The best fear of flying courses in 2026

A fear of flying course takes the thing you dread and slowly makes it ordinary. A pilot explains how the plane flies and what each noise is. A psychologist teaches you what anxiety does in your body and how to settle it. Many courses then end on a real flight, so you practise with people who know exactly what you're feeling.

We make FlyNest, an app, not a course. The courses below were compared from their official websites on 24 October 2026, using the same criteria for each. Prices and dates change often, so check the course site before you book. We did not take these courses ourselves and we don't score them: the success rates some providers publish are their own figures, not independent studies.

Practical answer

• Best one-day course with a flight (UK): British Airways Flying with Confidence, a morning with a pilot, an afternoon with a psychologist, then a short flight on a BA jet. From £399 at Heathrow and £299 in Glasgow for the next listed dates.
• Best low-cost online course: easyJet Fearless Flyer, about 2.5 hours online in 16 modules with a senior easyJet captain and a phobia expert, from €97. Live UK courses are also available.
• Best for a guided, one-to-one program at home: SOAR, created in 1982 by an airline captain who is also a licensed therapist: video lessons plus phone counseling, $595 for the four-section program.
• Best if you live in the Netherlands: VALK, a two-day training in Dutch with psychologists and a KLM pilot, ending on a KLM return flight within Europe.
• Best when fear is severe or comes with panic attacks: talking therapy such as CBT with a qualified therapist, which the NHS lists as a treatment for phobias.

Not ready to book anything yet? Our step-by-step plan, how to get over your fear of flying, covers what you can start on your own this week.

How we picked

We kept courses that:

1. Are built for fear of flying, not general anxiety or travel tips.
2. Involve aviation professionals or qualified therapists (or both), named on the provider's own site.
3. Can be booked now, with current options or dates on the official site in October 2026.
4. Say clearly what you get: format, length and price, or how to get a price.

For each one we read the official pages and noted format, who teaches it, price and where it runs. We left out courses we could not confirm as currently running: for example, we couldn't find a current booking page for Virgin Atlantic's former Flying Without Fear course on Virgin's website. If you find one, check its dates directly with the airline.

Comparison table

British Airways Flying with Confidence

The best-known course in the UK. On its site the course says its ground content has been presented "for the last 35 years". The standard day, called Primary, has a morning technical session, an afternoon psychology session, then a short flight on a BA jet, with an extra pilot on the flight deck giving a running commentary.

• Who it suits: people in the UK who want a single, structured day that ends with the thing they fear, surrounded by people who understand it.
• Options: Primary (from £399 at Heathrow on 21 November 2026, £299 in Glasgow on 20 March 2027), Primary Plus with a group of 10 (£799), Premium for up to four people with two scheduled BA flights (£1,595), a private one-to-one day (price by phone), and a flight-only option (£179 at Heathrow, £149 in Glasgow).
• Online: 11 video topics with BA captain Steve Allright, from turbulence and flight controls to "sounds and sensations" and anxiety, about an hour and a half in total. 30 days for £79.99, 3 months for £149.99, 12 months for £199.99, one-off payment. The first two topics are free when you register.
• Limits: dates fill up (two of the listed Heathrow Premium dates were fully booked), and the day course means travelling to Heathrow, Glasgow or Edinburgh.

The site's footer names the operating company as Aviatours Fly Without Fear Ltd, under the British Airways Flying with Confidence name.

easyJet Fearless Flyer

easyJet's course has been running since 2012, according to its FAQ. The online version takes about 2.5 hours over 16 modules: a senior easyJet captain covers how flying works, and Lawrence Leyton, a phobia expert, teaches the psychological techniques. The live course in the UK covers the same content and adds an optional flight.

• Who it suits: people who want to start cheaply and privately, at home, and maybe move on to the live day later.
• What's included: the Premium online package adds lifetime access, a "Captain's Commentary" audio to play when you travel, a panic attack video course and talk-down audio, an "Ask the Pilot" advanced course and a relaxation system. Basic has 30-day access and most of the extras.
• Price: €167 for Premium (shown as half the normal €334) or €97 for Basic on the site in October 2026. Live course prices are in a brochure on the site.
• Limits: live courses run only in the UK. The site says the course has a success rate "of over 95%" and has helped over 10,000 people: those are easyJet's own figures.

SOAR

SOAR was founded in 1982 by Captain Tom Bunn, a retired airline captain and licensed therapist. It is a home program: video lessons you can watch online or download, plus counseling by phone with Captain Tom. The four sections cover the psychology of flight anxiety, controlling anxiety, how flying works, and the airport.

• Who it suits: people who want a personal, one-to-one approach without a group day, wherever they live.
• Price: $595 for the four-section SOAR program with counseling, on the SOAR store in October 2026. A Guaranteed SOAR Program includes all videos and two hours of counseling with a full refund if you aren't satisfied with your improvement after you fly; its price wasn't shown on the page we checked.
• Limits: no group flight. The program's pages are long and detailed, so it helps to like learning by video and phone.

We compared SOAR's app with FlyNest in more depth in FlyNest vs SOAR.

VALK

VALK is a Dutch non-profit with partners including KLM and Schiphol. Its name comes from the Leiden university and KLM collaboration that started it, and it has treated fear of flying for more than 35 years. The two-day training has a maximum of 8 people, a psychologist and a volunteer KLM pilot in every group, a visit to a KLM hangar and cabin simulator, then a regular KLM return flight to a destination within Europe. A follow-up meeting comes about three months later.

• Who it suits: people in the Netherlands, or who speak Dutch, and want a clinical program with real follow-up.
• Also available: Zerophobia, a blended program at home: a virtual reality app on your own phone with a cardboard viewer, plus three 30-minute video calls with a VALK therapist, for €200 all-in.
• Limits: sessions are in Dutch, and the two-day training starts with an intake interview; the price is on a separate page.

CBT with a therapist

Courses work well for many people, but they aren't the only road. The NHS lists talking therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) among the treatments for phobias, and says you can refer yourself directly to an NHS talking therapies service without seeing a GP first (in England). CBT for a phobia usually means learning how fear builds, then facing it step by step at your own pace. Read more in our guide to aerophobia.

• Who it suits: anyone whose fear is severe, comes with panic attacks, or sits alongside other anxiety. If fear is stopping you from living your life, a GP or therapist is the right first call.
• Limits: waiting lists can be long, and not every therapist knows aviation, so pairing therapy with a pilot-led course or reading can help.

FlyNest (our app)

FlyNest isn't a course, and it doesn't replace one. It is a companion for the part a course can't come along for: your own next flight. Before you go, a calm pre-flight plan walks you through the days ahead. On board, you can ask Nesty, the pocket captain, "what was that noise?", follow your flight on a map that works offline, and play a guided meditation made for takeoff, turbulence or landing.

• Who it suits: people who have done a course, or are about to, and want the same calm voice on every trip afterwards.
• Limits: no live pilot, no therapist and no group flight. It's on Android now; the iPhone version is coming to the App Store.
• Price model: app by subscription. Our turbulence forecast for any route is free on the web.

How to choose

• You want to face it in one go, with experts beside you: British Airways Flying with Confidence (UK) or VALK (Netherlands).
• You want to start privately and cheaply: easyJet Fearless Flyer online, or the Flying with Confidence online course.
• You want one-to-one help and live far from the UK: SOAR's program with counseling.
• Fear is severe, or you have panic attacks: start with a GP or a CBT therapist, and add a course later if you like.
• You have a flight booked soon: read flight anxiety: symptoms, causes and 9 tips tonight, and bring a companion app for the flight itself.

Whatever you pick, the facts underneath are steady. Flying is one of the safest ways to travel, as the yearly numbers in what are the chances of a plane crash? show, and the bumps that scare most people are rarely dangerous for a belted passenger (is turbulence dangerous?).

Frequently asked questions

Do fear of flying courses work?

Many people say they do, and courses that combine aviation facts, anxiety techniques and a real flight follow the same approach therapists use for phobias: understand the fear, then face it step by step. The success rates on course websites (over 95% for easyJet, for example) are the providers' own figures, not independent studies, so treat them as encouraging rather than guaranteed.

How much does a fear of flying course cost?

On the official sites in October 2026: online courses from €97 (easyJet Fearless Flyer) or £79.99 (Flying with Confidence, 30 days); a British Airways one-day course with a flight from £299 to £399; SOAR's home program $595; VALK's Zerophobia VR program €200. Therapy for phobias is free on the NHS in England through talking therapies.

Is there a fear of flying course with a real flight?

Yes. British Airways Flying with Confidence ends with a short flight on a BA jet, easyJet's live UK courses offer an optional flight, and VALK's two-day training ends with a KLM return flight within Europe.

Can I do a fear of flying course online?

Yes. easyJet Fearless Flyer and Flying with Confidence both have online video courses, and SOAR is a home program of videos plus phone counseling. VALK's Zerophobia uses a virtual reality app at home, in Dutch.

Is a course better than an app?

They do different jobs. A course teaches you, often with a real flight at the end. An app like FlyNest stays with you on every flight afterwards, offline, for the moments when the fear comes back. Many nervous flyers use both.

Sources

• Flying with Confidence, course options and prices
• Flying with Confidence online course
• easyJet Fearless Flyer
• SOAR, fear of flying help since 1982
• SOAR program package
• Stichting VALK, two-day fear of flying training (Dutch)
• Stichting VALK, Zerophobia training (Dutch)
• NHS, Phobias
• FlyNest on Google Play