Hope for the fearful

[michigand]

Hello everyone, I flew from Minneapolis to Santa Ana California on Thursday, and just wanted to say a few things that I learned.

The jet stream that day was between 100-150knots all the way between the two points on the map, and all of the turbulence maps suggested a rough ride anywhere between 20000-40000 feet. I was expecting a pretty choppy ride for a few hours. However, the flight was as smooth as glass about 95% of the time, with only a few minutes of very very light chop mixed in. I used to be fearful and anxious of turbulence, but I think its important to have fun with it, and experience the beauty of nature. I've read about people canceling flights because of a rough forecast, well I just want the fearful flyers to realize that there is never a perfect forecast, and sometimes even the strongest jet streams can be as smooth as glass to fly in. (Even in an Airbus 319).

I flew Northwest airlines, and I will continue to vouch that they do the best job of communicating turbulence issues to passengers, as well as going around rough areas. So if you truly are afraid and feel like canceling, i suggest you either fly Northwest, or stick it out. Just remember that during the "cruise" phase only accounts for less than %3 of all air travel accidents.

[tb_neg]

Northwest is amazing, to be sure. I hope that Delta retains that part and philosophy of NWA when they merge. I flew about 30 flights with them a year for a couple of years, and they were all smooth. If Delta doesn't, then it will be a sad day, but if they retain it, than that culture will spread over a much larger airline.

[kingpenguin78]

I think people need to realize that just because a chart says that there is a risk (or not) of turbulence in a region, it doesn't guarantee they will experience what was in the forecast. Letting fear control your life is not a way to live, and cancelling a perfectly safe flight because of a forecast is an example of letting fear control you.

TB, what do you think the overall impact of making these charts more easily available to the public through this site has been? Do you think overall they have provided relief to passengers? I wonder how many people use the charts negatively to reinforce their fear of flying (i.e., they see a rough forecast chart, don't understand the phenominon and industry completely and make an uneducated decision)?