First time flyer, what should I do for ease?!

First time flyer, what should I do for ease?

I have to go on a business trip and I have avoided flights for a reason. Fear of falling, burning, crashing, and if nothing else getting lost in the wrong city.

Don't be fearful. I'm sure you've heard this hundreds of times before, "you're safer in the plane, than in the car that got you to the airport". It's the absolute truth.

I have been a flight attendant for 23 years and have seen many, many passengers that are afraid to fly. The only thing I can suggest is to bring a good book or some great tunes on your mp3 player and just relax. Please don't do as some of the other answers have suggested like to use alcohol or drugs to calm you down. It's just not necessary and can potentially make things worse. Intoxicated/drugged passengers are not allowed to fly. Strike up a conversation with the person sitting next to you or put your head back and take a nap. You'll do just fine, I promise you. During the flight if you really get frightened just let the flight attendants know. They'll do everything they can to help you calm down.

You won't get lost in the wrong city. As careful as the airlines are these days you will not get on the wrong plane. In all my years I've only seen it happen once (in the 1980's) and when we landed everything was quickly taken care of.

Best of luck, and have a great trip!

Edit: I just heard on ABC News that there are 19,000 flights in the US alone per DAY. Think about how many flights there are in the entire world per day. That's a rather comforting figure to me.