crap! I can't even get the [read more] right. Sorry about all the words on the front page.

Two words: Airport bar.

No, but really. I used to have terrible fear of flying - once even cancelled a trip at the last minute. But I'm ok now, probably no more nervous than average. The difference, oddly, isn't that my attitude toward flying has changed; it's that my general level of anxiety has dropped. I believe that that the flying phobia was just a channel for all the daily anxiety I used to carry around. Reducing my general state of heightened nerves seems to have also reduced the spikes of intense fear I used to get with heights, flying, and bridge-crossing. So the problem was never about flying, and the solution wasn't about flying, either. If you feel anxious in general, that might be the area to make change. Your air mileage may vary, of course. That's just what I noticed in myself.

Something that really helps me is to remember to keep breathing and focus a bit on that. Nice calm breaths.

Also, I try to get dumb stuff that I will not want to stop reading and then focus as hard as I can on it during take-off and landing. Usually a book of comics like Foxtrot or something I would not normally read but get hooked on when I do. Might also be a really really lousy sci-fi book or something like that.

As long as I keep breathing calmly and make myself focus on something else, it seems to go much better now.

I hate flying with a passion and I fly a lot and long flights, sadly. I usually (well, always) have little panic attacks just before the flight. What helps is to keep my mind busy. For example, I concentrate on calculating the number of passengers that fly my route on any day and the number of accidents that have/can happen. It is counter-intuitive that immersing myself in these gloomy thoughts would help, but it does! At least it gives me a realistic sense of what my chances are to make it alive to the end point.

oh, and sudoku of course.

Try this as a contemplation:

Visualize yourself sitting on a plane. See yourself at a distance, just be an observer watching the nervous msali sitting. Take some time to get this picture in your head.

Now, in your mind's eye, try turning the picture into black and white (if it wasn't already). Does that reduce the anxiety a little bit? (If not, change it back to color.) Now try putting a frame around this mental image, as if it were a television picture. Take a moment to visualize this clearly.

(Remember, you are just watching msali from a distance.)

Next, try putting some music in the background. Instead of plane engine noises and air attendant blather, put something else in there. Maybe it's a soothing piece of classical, maybe it's something silly that would go with a Charlie Chaplin movie, whatever would make you feel more comfortable. Is the picture becoming more comfortable to look at?

You might also try changing the temperature, if applicable. If warm makes you feel stuffy and increases the anxiety, imagine a soothing coolness. Or, conversely, if warm makes you feel comfortable and cozy, add that in.

The other thing you can do to reduce the anxiety is to imagine the scene played fast-forward. Play the whole flight sequence starting with you getting on the plane, then sitting down, take off, the duration of the flight, and landing. Play it so quickly that it only takes about five seconds to imagine. Do this a several times.

I've had incredibly good results in reducing by leading folks through this exercise, including someone with a fear of flying. Hope this helps!

Booze.

On September 10th, 2001, I was on a plane that made an emergency landing. (I won't tell the story here because it will just make you more nervous, and I won't call it a "crash landing" because even though it's fairly accurate, it's a bit of selfish hyperbole.) I've been a nervous flier ever since.

Couple of stiff belts make you care a whole lot less.

Maybe not the healthiest of methods, but hey, whatever works.

Speck, that's very cool.

I just think I'm on a giant bus.

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What mudpuppie said.

If you'd rather not do that, I'd give Speck's advice a shot. I'd also suggest breathing. Heh. Deep, slow breaths. Kinda focus on them. That helps me sometimes.

I think you should hit that purple drank.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I am feeling better now, but as the result of a "better living through chemistry" intervention.
I never used to be a nervous flyer (Specklet, damn, that is good stuff!), it is often just the anticipation of travel that gets me freaked out, I don't know why. I am not normally that anxious of a person.
I appreciate the 'airport bar' suggestions, but I have a connecting flight through JFK (hatehatehate) and not much time to make it, so that's kinda out of the question.
I'm really better though, gotta love Xanax! Ummmmm......
Pieisexactlythree, that purple shit looks naaaaassty!

I was going to suggest Xanax.

Whether pre-flight calming or adopted-dog naming, you can't go wrong with Xanax.

Why would you need to be calmed before a flight? If your plane is going to crash, it's going to crash. What good does your anxiety do you? Take some time and call your loved ones, let them know you love them dearly, get lost in conversation and memories and before you know it, you will have forgotten all about your silly little anxiety. And if you don't make it, your survivors will take solace in the thought that their last words to you were "I love you."

Make the anxiety work for you.