Can People with Asperger's Syndrome travel AirPlanes alone

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Flying in a jet airplane does not bother me whatsoever. Flying in a single engine plane where I am sitting in the cockpit along with the pilot does freak me out, the noise in unpressurized cabins is bothersome as well. At least on a jet plane I can just pretend I am in a room or a vehicle and don't have to look outside. I do hate being cramped though, some air liners are like sardine cans. I need my personal space, or I get agitated.

Earplugs in the airport.
Earplugs on the plane.
Earplugs on the bus.
Earplugs on the train.
If you get bright colored earplugs, people won't try to talk to you as much.
That is how I travel.

Why wouldn't we be able to?

I've flown a few times, two round trips alone and one with my husband. I did not like any of them. I apparently am terrified of flying and didn't know this until the plane took off the first time I flew. I had been excited up to that point. So, when I switched planes in Atlanta (You can't get anywhere without going through Atlanta, not even Heaven or Hell), I had about four shots of whiskey in one of the airport bars first. Made it a little easier. From then on I've either had a few drinks or a xanax or both before flying. No, I wasn't drunk and nobody could tell I had drank much of anything. I know now they don't let you on a plane drunk, but back then they did. I hated the fact you can't smoke on planes anymore too. It would have helped. I'm afraid of crashes.

Funny story, coming back from Minnesota the last time I flew, I had a laptop in a case. This was in 2000. The lady at the xray thing told me I was randomly selected for extra searching so ok. They patted me down and she started rubbing something over the laptop case. i asked what was that for and she said "Explosives" I yelled EXPLOSIVES???? WHAT THE f**k!?!?!?! and freaked out and they had to talk soft to me and calm me down. Of course now they woudln't let me fly, but I was terrified there was a threat or something. Apparently it was just precautions. I was totally ok with precautions. But not telling me so bluntly like that so I assumed even more could happen than a crash.

But yeah, we can travel alone. I've also traveled on a train alone and driven through several states alone. I'm pretty self sufficient and barring any kind of intellectual disability or physical handicap, I'd imagine most people could be. Of course it could be nerve wracking for some people who never do that but that doesn't mean they couldn't do it. What exactly are you afraid would happen?

It is scary to be given extra screening in the US. And stupid the way they do it is so random they are more interested in not LOOKING prejudiced than actually not being prejudiced. Toddlers and children in wheelchairs headed nowhere special get singled out.....

I reminded myself to stay very calm on the outside because they were panicking a bit over me. I think they don't like people who seem odd and I don't look at all threatening but still I think they found me odd and they did not like that. But I tried to act calm and after they did the pats downs they let us fly.

I wouldn't mind it at all. In fact I'f probably feel safer. Of course I wish they would do that to everyone. Maybe have bomb sniffing dogs and all that. Or maybe I'll just not fly lol.

We might just be very different OOM. I don't feel the slightest bit safer they patted me down all over crotch and other parts included in front of my children and whoever felt like watching and then moved on to my teenager. I couldn't watch but I think the lady might have gotten embarrassed and spared my younger child, who was last, feeling over her crotch.

Why do we permit children we teach no one but a doctor or nurse should ever touch you without your permission there to be groped in public over random screenings? Come to think of it, why was the TSA lady acting embarrassed? Because we are not safer for this. Thoughtless random screenings are thoughtless and random and only upset innocent people, likelihood of actually stopping something bad is minimal, and this is way too many resources going down the drain that could be going into something useful. People act like sheep and pretend we need this, when reality is we are no safer for it. Probably less for the distraction.

Feeling for weapons isn't groping, and if we exclude those areas then that's where people will stash weapons. Cops do it to when they pat you down. You aren't actually feeling them that way, you are feeling for something that shouldn't be there. Also, I believe you have to have a female pat down another female and vice versa. So I don't really see the problem.

If you think that's invasive, try going to jail sometimes. Stiping down naked in front of a lady, squatting over a mirror and coughing and having somebody feel up your butt is not fun.

Also, they pat you down when you go to visit somebody in prion too. People aren't getting off on it usually, although I'm sure there is the one odd duck that got the job so they could do it, but overall, it's just another day at the office I suppose.

I hate flying. It is not always about the actual flight, it can be about the prerequisites. I really hate it when CBSA agents touch my stuff to check for contraband. Even though I know it is necessary for national security, it stresses me out. I hate waiting too, it is very stressful.

The flight can be okay if it's quiet. However usually my ears ache afterwards.

I disagree and no matter how many times you write what you think, I disagree.

Also cops rarely pat down children and never randomly.

However, I may have written poorly, I was not meaning to say I think they get off on patting people down, I was trying to say I think it seemed to me it is unpleasant for them and they don't want to have to do it. Certainly they seem to use the same gender, that's nice but you can easily be patted down by someone who is gay.....I'm not thinking they get off on it though, either way, I think most people wouldn't get off on pawing someone who is helpless to resist.

I see it as a big problem and as a waste of resources that could be put into something that's actually useful. The fact that it doesn't bother you doesn't mean it's ok. I don't think they should be doing his. And it doesn't appear from what I've read that the random searching makes us safer. That's my point, not that you've never suffered, just that this does not appear to actually make us safer.

I would have been a flight risk and unable to board the plan en route to Toronto if it wasn't for my mother.

I needed a clean box to put my headphones, paper, pens etc. in due to my OCD. The only thing I could fine was a "V for Vendetta" mask box. I was so oblivious that I actually decided it would be appropriate to bring it on the plain. My mother told me I couldn't bring the box because I might be detained. I just didn't bring my stuff.

I've flown lots of times alone. Here are some tips.

I am bothered more by the airport than the plane--I don't like the crowds and lines. Once I'm in the air, I relax because I know the safety record for airlines is pretty good. I find traveling during non-rush times is best (mid-day or evening), and out of smaller airports. I get smaller crowds that way. I use the kiosk to check my luggage so I don't have to stand in line.

I prefer the X-ray to the pat-down--that way, the one who is traumatized is the TSA agent who has to look at my body. I don't care what they see. (and it's supposed to just be an outline anyway)

Certain airlines are better than others: I love Virgin Atlantic, United and Southwest are good, Spirit is bad, American and American Eagle are awful. There may be better but I can't afford them.

Earplugs, earbuds, or headphones are a must. I listen to my music, do puzzles, or read--anything to stay distracted. If I am not able to read or listen to music for some reason, I make lists in my head: names of birds, movies, cities alphabetically, anything.

Don't sit in the last four rows of the airplane--there's a jet in the tail and it makes it really noisy.

I wait until everyone else gets off to leave so I don't have to content with the crowd.

I think that the executive functioning problems a lot of us have makes things like this more difficult, on a practical level, than it would normally be for someone who otherwise has the same physical and intellectual abilities. Like, I can't even take care of myself as a functional adult, and now I've got to figure out an airport?!

But, yeah, it's not impossible. Even I've done it, and it wasn't even all that horrible.

Hypersensitivity and a dislike of unfamiliar situations could make it more difficult on an emotional level, but that's probably not going to make a difference between "can" and "can't" unless it's so bad that you have an anxiety attack or emotional breakdown or something.

What I'm sure made a big difference for me was that, maybe a year before, I'd traveled on an air plane with a family member. The home airport was the same both times. That gave me a lot of knowledge about what to expect before I had to handle it on my own. So if you have never flown, or have only flown when you were a small child, maybe take a trip with someone before you jump into it solo.

I've flown dozens of times, but always with my family, and once with my friend and her mom; I've never flown by myself before, and I'd be very anxious to try. I hate the security lines; they always make me feel like a criminal, even though I've never done anything wrong.

In the past I mainly traveled by plane to other European cities (mainly Eastern Europe). The first time I did, it was a bit unusual, and how are things going? Later on it got usual, but because the flights are short, I tend to think it is something like a touristic attraction... until you land, then you have to realize that you are in the country of destination.

Later on I traveled alone from the Netherlands to the United States (Fort Lauderdale) and to South Africa (to Johannesburg/from Durban). The next flight will again to South Africa (to Johannesburg/from Cape Town).

The trip to Florida was the most complicated:
- travel by train from my parents' house to Schiphol (near Amsterdam);
- flight from Schiphol to Atlanta (US);
- flight from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale;
- stay one night in a hotel in Fort Lauderdale. I was really, really exhausted, and very glad I could sleep there;
- travel from the hotel to the cruiseship in Port Everglades;
- travel from the cruiseship to airport Fort Lauderdale;
- flight from Fort Lauderdale to Atlanta (I had some transfer issues. New York was closed because of heavy snowfall, Memphis was not an option because of too much delay due to technical problems, it finally got to be Atlanta);
- flight from Atlanta to Schiphol;
- travel by train from Schiphol to my parents' house.

yes. I fly alone regularly. I do get a little altitude sickness which generally takes me a day to get over.

I have Asperger's Syndrome and I've been flying by myself on planes since I was about 8 or 9 years old. It tends to be a little tense when you first get to an airport (checking to see if the flight's on schedule, checking bags, going thru security while taking your shoes off and your laptop out of your bag, etc) but I find that after all of that's behind you, you can relax, especially if you have time to wait before you start boarding. If I'm near a Hallmark or one of those airport gift shops that cater to young kids, sometimes I'll go and pick out a "flight buddy" like a Beanie Baby or some other small, inexpensive plushie.