Seattle to Italy flight

Heavy turbulence is a pretty rare event. That flight was one of thousands that go out every day. It's extremely safe to fly or no one would do it...right? I still get a little white knuckled with taking off and landing. A little benadryl can sometimes help with a long flight and helping with anxiety. Traveling in May or October to Italy are pretty good times to go because tourist season isn't in full swing. I can't say whether turbulence would be better or not. Certainly better weather makes for less turbulence and flying at high altitudes usually puts you over much of the more turbulent air.

Keep in mind the world is round so the flight arc north toward Italy from Miami makes some sense to me. It may also be where they catch the Jet Stream to give a faster ride.

I don't think it's a 13 hour flight. I would say closer to 10 hours if you fly direct to Rome. I just looked into plane tickets out of Vancouver for $750 BTW.

I've crossed the Atlantic at least 70 times and I can't even count the times I've flown within North America. It's really impossible to predict whether or not you will experience turbulence. In my experience every single flight will experience some, but since pilots work hard to avoid it, it's nearly always light turbulence. I don't know if this will provide any solace, but in the many hundreds of flights I've experienced, only once I got a bit worried (on approach to Chicago O'Hare during a summer storm). All other times, turbulence has been rather gentle and uneventful.

In my experience I have encountered turbulence in winter more often than summer. Unless you fly through the East Coast or Chicago, where summer storms are common and therefore likely to shake the plane a bit.

In your shoes, I would look for a flight that goes directly from SEA to a European gateway, passing through the Arctic Circle route. I think SEA has a few flights via London, or Paris, or Amsterdam, that fits that bill. No guarantee you'll encounter zero turbulence, but if you fly the Arctic route the flight will be shorter, therefore your pain will last shorter. Other than that, just don't think about it. Flying is statistically the safest mode of transportation. Usually international flights offer free drinks. Take advantage of that perk, and after a few gulps, you won't even notice (or remember) that you are on a plane.

You have options. You could fly to the East coast and then take a second flight onward to Italy instead of the long non-stop trip. Makes the travel time longer, but does give you some time to get up and walk around, have a snack, check your email or whatever.

I have never done the polar route so I can't comment on the smoothness of that route, but turbulence is just a fact of flying. I have flown to Europe multiple times at various times of the year and have not found any specific season to be any more or less prone to turbulence. I have found that flying Europeans based airlines in larger planes (747 or A380) to be smoother. Could be coincidence.

Most of the people injured when flights experience turbulence are usually not wearing their seatbelts. Sure, the sign might be off, but is it really that ddifficult to keep the belt fastened? There are several reasons for flights from the US to Europe to go the northern route. Negotiated flight paths have historically gone that way because there were lots more places to land and refuel back when planes didn't have the range to make it all the way to Europe or back. The curvature of the earth actually makes the time of the flight shorter if you are leaving from somewhere like New York or Boston.

As the others have said, the incident with the Miami to Milan flight was very rare. There really isn't any way to pre-plan for turbulence; it's up to Mother Nature what she's going to throw at us on any given day. Pilots do their best to fly around trouble spots but sometimes a stretch of bumpiness can't be avoided. It usually doesn't last long!

Benadryl or Dramamine (not the non-drowsy kind) might be helpful. :O)

Excited,

I also fly from the west coast so can appreciate the travel times from this part of the world. Unfortunately there's no way to shorten that unless you make an intermediate stop somewhere (ie: New York) and that way the flight to Europe is shorter. However that just prolongs the agony and I find it's best just to get it over with in the shortest time possible.

In my experience, flights from the pacific northwest just about always use the polar route over Greenland. Given the number of flights that travel that route every day, a "highway in the sky" system is used and aircraft have to follow that along with predetermined altitude parameters (ie: even numbered altitudes west to east and odd numbered from east to west, or vice versa - can never remember). Flights from Miami use more of a trans-atlantic route, which explains why it diverted to Newfoundland. At the time the turbulence problem occurred, that was the closest airport.

Regarding the turbulence, that's exactly why I leave my seat belt buckled at ALL times during flights, except for brief times to use the WC or stretch my legs (which is a good practice on long flights). If the Pilot is aware of turbulence, they will activate the seat belt lights, but in some cases this occurs unexpectedly and even the Flight Attendants don't have time to prepare for it. I normally travel May/June or Sept./Oct. and I've never noticed much difference in the level of turbulence at any particular time of the year.

I also am someone who does not enjoy flying to say the least. What the heck keeps that tin can up there anyway???
Turbulance is terrifying for me but even a smooth ride makes me nervous. A few years ago I spoke to my doctor and he gave me some Ativan for the transatlantic flights.
I will never cross the Atlantic or any other ocean without it.
I take the tablet immediately after dinner and am able to rest some and even sleep for a couple of hours. I actually arrive and feel sort of like a human being. Talk to your doctor about this.

Hello Excited,

I travel once or twice a year to Norway and other parts of Europe. Compared to flying across the United States, I think there is much less turbulence on the polar route from Seattle - Europe. I get motion sickness very easily, but have not once had an issue on this longer flight. Also, it's not 13 hours, it's about 9-10hrs for the Seattle-Europe segment.

I think unstable air from storms bring the most turbulence and I had the worst experience on a TWA DC-9 flight out of St. Louis back in 1998. The second worst was my flight to Bozeman on a Horizon Q400 this past summer.

If you take the British Airways, Delta or Lufthansa direct to their respective hubs from Seattle, it makes for a much quicker and easier trip than if your flight is routed to another city in N. America first. All three are on large, more comfortable planes with individual movie screens, food and drinks. Also, on the trip back, you save time by not having to go through customs at a connecting airport if your flight goes direct from Europe to Seattle.

I bring my own eye mask, noise-cancelling headphones, take a Benadryl after they serve dinner, and before I know it I'm landing in Europe.

It's really not too terribly bad of a trip, just the time change that makes it so exhausting.

Good luck!
Nordheim

Greetings, fellow citizen of the Emerald City! We've flown to Europe five times, always direct to Europe, via Frankfurt, London, Paris, Amsterdam and Copenhagen (before SAS eliminated that one). You'll be happy to know that I can't remember any turbulence at all. First time was in September, and the four other times in April and May. You're not flying over any big mountain ranges which can be one cause of turbulence. It's the so-called polar route which flies over northern Canada which has no big cities and therefore no airports. That means there's LOTS of freedom for pilots to route around any severe weather. Of the various airports, we prefer Amsterdam, fwiw.

Happy travels.

I am just guessing here based on all I've read over the years, but turbulence, even extremely severe turbulence, doesn't cause fatalities, certainly not plane crashes, and rarely causes even mild injuries.

I know that doesn't really help the panic, but try to keep it in mind. And as Ken says, stay buckled up.

Hmmm. I actually like a little rock&roll, but not heavy turbulance. I figure there's plenty of distance to make adjustments.

I tend to keep my seat belt on, as Ken mentioned.

Flying in itself is so unpleasant that I don't really think about turbulance, but some of the suggestions here seem helpful. I might not mix booze and OTC or scrip meds, though.

I live in Seattle, too. But I love to fly, and actually enjoy turbulence. It's just an annoyance if it spills my drink.

You can not predict turbulence, so forget that.

As others have said, flying is incredibly safe - the most dangerous part of your trip will be the drive to Seatac.
I would suggest you just try to find a flight that minimizes the usual annoyances: cramped seats, surly service, dumb connections. etc. You will want to shop around for that - and don't just obsess on the lowest price - you'll end up "paying" for that in other ways (cramped seats, surly service, dumb connections...).

You will need to make at least one connection (there are no non-stop flights from Seattle to Italy). Your choice will be to connect either in North America (NY, Chicago, Atlanta, etc.) or in Europe (London, Amsterdam). Try real hard to avoid multiple connections. I'd suggest you go for a non-stop that's as long as possible, so you'll want a non-stop from Seattle to either Amsterdam or London (I'd pick Amsterdam - LHR is a clusterf*k of an airport), then connect to your destination. Try and see if you can sleep on the plane (do what you need to). The other option - fly to the US east coast, connect to a flight to Europe there, is much worse - you end up having two long flights, but neither one is long enough to get a solid block of sleep. Maximize one leg (SEA to Europe) and try to sleep as much as you can. Same thing on the way back - try to get one long flight (say, AMS to SEA).

Hint: if you can find a way to manage it, a seat in business class will make all the difference in how you feel upon arrival. Delta has non-stops from SEA to LHR and AMS, with a decent business class seat (converts to a lay-flat bed) that will allow almost anyone to actually sleep. You'll arrive in Europe feeling happy and ready to hit the ground running, rather than miserable and just aching to get off the plane and lie down. I flew one of these seats to London last summer and it made all the difference.

Really, don't worry about the bumps (or the course the plane takes). Nothing you can do about that and it's really not an issue.

Finally, if you want to make the flight to Europe less of an ordeal, I know of one sure-fire way: fly a couple of trips - in coach - from Seattle to/from Australia or SE Asia, preferably with a couple of connections. After spending 2-and-a-half days flying to that part of the world, a mere 10-hour hop to Europe feels like you're just popping down to the corner Safeway. Believe me, London or Rome suddenly feel a LOT closer after you've flown from Seattle to Jakarta or Rangoon a couple times...