Longer check-in times, DVT and heightened security makes flying seem increasingly offputting. This week's sites try to calm such fears.
Fear of Flying Course
Many sites sell books and videos purporting to help passengers (especially Americans) overcome their fear of flying. This one is an online tutorial which, unusually, is free. The author, Captain Stacey, works for a "major airline".
Airsafe.com
Extensive statistics on air safety, including fatality rates by plane and carrier (Cubana has the worst safety record). But for all the detail, the scope is limited: the budget European airlines and Middle East Airlines are unavailable, while the African carriers are mostly ignored.
Am I Going Down?
Cuts to the chase with a personalised statistical reading of your chances of dying on a particular route, plane and in a given month. Scarcely more comforting than a horoscope, but briefly interesting.
BAA
Chiefly useful for booking a parking space, maps of gates and, if you intend to eat, the range of restaurants and sandwich shops on offer. Also invaluable if - as is often the case - your ticket makes no mention of which Heathrow terminal the flight leaves from. Luton (london-luton.com) and Birmingham (bhx.co.uk) are not run by BAA, and have their own websites.
Air travel lingo
airtravel.about.com/library/misc/bllingo.htm
Explains the meaning of "bumping", different kinds of fares, and the perils of "illegal connections" - when you book a flight in two legs, but miss the second because the first was slightly late or you underestimated the time needed to make the connection.
Boots online
Sells flight accessories, including pillows, ear plugs and the Scholl socks now recommended by the Government.
BabyGoes2
babygoes2.com/main_getthere.asp
Tips for parents flying with very small children.
Deep vein thrombosis
nhsdirect.nhs.uk/nhsdoheso/display.asp?sTopic=Deepveinthrombosis
How the NHS defines DVT, the condition now deemed a risk for otherwise healthy women taking the Pill.
Seating plans for major carriers
corporatetravelsafety.com/Airline%20seat%20map.htm
Work out which part of the plane you will be sitting in (or lying in, for the fortunate).
Planespotting
Planespotters from all over the world have compiled this guide to the best vantage points for watching aircraft take off, land and taxi down runways. Avoid Athens.
