, I work for an airline on the ramp, so most would think that would help but I see these planes from a completely different perspective when I’m working. I get free flights and was terrified for the longest time to use them. At first dramamine helped with the motion. Also, airline travel is statistically the safest form of travel. Before a plane even leaves a gate to take off there are 3 to 4 different people who walk around (including the pilot) to investigate the exterior of the plane. Don’t worry if your flight gets delayed for maintenance! If that plane even had a CHANCE to have issues during flight they would not let it fly. Everyone hates being rebooked but it’s a necessity to ensure the safety of everyone. During flight I’m usually playing a game to get my mind off of traveling. Lastly, what really helped me (which is very silly) is that I watched Top Gun. During takeoff I play Danger Zone in my earbuds and pretend I’m a fighter pilot taking off and that surprisingly got me over my fear completely!