How bad is the flight really?

[Quoll]

I am totally afraid of flying and every time I fly I think I am going to die and I hope it doesn't hurt... For me it does not matter if it's long haul or just a short trip, I just hate flying and have to take tranquilizers (only on the long haul flights though, I don't want to over do).

 

The length I don't care about but the turbulences freak me out, especially the ones above the Bay of Bengal and the aequator were it's always bumpy. Stupid and not helpful when you are forced to fly long distances on a plane...

 

I don't get airsick as such but I have motion sickness (maybe due to low blood pressure) and am very sensitive to changes in height and movement. That also happens to me on trains and coaches.

 

​Avomine is your friend! One pill usually lasts the whole trip and you'll probably sleep most of the way!

[Rupert]

Well it is only 24 hours, I have never really heard anyone say never again. I have done it once in economy and once in business and twice in first. It is always tiring but I can semi look forward to the journey so long as I am not in economy, I am not sure i would do that again now. I used to have a few wines on flights, now I really only drink water and I feel much better for it.

[Bobbsy]

I've done the flight (and other long ones) a bunch of times and never really worried about it. Most of these flights were solo but a couple of times we had out 3 year old, then 5 year old with us. None were any problem. Between the onboard entertainment (videos, games etc. so long as you take a decent airline) the various drink services, meal services, etc. the time just passes. When they turn the lights down for sleeping do try to sleep, with the aid of a sleeping pill if necessary. When you have a stop over get out and walk around as much as possible.

 

​Seriously, it's not a big issue.

[VERYSTORMY]

I do the equivalant every month - i work in Africa, while its never fun, it isnt the end of the world. I would consider breaking up the flight if you can with a stopover for a fw days in Dubai.

[Tulip]

Forgot to say, I bought a fab book called 'How to Survive a Longhaul Flight' which is a godsend, now have it on my Kindle in preperation!

[northshorepom]

Forgot to say, I bought a fab book called 'How to Survive a Longhaul Flight' which is a godsend, now have it on my Kindle in preperation!

 

I do wonder about such books sometimes....can't help thinking stressing about flights is half the problem for many people

[BritChickx]

My last long haul flight was the worst ever....24 hours of flying in 40 hours... I had pain in my arm for some random reason too and was in an uncomfy seat so I was sat staring at the walls, the most boring and frustrating experience lol

[Guest Geordee]

You only need to fly once long haul with small kids, to then view all subsequent flights without them as being close to nirvana.....a whole 24 hours when you can read when you want, sleep when you want, eat/drink when you want? Heaven

 

Haha I love this as I keep saying I want to do a long haul alone just to have 24hrs peace to read, watch a movie, sleep, eat, etc! We did the flight last year with two 18mth olds, a 4 yr old and 8 yr old and boy were we tired at the end! So to do it child free? Easy

[Tulip]

I love flying so I bought it to nerd up on how to recover best from jetlag. Not really sure what you mean about half the problem for people?

[pablo]

Pablo your full of it tbh

Its only a flight and its over in one whole day ,yes you get bored yes your bum goes from being numb to even worse

We done it with a 2.5 with us.2 hour stop over in dubai then onto perth just wanted to get it over with and it was fine

Flew with emirates who have cut back on the drinks and meals from two years ago which is a shame

Just get it over and done with soon forget it once your here and I'm in no rush to go back the way anyway

​

 

Am i? i gave my opinion,"i" despise flying,that ok?

As regards being full of it,you make the podium in the "full of it" stakes everytime you post lad

Edited April 25, 2013 by pablo

[Guest51810]

I've never been on the flight but i will some day, not something id be looking foward tbh! Im a bit of a nervous flyer although im better than i used to be. Might be quite good just chilling, watching films and having nap times!

[northshorepom]

I love flying so I bought it to nerd up on how to recover best from jetlag. Not really sure what you mean about half the problem for people?

I mean that I think people worry too much about it and get stressed about it.....which airline has the best seats, what type of plane will it be and therefore which is the best seat, when are the seats released, OMG I have to log on NOW to book my seats, what must I pack in hand luggage, 24 hours? I might need at least 4 books, will I be able to buy my favourite brand of water in departures after I get my bottle taken off me at security, oh look, they've opened check in desks, must go and queue up NOW, OK, so I'm in departures, this isn't going to that bad really, is it? How am I going to get through 24 hours?!!! What are those people queuing up for, Oi! Are they pushing in to the queue at the gate?! What if I don't have room in my ovErhead locker for my ridiculous carry on, etc etc etc

 

Not saying you're like this. But I see a lot of this type of worry and behaviour. It can't be good for people, nor is it surprising when they then have a tough time

 

It's really not that bad, espesh if no dependants to worry about. Kindle, iPod, neck pillow, earplugs, sleeping pills if you really must, job done. The airline will take care of the rest

Edited April 25, 2013 by northshorepom

[Tulip]

Ahh we are on the same wavelength. I love technology; Kindle, iPhone, and headphones are all I need but I do panic quite quickly at the most minor thing, so perhaps I'm a bit of both!

I must admit I love thinking 'A whole 24 hours!' instead of 'Oh GOD 24 hours!'. It's when it starts getting to the end that I start to worry about missing connecting flights.

[boganbear]

my flight to Brisbane via Singapore was lovely. had no problems at all. i managed to sleep Ok although i think i ended up beign quite dehydrated a dew days after we landed so drink plenty of water

[paul2542]

Absolutely hate the flight, did it straight through once and never again. I have done a stop-over the other times. Might add on some extra costs but at least you get to see a few new places you might not ever go to. One long haul flight is enough for me, I don't need 2 in row.

[Geraldine]

If like my 18 yr old son you can sleep on board, then brill, he managed Dubai to Brisbane asleep. I on the other hand didn't sleep for 24 hrs as the youngest (9) got sick on the plane so spent most of it with her head in the sick bag. However the mood was lightened a little by the folks next to us who managed to argue all the way and at one point even split up on the plane only to be reconciled before landing... Now that's what I call inflight entertainment. Flew with Emirates and they were great. Next time round think we may book a stop over as we've never seen any of the countries that you can stop over in. Best of luck :biggrin:

[paul2542]

Im so envious of people who can sleep that long on a plane, I can't sleep for 10 minutes. Sounds like you had some interesting entertainment on your flight.

[Somgirl]

Have flown the return trip quite a few times, usually on my own or with oh. Don't really 'enjoy' the flight, but don't dislike flying as much as I used to. It's just a means to an end ...... :biggrin:

[Quinkla]

The one exception was with China Southern Airways, who treated me to a journey via Amsterdam, Beijing and Guangzhou before I got to Australia. They had no in-flight entertainment aside from television screens blaring out movies in Chinese (subtitles in another non-English language), served muck for food, caused me to miss one flight then lost my luggage.

It sounds like a bad experience. Presumably, though, the route was known when you booked tickets. And luggage can go missing with any airline: I have had misplaced luggage twice - once on Thai/Turkish and once on Qantas. Deeply irritating both times - especially as on outbound flights, but it happens. China Southern gets pretty good reviews on Skytrax: http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/c_sthrn.htm although it seems that IFE is close to non-existent.

[BritChickx]

I've never been on the flight but i will some day, not something id be looking foward tbh! Im a bit of a nervous flyer although im better than i used to be. Might be quite good just chilling, watching films and having nap times!

I used to love flying....not anymore lol, I said to paul when we came back from NZ I'm never EVER doing a long haul flight again....obviously I will...but it makes me ill! (not motion sickness, jetlag)

[Guest51810]

I used to love flying....not anymore lol, I said to paul when we came back from NZ I'm never EVER doing a long haul flight again....obviously I will...but it makes me ill! (not motion sickness, jetlag)

 

The longest ive been was florida, it was fine but i still had a bit of jetlag. Kept waking up in the middle of the night for a week! I think i'd have to drug myself to sleep lol

[Tulip]

My jetlag was ok in Aus, arrived mid-morning, went to see Harry Potter in the flicks, and managed to stay awake for most of the day. For about a week afterwards I would go to bed early and get up quite early though! That soon stopped when I stayed up past 10 and got into a better sleep pattern.

[Love Shoes]

I can't sleep on flights, never have been able to, but on my last long haul I took a sleeping pill and it worked, I slept most of the way back from Los Angeles ... to Brisbane .... going back to the OP .... I didn't mind the flight really, the first leg was very good, A380 aircraft so plenty of room, I had a vacant seat next to me which made a hell of a difference, but the second leg from Singapore to Brisbane was bloody awful, on a 757 ... the food was better than on the A380 and the wine kept flowing .. unlike the A380 when I really though they were being a bit tight fisted .... the entertainment on the first leg was really good, new release films ....

I actually found the flight from Heathrow to Brisbane much better than the flight from Brisbane to LAX last year, but I think thatwas mainly down to the carrier, we are going to LAX again later in the year and are flying with Qantas because we felt we would have a bit more room (anything will be an improvement on the VA flight last year) we were delayed at Brisbane because of a catering problem, after hanging around because their caterer had let them down, we thought it should be OK, but guess what, they ran out of food by the time they got to us, I had to have a sandwich as a main course (on a 13 hour flight that is unforgivable) then surprise surprise they ran out of hot breakfast ... so I had a bit of fruit and a coffee ..... :frown: (on the return flight ... so maybe it is something that happens regularly)

 

Enjoy the flight, I think on the whole the airlines doing these long stints do try their best to make the long journey as comfortable as posssible ... saying that my son flew with Air China part of the way here and said he would avoid them at all costs if he was to visit us again, yet Air France for the first part of the flight (in business) .. (the business class was the same price as economy .. it was a codeshare with Air China) was pure indulgence, he said ' I was frightened of falling asleep incase I missed anything' ....... :yes:

Edited April 26, 2013 by Love Shoes

[Love Shoes]

I've done five round trips, and with one exception, they've all been great. I generally have a night or two in Singapore on my way, to ease the pain. I fly alone, so there are no kids to worry about, and I treat the flight as part of the experience! I love the take-off and landing, and seeing where I am in the world; where we're flying over.

 

The one exception was with China Southern Airways, who treated me to a journey via Amsterdam, Beijing and Guangzhou before I got to Australia. They had no in-flight entertainment aside from television screens blaring out movies in Chinese (subtitles in another non-English language), served muck for food, caused me to miss one flight then lost my luggage. They may have been the cheapest but I'd prefer to pay more.

 

​This could be who my son and his wife flew with ... he said the crew were doing exercises, which is OK, but they would stop what people were doing to do it, wake people up, he also said there was very little room to move, the food was bad too ... and they spke very little English ....

[Acidglitter]

I personally don't mind the flight (apart from turbulence!) and think it depends largely on who you choose to fly with. I'd say you get what you pay for in most cases, I have flown with Virgin, Etihad and Emirates and unfortunately my pennies wouldn't stretch to first class or even economy plus...but the economy with these airlines were fine as they're all set for long haul - can you imagine flying Easyjet to Oz

I think you mentally prepare yourself for the long journey so you're fully prepared for what's to come and you kind of expect it to be a long drawn out nightmare, but after your meals, films, reading a good book, chatting with your neighbours and sleeping, you're pretty much there so i wouldn't worry about it too much. I have done this flight on my own and dreaded it but as soon as i landed in Sydney, it was all worth it! On most of mine i've only had a 4 hour layover in Dubai or Abu Dhabi and to be honest it was fine.