If it says "Call Airline" you know fear

My parents are flying home today from europe. I logged into my favorite online flight tracking programs (as linked from here: http://www.fearofflyingtips.com/tracking-flights.html) and noticed their flight was delayed about 20 minutes for take off. Fine.

I kept looking over the next hour until the tracker changed the status line from "scheduled" to "Call Airline". I nearly lost my mind. I'm at work, saying a string of curse words and feeling panic rush through my veins. The problem is that ALL the flight trackers are showing issues. The others showed zero speed and zero altitutude.

I immediately called the airline and spoke with the domestic and international divisions. They were very friendly and had US accents. Their records indicated that the flight had left 9 minutes early and would arrive on time in the States. They had no indications of any problems and their information was coming directly from the flight.

I figure that as long as CNN doesn't have anything posted about their flight everything is still ok. Why those flight trackers crapped out on me I don't know. I've never seen that before, ever.

Say a few prayers...

My review of Fear of Flying DVD

I recently had the pleasure of watching Stacey Chance's new Fear of Flying DVD. Its just the visual experience I need since I can't take a trip to the airport everyday. It's over an hour, well done, and jam packed with LOTS of helpful information. I honestly felt confident about flying after watching it. To read my full review -- click here.

What is up with ticket pricing lately?

Good grief!!! A trip to california last november cost us $195 per ticket (from central USA)... now that same ticket costs $350...!! What the heck? I know fuel prices are up, but is it really that bad for them? Fuel prices were up last november also, and to a rate about where we are now. I'm confused why the tickets are now almost double in cost.

I think the overall problem with the airline industry is management. I think the pilots and crew and ground personel are hardworking and should be paid appropriately. I do NOT think fat cat CEO's smoking cigars should be giving themselves hundred thousand dollar raises because they had to work more than 5 weeks a year. I've always thought that corporate america was bilking the average consumer and their employees. It's sickening.

Of course, package deals and flights to Las Vegas are still extremely cheap. That's another story all on its own.

have you heard of anything so stupid? Snakes on a plane?

I won't do it the dignity of posting the link but you can find it from msnbc.com's website. New movie titled snakes on a plane. FYI, I hate snakes almost as much as flying. and since my flying fears are shrinking a little, they're probably about equal. How does hollywood know to combine my two fears?!?!? Are they spying on me? Samuel L Jackson is starring in it. Is he hardup for work? Ick!

sister coming home again

My sister is coming again, twice within a 3 week period. I did some airline ticket pricing for her and found a great deal on her favorite airline (she prefers frontier for her route because of the TVs in the headrests). Priced at $189. She has to get up before dawn to make the flight but she'll have short layovers and arrive here earlier in the day.

In some ways i'm jealous of all the travelling she gets to do, and I'm definitely jealous that she's not at all afraid of it. Someday when I'm not tied to a limited # of vacation hours I hope to be over this fear so I can see the world. :)

it's a blizzard, would you fly?

My state is currently in a blizzard. We should have 20-24 inches of snow by the time its done. I have a friend who is supposed to leave tomorrow morning for California, I wonder if her flight will even get out of here. Even if the planes are flying, would you?

want to revisit California

My sister has returned to california from another trip home, and now her inlaws are visiting her. They actually took a train from Kansas to California, which would be a really cool way to travel if you had an extra 40 hrs one way. 40 hrs... oof!

I'm missing california. I'd like to return and see everything that's north of San Francisco. but that's two flights to get there again, i'm not sure i'm up to it. :)

hopes to cure fear by quitting his job

The retirement plan is to fly into anonymityBy Matt Dickinson
DENNIS BERGKAMP BELIEVES THAT retiring from football could cure his fear of flying. The Dutchman has not boarded a plane for more than a decade, missing dozens of important matches, but he hopes that he can conquer his pteromerhanophobia once he is freed from the pressure to board team flights. “Hopefully I can do it in a quiet way and that will take away some of the fear,” he said. “Being in the public eye is part of it. It will be interesting to see how it feels in a year or two’s time.”
His phobia became so bad during his unhappy spell at Inter Milan that he was dreading the flight home during away matches in Europe. “Days before a flight I was thinking about it and getting really, really nervous physically,” he said. “Shaking and stuff. Then during the game I would be thinking already of flying home. So then it starts to affect your football and that is when I said, ‘No more.’ I had been doing it, but I was not happy at all.
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“It came during my career, so I always thought I would address it after my career. Maybe this is the opportunity to address the problem without the pressure that you have to be at this game or that.”
Success would allow Bergkamp to fulfil plans to travel to Africa, although his first post-retirement holiday is more likely to be in Cornwall. A father of four, he wants to spend some time exploring the country where he has set up home for almost 11 years.
Bergkamp is eligible for a fast-track coaching course in the Netherlands, starting in September, but he has no plans to stay in football. “The only thing I like about football is playing the game,” he said. “I can’t imagine working all hours as a manager although you have to be careful because Marco van Basten said exactly the same. He disappeared for a few years but then came back to manage Holland.
“A lot of people tell me with my vision, my way of playing, it would be a shame if that is lost even if I was just working with kids. That is the only thing that has crossed my mind but, next year, I want to get away from everything.”
MISSING OUT ON SEA LEGS
FEAR OF FLYING IS COMMON AND OTHER top-class players suffer from the phobia. At the less exalted levels, things are different. In 2001, Wayne Houghton, a Tiptree United defender, had a phobia that made him want to fly: fear of travelling by sea, which was a problem when the team had a match on the Isle of Wight.