Pls pls help.Single mom traveling with son LAX to Philippines.Pls HELP :c

[kimy0907]

EDIT BY PASSENGER MARK

I made a copy of this post over to the main forum to address Kimmy's FOF issues, and left this section for the technical questions.



:(Hi fellow members and Captain Hutch!
Greetings!Im in dire need of help.I don't know if you've encountered anyone like me,but Ive had several WEEKS of anxiety and nightmares due to my incoming trip to the philippines.

Im actually frm the philippines,taking a vacation now with my son here in LA.We were supposed to leave for manila Jan 28th,but i kept on postponing because I REALLY am terrified of the turbulence.

This will be the first flight ill be flying alone with my 1 year old son,or let alone with a child,so this makes me more terrified than i already am.Usually I take sleeping pills(which never worked) but now,i need to be up the whole 17hour flight to look after my son.I so cant take it.Just the mere thought of it makes me wanna cry,im not kidding.

The thing is,i cant postpone any further,as Ill be reaching my 6th month soon,and The least i need is a problem re-entering the US on my next trip.

Ive encountered a couple of yurbulences,but I had one wch i can NEVER forget and made me traumatized. I was 8months pregnant ,going to LA (this was late nov of last last year) and Goodness,i almost almost gave birth on the plane.It was sso scary that everytime i think of it i get panic attacks.. I can never forget that flight(via Philippine AirLines).

I heard that turbulence during winter is worse,so with this flight, i was waiting for the end of winter or pre-spring,wishing that it would be a better flight for me and my son.

I keep postponing my flight going home now,but my final date is on march 7th,with or without turbulence. Dnt get me wrong,ive had several nightmares about it already.

Ive disturbed you guys enough,but my question is, is march 7th(pre-spring) okay to travel?would there be less turbulence? and when in the time of the year would be the best time to visit LA(manila to LA via PAL)? your advice will deeply affect my future decisions.

pls pls help me.id value any reply.I might be the worst fearful flyer you'll ever meet online.

Thanks so so so much.

Kim

P.S: Now that the US is expecting severe thunderstorms,will it in any way affect my transpacific flight? I so wanna move it to a later date.pls pls give me advice :(

[Captain Hutch]

Hi Kim,

I'm glad that you came to this website--I am impressed myself with the expertise that I see our moderators display.

I think it would be advantageous to use the letter of introduction to meet the pilot and ask him directly about the prospects for turbulence. I personally haven't flown the Pacific, but my guess is that your route of flight will avoid the jetstream since that would amount to a large headwind when traveling west. And avoiding the jetstream would give you a slightly better chance of less turbulence, as we have discussed on a couple of the other threads. Also, realize that your pilot will look for smooth cruise altitudes as he talks to air traffic conrol and listens to the reports of other pilots. Additionally, as has been mentioned, turbulence associated with thunderstorms can usually be avoided, either visually or by using the radar. All that being said, sometimes the turbulence is just unavoidable, and hopefully it won't last too long. One more word about the jetstream--I checked a map of where the jetstream is located at this particular time, and though it is further south over the US as it tends to do over the winter, over the Pacific Ocean it seemed to be quite a bit north so as to not affect your route of flight going west. Once again however, your pilot should have a good handle on this.

Kim, good luck with your flight and please let us know how it goes--I believe it should go fine.

Hutch :)