Never been on a plane before. Considering cancelling my trip because I would prefer to die than vomit. I have never had motion sickness from a car or a cruise ship, is it common for big aircrafts like the 777 (which I'm taking, Australia to Canada) to cause motion sickness? I've heard it's rare and much less common than cars and boats but I am just looking for confirmation.

Any help would be very appreciated before I cancel my trip due to fear.

If you have had no problem on a boat that was bobbing around in the sea, you should have no problem on a plane. I have gotten sea sick and never been sick on a plane. Flying to Canada from Australia should be a smooth cruise anyway.

Wedabest wrote:

I would prefer to die than vomit

Outstanding first post. Welcome to the board.

IPFreely wrote:

Wedabest wrote:

I would prefer to die than vomit

Outstanding first post. Welcome to the board.

Mental illness isn't always rational. I have severe Emetophobia.

You will not get motion sickness on a plane, especially a large one. Most of the time on a 777 Intercontinental flight you will not even feel like you're moving. You will definitely not have to vomit, even on a turbulent flight, turbulence isn't the sort of motion that will cause you to lose your stomach. The only periods that might cause motion sickness are at takeoff and landing, but I've never known anyone (even people who get extreme seasickness) to have that problem.

The irony is that your fear of vomiting might cause enough anxiety to cause you to vomit, but as soon as the plane has taken off you should settle down quickly. Definitely don't cancel a trip due to fear (you'll miss out on so much) and if you're not already, perhaps seek help.

dredgy wrote:

You will not get motion sickness on a plane, especially a large one. Most of the time on a 777 Intercontinental flight you will not even feel like you're moving. You will definitely not have to vomit, even on a turbulent flight, turbulence isn't the sort of motion that will cause you to lose your stomach. The only periods that might cause motion sickness are at takeoff and landing, but I've never known anyone (even people who get extreme seasickness) to have that problem.

The irony is that your fear of vomiting might cause enough anxiety to cause you to vomit, but as soon as the plane has taken off you should settle down quickly. Definitely don't cancel a trip due to fear (you'll miss out on so much) and if you're not already, perhaps seek help.

Thanks so much. I have sought help, I'm very treatment resistant and nothing much has worked. I'll probably just take some valium, calm down and try to get myself on the plane. thanks for your reply it has helped calm my nerves a bit.

Wedabest wrote:

Never been on a plane before. Considering cancelling my trip because I would prefer to die than vomit. I have never had motion sickness from a car or a cruise ship, is it common for big aircrafts like the 777 (which I'm taking, Australia to Canada) to cause motion sickness? I've heard it's rare and much less common than cars and boats but I am just looking for confirmation.

Any help would be very appreciated before I cancel my trip due to fear.

You could try something like this to help you sleep:

https://swisse.com/en-au/products/vitam ... oost-sleep

Unless there is turbulence - then it can be bumpy. But turbulence only ever happens when the coffee service begins.

You'll be fine. The 777 is a pretty decent thing to fly in, even rocket class on an Emirates 777-300/ER out of Venice was smooth on take off.

Out of all the planes I've flown, the A380 feels the smoothest even in rougher conditions. But the 777 is okay too.

Why not find some el-cheapo Tiger fare from wherever you are to somewhere else and back again and try it out?

Also "aircraft" is already plural.

IMO small turboprops are more likely to have nausea-inducing movements, specially in the rear. Commercial jets, even the "small" ones like the 50-seater CRJs, might bounce in turbulence, but in all my plane travel I've never had even mild nausea from movement, never mind actually vomiting. And I am somewhat prone to seasickness. You won't have a problem. unless you induce it yourself (drink too much, etc).

I only got seasick like once, and the only time I was sick on an aircraft, was on a DC-10 (but I suspect it was because of something I ate before the flight). Other than that, I've held my own. You'll be fine on a 777.

A couple of months ago I was on one of the first revenue flights of an AC 787. Several FAs and a couple of passengers started to get sick, enough for the "doctor on board" call and much fussing. Turns out there was a problem with some kind of stabilisation feature that was affecting people who were standing and walking around. Pilot fixed the problem and everything was fine. I suggest you stay in your seat while the plane is turning and/or climbing, and don't read. TV screens are OK, but I think reading is a bad idea if you are sensitive to motion.

You hardly ever see signs of motion sickness on modern airliners. People I have seen with problems were either ill or drunk. Usually the latter. Alcohol to reduce fear is a terrible idea.

Sit as close as you can to the wings and take some tryptophan to help you sleep.

Anywho, you hardly feel motion on big planes. On the 777 you only really feel it on takeoff and landing. When I flew on the A380 if I wasn't looking out the aindow, I wouldn't have known we were taking off!

dredgy wrote:

You will not get motion sickness on a plane, especially a large one. Most of the time on a 777 Intercontinental flight you will not even feel like you're moving. You will definitely not have to vomit, even on a turbulent flight, turbulence isn't the sort of motion that will cause you to lose your stomach. The only periods that might cause motion sickness are at takeoff and landing, but I've never known anyone (even people who get extreme seasickness) to have that problem.

The irony is that your fear of vomiting might cause enough anxiety to cause you to vomit, but as soon as the plane has taken off you should settle down quickly. Definitely don't cancel a trip due to fear (you'll miss out on so much) and if you're not already, perhaps seek help.

LOL - tell that to the guy 6 rows behind me who used the bag 13 times between KEF and YYC on a 2T B757 - his motion sickness got so bad that he elected not to continue on to YVR - and it was very smooth flight.

Ask my niece about getting air sick whenever she's on a plane - every single flight.

To the OP - can you get air sick on a plane? Absolutely! They have these little bags in the seat pocket in front of you for a reason. I wouldn't worry though, there are plenty of medications that one can take before hand - even plain old Gravol works for a lot of people.

Sit close to the middle of the aircraft, over the wings - its closer to the aircrafts centre of gravity so less prone to the ups and downs of the aircrafts attitude.

I hope you continue your journey to Canada. Im assuming its the AC 33/34 SYD to YVR. What you might want is to select a more central seat near the wing area and be at an aisle so you can go to the washroom if needed without delays. I would recommend telling the purser when you board of your anxiety a d they will usially keep an eye out for you and be quite supportive. I will saw though that this flight is one of the most turbulent. I have probably flown that route 20 return times or more and i can only recall one ocassion when it was totally smooth. There are a couple of hot spots you may want to be aware of so you can have already used the washroom and popped a pill. One is Hawaiian Islands some 4 hours away from Vancouver and the other is Fiji about three hours out of sydney. Good luck. Steve

Wedabest wrote:

Never been on a plane before. Considering cancelling my trip because I would prefer to die than vomit. I have never had motion sickness from a car or a cruise ship, is it common for big aircrafts like the 777 (which I'm taking, Australia to Canada) to cause motion sickness? I've heard it's rare and much less common than cars and boats but I am just looking for confirmation.

Any help would be very appreciated before I cancel my trip due to fear.

If you don't go you will never know. Don't cancel, just do it - then evaluate your experience. At least then you will have something to base any future flights on. I don't see that aircraft or route being a problem with motion sickness. IMHO smaller aircraft are more of an issue. Thanks for sharing re the emetophobia. I had heard of that condition but didn't know the name. Eating and drinking on board or before would also be a factor in this too?

Personally, I don't recall ever feeling sick on an aircraft - may be easy for me to say. I find if you sit down the back you may feel some lateral movement, compared to the middle or the front, as has been my experience in the past. I can confirm based on my personal experience that boats, and to a lesser extent cars, are much more of an issue with motion sickness than planes.

I often get sea sick on ships, but have never felt motion sick on an aircraft. Triple sevens are probably the most stable aircraft I've ever flown on. The only thing thats ever made me feel mildly nauseous on a flight was the smell of waffles or pastries or something baking up in business class, this happened to me twice, but I suspect that was more to do with jet lag and the effects of alcohol at altitude. Very strange as I quite like waffles and pastries.

Just adding my two cents. In general, if you are in a 777, it is as smooth as it get. If you seat in the rear it can be a little bit worse, but usually not enough to get you airsick.

Well, at least compare to those Fighter pilot flying RJs in US, it is definitely a lot smoother

Some people are prone to motion sickness, others not. In general, you know if you are.

If you're not, then a 777 isn't going to cause it for you.

However, flying on a plane for the first time can probably be a little disconcerting. Most of us here probably did it so long ago that we don't remember. I do remember my first flight, but it was more than 40 years ago and I was about 4 years old. I have images of it in my head but I don't remember how it actually felt.

But I know how flying feels to me now, and there are sensations that you normally don't get anywhere on the ground. Once you're at cruise, provided the air is relatively smooth then the feeling is a little like being on a big ship on a relatively calm ocean. But there's no really good analog to the feel of turbulence, or some of the acceleration effects, particularly when you start up or down. Some sensations you'd really only get on something like a roller coaster, though they're much less violent in an airplane. Some people describe turbulence as being like a car going over a rough road, but it's much less predictable and also can feel oddly "solid" when you know it's supposed to just be air out there. If you hit the wake of another plane, for example, it can feel like you've collided with something. That's uncommon, though, so you probably won't feel it on your first flight.

The only time I came close to getting sick on a plane was on my second flight after a 14.5 hour first flight, and it was pitch dark outside so I couldn't get my bearings. After that amount of time flying, your inner ear can start to get a little confused as to how you're oriented. That entire second flight, I had no idea which way was up. I felt us ascending but it felt like we never stopped. I felt us turning and again it felt like we never stopped. So from that point forward, it just felt like we were tumbling through the air. If you have inner ear problems, then that could be the case with you. But in that situation, I think you'd get motion sickness very easily from any source.