Turbulence is never fun. But there are some techniques you can use to ease your anxiety so you can get back to enjoying your in-flight movie, and our go-to trick just might be the easiest: Next time turbulence strikes and you find yourself freaking out a little bit, look at the flight crew. If they don’t seem concerned, then you have no reason to be concerned either.
Think about it: Most flight attendants have been doing their job for years, flying multiple times a week or even multiple times a day. They know the difference between casual bumps and anything that might be cause for concern. Even those new to the profession have had intensive training specific to identifying problems of all kinds. So as long as they’re going about their duties in a calm, collected manner, you can rest assured the plane is just passing through some bumpy air and will hopefully get past it quickly.
When I asked a JetBlue flight attendant about this trick on a recent cross-country flight, he agreed wholeheartedly. He also reminded me that flight crews are specifically taught how to help and assist nervous fliers. So if simply glancing over to see a friendly face isn’t doing it for you, you can always call a flight attendant over and ask for reassurance. They’ll be more than happy to talk you through it or make you feel more comfortable about the flight.
In fact, I was surprised to get lost in his story of how he met a woman on a subway platform, thought about her for months, kicking himself for not asking for her number, only to find her again almost a full year later, but this time he asked her out on a date and proposed shortly after. They’ve been happily married for 14 years now, and just like that, the turbulence had passed.
