100% confident; being ex crew means I know what precautions are in place! (How safe do you feel about flying?)

Member Name: suzanneb84

Product:	How safe do you feel about flying?
Date:	05/09/09 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: understand why things are done to know its safe

Disadvantages: dont stay in your seat, talk to the crew and walk about!

I feel 100% happy about flying; when i was younger i used to visit my father abroad and travelled by myself so i got used to it i think! However, following university i did unertake a year of employment as an air hostess and so feel quite qualified to answer to the question! I used to work for a budget airline; many people would assume that because tickets are cheap it would mean that safety is not a priority, however think about it; if a budget plane crashed the first thing they would look into and publicise would be the safety processes in place; as such these airlines are very hot on these!! I would estimate I have flown over 400 flights and the most common things that ever happened were turbulence, passanger medical emergencies, "goarounds" and thats about it! Turbulence used to terrify people, some prayed, some panicked however just remember - if your crew are up and about they are the most importnat people to look after in the plane (think who knows what to do if something becomes more serious)- if your crew arent strapped in it is fine! All turbulence is is going through air pockets in clouds or other planes wind, think of it as a bump in the road but safer as theres nothing to hit! All crew undertake 4-6 weeks of intensive training to deal with medical emergencies and other situations; whilst a medical emergency for a passenger is not nice to watch, the crew have it in hand and know what to do! And as for go-arounds where the plane almost lands but then goes up again, this normally happens as its a bit windy and the sensors show a gust is coming so the planes goes up to come round and try again with less wind. See... quite not scary when you know the reasons behind it! I would say however is that if you want to get up and walk about, DO!, its your plane and the crew dont mind at all, in fact sometimes its nice to talk to someone different in a long day. And as for precaustions - just be sensible, if you go longhaul dont knock yourself out for 12 hours; thats just stupid as how can you help your body if you are so out of it you dont wake up. Similarly, whilst a drink is good to calm the nerves, alcohol hits twice as much in the air so dont go overboard, if only because the loos are locked 15mins before landing! Try to get the emergency seats - the planes need to have people in the majority of these to comply with safety regulations so volunteer - tall stocky people always get priority on these. And finally, statistically, a budget airline will have a semi-major accident (ie bump a plane whilst coming off the runway) every 8 years - and bearing in mind the thousands of flighs eery day this is less risky than driving a car!

Summary: Safer than driving