Air Hostess Shares Her Experience With A Lady Who Was Afraid Of Flying

An air Hostess named Uche Anaekwe has shared her experience with a lady who was traumatized during their flight at night and how she was able to calm her down.

Sharing the story on LinkedIn, she wrote:

I”M AFRAID OF FLYING!!!! 😱

On one of my night flights a couple of weeks ago I met a passenger. The flight was from Abuja back to lagos and we took off around 8pm, the skies were already pitch black but the cabin was well lit.

Just as the seat belt sign went off and we were free to walk around in the cabin, a young woman asked me were the lavatory was and I pointed her in the right direction, as she was using it, we started experiencing turbulence (mind you, it was just a mild one,nothing serious) but she quickly opened the lavatory door and with obvious terror in her eyes asked me if something was wrong.

I smiled and said no, that it was just a minor turbulence. I could see her discomfort, she quickly finished and exited the lavatory.
However, she didn’t want to go back to her seat which was infront but instead sat on one of the empty seats at the back, the aircraft was still shaking at intervals and she was obviously still in distress.

I had to continue with my other In-flight duties but shortly afterwards I noticed another crew member was with her, holding her hands.
My colleague called me and told me to inform the purser on that flight that there is a distressed passenger, there was nothing we could do really other than to reassure and comfort her.

She was also flying alone.
When it was my turn to stay with her(at this point we were taking turns holding her hands) she had a death grip on my hands and was reciting her beads (she’s muslim).

I asked her if it was her first time flying, she said no but she has always been terrified of flying and it was her first time flying at night, so that increased her anxiety.
Long story short, we had to leave her to prepare the cabin for landing but we kept checking on her and after we landed safely she thanked us profusely for being with her during the flight.

There are people that are terrified of flying but due to necessity they have to do it.

It helps if you have an attentive and professional crew on-board that can help such passenger through it but It’s also advisable that such person shouldn’t fly alone but with a companion for reassurance and comfort.

Have you ever experienced severe turbulence while flying? Are you afraid of flying?

Fun fact: The fear of flying is called AVIOPHOBIA or AEROPHOBIA
#flying #aircraft #people #cabincrew

Source:Uche Anaekwe|LinkedIn

Email: elora.akpotosevbe@yahoo.com