I'm a flight attendant...here are my tips to get over your fear of flying
A woman who became a flight attendant 'to beat the fear of flying' has revealed her top tips for anxious flyers.
Cierra Mistt is a flight attendant who regularly shares airplane hacks online with guides on how to get a free upgrade to first class and why she never boards a plane without wearing sunscreen.
But this time, the former professional dolphin trainer has some fresh advice for those who struggle with air travel, and how these simple-yet-effective methods could help put their mind at ease.
Posting to her 3.3 million TikTok followers, Ms Mistt began by offering some quirky myth-busting on turbulence, one of the most common causes of passenger distress while airborne.
By comparing air pressures at ground level and 30,000 ft to the thickness of water and jelly, the flight attendant hoped to give some relief to those who panic when an aircraft gets bumpy.
'Think of this as the air that we live and breathe on the ground,' she said, while pointing to the glass of water.
Dropping her prop plane into the glass, it splashes straight to the bottom due to the the lack of thickness in water, which she says is comparative to how some people imagine turbulence affects a plane.
However, when dropping her prop plane into the jelly - a far thicker substance - the flight attendant explains how this is far more comparable to air pressure at 30,000 ft.
Cierra Mistt compared the thickness of air pressure at 30,000 ft to that of jelly while offering a quirky display of myth-busting to appease nervous flyers
In Ms Mistt's TikTok, she shows how turbulence can cause the aircraft - and its people - to sway, but not to worry too much as the aircraft itself will hold firm
'The air pressure way up there is a lot more concentrated than it is on the ground level,' she said while shaking the cup of jelly, which holds the 'plane' firm.
'It would take a lot to swoosh you down, so just picture flying around in jello'.
Another key piece of advice Ms Mistt shared is to look out for any off-duty flight attendants or pilots on board.
These staff, she says, are either heading to work or travelling home and use the flight to take them there.
So when a bit of turbulence or dizzying heights causes panic, Ms Mistt recommended looking to these staff for reassurance - something she even admitted to doing herself at times.
'Look over to the off-duty flight attendant or pilot in their seats and see what they're doing,' she said.
'Flight attendants will typically be asleep or on their phone while pilots will typically be on their iPad, sleeping, or flirting with the other passengers and flight attendants.
'The only time you really have to worry is when you look over to them and they look out the window while looking concerned'.
Ms Mistt is from Florida but now lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she met her boyfriend who is a Korean Mormon.
The flight attendant previously shared how the couple blend their different lifestyles to make their relationship work despite her liking 'drinking, doing the dirty, and basically everything else a Mormon is not supposed to do'.
