Worries about flying seem to be taking off. Here's how to cope with in-flight anxiety

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Worries about flying seem to be taking off. Here's how to cope with in-flight anxiety

2025-04-23 21:20 Last Updated At：21:52

NEW YORK (AP) — Adelynn Campbell’s last plane trip ended with a panic attack that she got through largely with the help of a kind flight attendant.

That was last year — before 67 people died in January when an American Airlines jet collided with a helicopter over Washington, D.C., in the deadliest U.S. air disaster in almost a quarter century.

Now, Campbell is even more hesitant to book a flight.

“It’s definitely spiked my concern about getting on a plane and it’s making the whole situation a little more stressful than it used to be,” said Campbell, 30, who manages a coffee shop in San Diego.

Being at least a little nervous about flying is understandable. As Mel Brooks once said: “If God wanted us to fly, He would have given us tickets.” But for some people it causes deep anxiety that could require professional help.

Here's a look at air travel anxiety and ways to cope with it.

The evidence is anecdotal, but psychologists and flight attendants say they’ve seen and heard increased worries — and not only in people who already had anxieties about flying.

“Even people who didn’t have a fear of flying are talking about it, given recent events,” said Jennifer Dragonette, a California-based psychologist who treats people with air travel anxieties.

U.S. air travel was down in March and early April compared with last year, according to TSA statistics. Airlines have attributed the decline to economic uncertainty, a decline in government and corporate travel and — yes — concern about recent aviation incidents.

FAA officials recently acknowledged they weren’t doing enough to ensure air safety. Recent polling by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that fewer Americans report feeling safe about flying this year.

Flight attendants who work planes out of the Washington, D.C., airport were particularly rattled by the January collision, said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants union. Some asked for time off to process their emotions, and at least one flight attendant left the job, she said.

Fear of flying — sometimes called aerophobia — goes beyond just being nervous about a flight. It is an intense form of anxiety that centers on certain aspects of air travel. Many aerophobes get most rattled during take-off and landing, or when they think about being locked in a plane.

Some research has suggested it affects about 25 million U.S. adults. Psychologists say it often surfaces in adulthood, developing in people who didn’t mind flying as kids but grew more rattled as they aged.

In many cases, it starts when people are in their 20s or 30s, at a time they are experiencing big life changes and new responsibilities — like getting married or becoming a parent — and they start to think that “everything counts,” said David Carbonell, a Chicago-based psychologist who authored a workbook to help people cope with flying fears.

A bad flight with heavy turbulence or some other problem may trigger an anxiety that persists, he said.

Campbell, who has other forms of anxiety, developed a fear of flying a few years ago. She is transgender, and said travel can be stressful because of concerns about how she’ll be treated by airport security or in other interactions.

Aerophobia can be complicated, Carbonell said. For many people, it’s not so much a fear of crashing as it is claustrophobic feelings of being in an enclosed cabin and not having control.

Campbell said that’s what she experiences: “feeling trapped and unable to breathe.”

Nelson said flight attendants regularly deal with suffering passengers: “We’ve had people have panic attacks, and we’ve had to give them oxygen. It can be quite intense.”

Statistics have long shown that airliners are probably the safest way to travel. According to the National Safety Council, the odds of dying in an airplane crash are too low to be calculated, based on 2023 statistics — making them far, far lower than of being killed in a motor vehicle crash or, for that matter, walking on a sidewalk or crossing a street.

But experts say you can’t really reason your way out of an anxiety disorder.

Carbonell spends little time on statistics, telling patients: “I know you already looked at them all, and they’re not helping you.”

For people with milder levels of aerophobia, deep breathing often works. Longer exhales help the body relax, said Dragonette, who counseled Campbell for aerophobia and other anxiety disorders at a Newport Healthcare residential facility in Temecula, California.

People suffering more extreme cases can be helped with exposure therapy. It can start by simply getting patients to become comfortable looking at photos of planes, watching videos of planes flying safely, or putting on a virtual reality headset that shows recordings of being inside a plane, Dragonette said.

It’s a matter of getting patients to learn to live with their feelings and better handle them.

Carbonell recommends patients take practice flights that do not involve work trips or any other responsibilities. When they have symptoms, he recommends they keep a written inventory.

“They’re keeping a simple count,” he said. “We’re using counting as a proxy for acceptance.”

Nelson, who was a longtime United Airlines flight attendant, says: “I’ve had situations where I’d sort of sit in the aisle and hold someone’s hand."

On a Frontier Airlines flight last year from Detroit to San Diego, Campbell tried breathing and other coping skills, but they didn’t halt her panic attack. The passenger next to her noticed she was increasingly anxious, and summoned a flight attendant.

The flight attendant took deep breaths with Campbell and helped her get through it, and also took down Campbell’s phone number and checked on her a day later.

“I was really impressed,” she said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The Reds pay tribute to Pete Rose a day after he was posthumously reinstated by MLB

2025-05-15 08:19 Last Updated At：08:21

CINCINNATI (AP) — Pete Rose was celebrated by the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night, a day after baseball’s career hits leader was posthumously removed from Major League Baseball’s permanent ineligibility list.

There were chants of “Pete! Pete!” at Great American Ball Park. There was a pregame moment of silence, and a choir from Rose's Cincinnati high school performed the national anthem. And No. 14 was everywhere, from the replica jerseys in the stands to the highlights shown on the videoboard.

It was the type of all-out effort that Rose himself would have appreciated.

“This city was my dad," Rose’s daughter, Fawn, said.

Hall of Fame shortstop Barry Larkin and Eric Davis — who played for Rose when he managed the Reds — shared stories about their former manager during a pregame panel, joined by former Rose teammate George Foster. Members of Rose's family delivered the game ball before Cincinnati's matchup with the Chicago White Sox.

“He played baseball with as much passion and competitive enjoyment as you ever could,” said Reds manager Terry Francona, who played with Rose with Montreal and played for him with Cincinnati. “You wanted to be on his team.”

Rose, who died in September at age 83, played for the Reds in 19 of his 24 seasons, winning two of his three World Series championships with his hometown team. His career was tarnished by a gambling scandal that led to a permanent ban on Aug. 23, 1989.

An investigation commissioned by Major League Baseball concluded Rose — a 17-time All-Star who finished with 4,256 hits — repeatedly bet on the Reds as a player and manager of the team from 1985-87, a violation of a long-standing MLB rule.

Commissioner Rob Manfred announced Tuesday he was changing the league’s policy on permanent ineligibility, saying bans would expire at death. Manfred met with Fawn Rose and Jeffrey Lenkov, a lawyer who represented Pete Rose, on Dec. 17.

Manfred “was gracious, kind,” Fawn Rose said. “Really gave me a forum to talk about my dad, not the baseball player, but the father, the grandfather and really what he means to the (fans) of Cincinnati.”

Pete Rose Jr., who appeared in 11 games with Cincinnati in 1997, said he was angry when he first heard about Manfred's decision because he couldn't call his father. But he called the change a step in the right direction.

“Hate to say this, but it’s not going to bring him back," he said. "If they would have said you’re not going to be taken off the list, but you’re coming back, hey bring him back. But nothing but positives today.”

While Rose's gambling ban made him a baseball pariah, that was never the case in a city that proudly embraces its status as the home of the oldest major league team. He was almost uniformly beloved in his hometown for his relentless playing style and his connection to the Big Red Machine — the dominant Reds teams in the mid-1970s.

“My dad used to tell me all the stories of how hard he played every time,” said Reds reliever Brent Suter, a Cincinnati native. “You know, never took a play off, always was running hard 90 (feet), sliding headfirst, you know, getting dirty every game. ... This was a guy who just embodied toughness, grit.”

There were long lines at several gates as the capacity crowd filed into the ballpark. A steady stream of fans stopped in front of Rose's statue for pictures before going inside the stadium.

There was a black tarp with the No. 14 over the pitcher's mound as the players took batting practice.

“I remember his hustle. The headfirst slides. He was a person with not a lot of talent, but he worked so hard,” said Bob Wunder, 65, of Dayton.

Wunder expressed his frustration with the timing of Manfred's decision.

“It’s awful. They should have done it when he was alive," he said. "If I was the (Rose) family, I would say ‘Thanks, but no thanks.’ I’m upset that it had to wait until he passed away.”

The change in Rose's status makes him eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame — long a sore spot for Rose's most ardent supporters — but his Cooperstown induction is far from a given.

Rose's case would be considered by the Hall’s Classic Baseball Era committee, which next meets to consider players in December 2027. A 10-person panel selects eight ballot candidates with the approval of the Hall’s board, and the group is considered by 16 members at the winter meetings, with a 75% or higher vote needed.

“I know I oversimplify things. But what Pete did as a player, if he's not in, there is no Hall of Fame,” Francona said. “But I get it. There are some things that ... I'm glad I don't have to make (those) decisions.”

Jerry Casebolt, 80, of Florence, Kentucky, stopped to get his photo taken in front of the Rose statue before the game. He said he was at the 1970 All-Star Game when Rose bowled over Ray Fosse in a memorable play at the plate, and he also attended the game when Rose broke Ty Cobb’s hits record.

The removal of Rose from the ineligible list was meaningful for him.

“It was great to hear the news,” he said. “Just opening up the gates (to the Hall of Fame), but it’s still questionable. Hope he gets in. Shame he didn’t get to see it.”

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