ABSTRACT
Air travel disrupts normal patterns of relationships. Interaction on board aircraft, both with known fellow travellers and strangers, the relationship with those left behind and those at the point of destination are all affected by the particular context. Anyone observing the greetings of arriving travellers at an airport will quickly become aware of the different and powerful emotions being expressed. Transitions perturb people. The perturbation may be exciting and welcomed or distressing and feared, or somewhere inbetween, but it will almost certainly take people out of their normal routines and away from their usual systems of support. Fears associated with flying, air rage, hijacking, bombs on planes and airline incidents and accidents, as well as the dramatic events of 11 September 2001, have contributed to anxiety about safety, both for travellers and those who care about them, as well as for the general public.
