iFear when iFly...finally, there's an app for that
Virgin Atlantic releases a Flying Without Fear app that features a panic button replete with breathing exercises.
(Credit: Virgin Atlantic)Virgin Atlantic has already worked to put passengers at ease with its Flying Without Fear course, which the airline claims has a whopping 98 percent success rate. So it only makes sense that Virgin would release the course in the far more mobile format of an iPhone app.
The $4.99 app features a video that guides the user, who may or may not be able to concentrate on said video, through an explanation of the flight process, frequently asked questions, and relaxation exercises.
There's even a fear attack button, replete with breathing exercises, for the lucky few whose palms haven't gotten so sweaty they've lost their death grip on their iPhone.
If you need persuading, surely Whoopi Goldberg can convince:
I was a skeptic. I hadn't flown in 13 years, but after doing their program, I understood that while my fear was real, there were many things I didn't know or had misinformation about, which they were able to clear up. So what happened? The program works. I now fly. It's that simple.
The app was designed with software company Mental Workout, which operates on the principle that fear is the mind killer, and that people who are more familiar with the aircraft they are in and the noises it is making are more prone to keep buying plane tickets.
"Our first iPhone app will bring the benefits of our successful Flying Without Fear course to millions of people around the world who are now using mobile technology to make their lives better," says Sir Richard Branson, president of Virgin Atlantic and the glowing guy with the perfectly wispy silver tendrils doing the intro video.
Oh yeah, and if you actually join the Flying Without Fear program, you get a nice little bonus of 2,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles. May you have the courage to use them.
Elizabeth Armstrong Moore is a freelance journalist based in Portland, Ore. She has contributed to Wired magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, and public radio. Her semi-obscure hobbies include unicycling, slacklining, hula-hooping, scuba diving, billiards, Sudoku, Magic the Gathering, and classical piano. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. 
The idea of using Whoopi Goldberg as a spokesperson is a way of saying you favor simple greed over true morals and values.
You're sending the wrong signal by using this child-rapist-apologist to speak for you. You're simply saying, "come fly with us, feel safe, and if your children get raped, hey, it's not really 'rape-rape'".
What do I care how 'safe' this child-rapist-apologist feels? What about my children? Are they safe on Virgin Atlantic?
Re-read her quote above, and take it in the context of her saying it about child rape. Imagine she's talking about child rape instead of fear of flying.
That's what everyone who knows she's a child-rapist-apologist feels about your company.
Feel dirty yet, Virgin Atlantic?
with 4.99, i would buy a beer and knock myself out on the plane :) feel nothing!
- by CaptTomBunnLCSW November 4, 2009 7:45 AM PST
- This ?app? is the same old stuff used at Pan Am in its course started in 1975 in a new wr-APP-er.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(9 Comments)It didn?t work then ? except for the mildest of cases ? and it doesn?t work now.
The basis for the course, breathing exercises which ? though useful on the ground, are useless for fear of flying in the air. The people who put this app together didn?t even bother to check the research which is at: http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/42/13/25
There are programs that offer effective advanced help for fearful flyers. Unfortunately, this is not one.