This article is featured in Nine Travel and is republished with permission.
As a seasoned traveller, I've been on many international flights over the years and have always loved watching the inflight map to see how we're getting from A to B.
But on a recent flight, I found I was checking - if not staring at the tiny animated plane - on the screen far more often than I usually would.
And it had nothing to do with excitement over what countries we were flying over, but everything to do with what countries we weren't.
On June 20, I was sitting in Paris preparing to board my flight home to Australia.
We were travelling via Doha, Qatar, a region which has just seen its warning level increased as a result of the escalating Israel-Iran conflict. And the world was waiting to see whether US President Trump would step in against Iran.
Flying over and via the Middle East is part of the regular flight paths for many international airline routes between Europe and Australia, with common stopovers including Doha and Dubai. Right now, much of the airspace in that region has been closed.
I'm not usually an anxious flyer, but something about hearing accounts of airline pilots and passengers spotting missiles in the sky during a flight definitely added a layer of uncertainty to something I have done many times before.
Even before the flight, questions over delays and cancellations caused a few frantic Google searches.
I also checked the flight tracker site, Flightradar24, which follows flights in real time, many times before and during the flight (thanks to onboard Wi-Fi).
And it shows clearly that instead of following a trajectory straight down the Persian Gulf, planes from Europe to Doha, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi are flying further south over Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
That slight change in route did have some impact, with our arrival from Paris to Doha ending up a little delayed thanks to an increase in the flight time. We also felt the impacts of the adjustments on take-off, when there was another minor delay thanks to a backlog of aircraft needing to depart in the same direction.
Both times we crossed below the border of Israel it was almost like I was holding my breath (metaphorically speaking), until we were well past the region.
One thing I will say, though, is the airline staff, whether on the ground or the pilots and cabin crew in the air, instilled us with a sense of calm. It was very much business as usual for them, which definitely helped quell some of the uncertainty around the situation.
In the end, we landed safely back in Sydney mere hours before Trump confirmed a "very successful" strike on the region we had only just left behind.
Can I still fly to Europe via the Middle East?
So what should you do if you have a flight coming up to the Middle East? Is travelling to the region safe right now?
In a statement to the Sydney Morning Herald, Qatar Airways (part owner of Virgin Australia) said, "We are continuously monitoring and assessing the situation, and reacting in real-time to ensure we operate under the safest conditions possible at all times."
Singapore Airlines has cancelled some flights to Dubai, warning other flights may be affected "as the situation remains fluid." London-based British Airways also cancelled several flights to Dubai.
Smartraveller has updated its advice for Australians warning that the airspace closure around transit hubs in the Middle East "may impact flights globally".
"It may cause flight delays and cancellations," the website reads. "Your travel plans may be affected, even if your destination is not in the Middle East."
Passengers are advised to contact your travel agent or airline to confirm your flights, and check your travel insurance's policy on flight cancellations and travel advice level increases.
How airlines respond to major events
This latest conflict is an example of how airlines are constantly having to adjust according to a variety of situations.
It's not unusual for airlines to reroute flights to avoid disrupting services where safely possible, and cancelling flights is sometimes unavoidable.
Just last week, dozens of flights to and from Bali had to be cancelled after a major volcano eruption. Australian airlines Virgin, Qantas, and Jetstar were caught in the chaos, before flights resumed on Thursday with a backlog.
As mentioned above, the main thing to take note of if you are travelling via the Middle East soon is the length of your layover, and potentially having less time than you thought.
But if you're flying the same airline all the way to Europe on the same ticket, the airline should make arrangements for you to make your connection or get you on the next available flight if you miss it.
Dealing with flight anxiety
Of course, flight anxiety is nothing new for plenty of travellers. In fact, according to Australian Aviation, one in three Aussies have aviophobia, also known as a fear of flying.
Searches for advice on flight anxiety were already on the rise by more than 5000 per cent, according to Google data, after a string of deadly plane crashes earlier this year, likely fuelled even more after the tragic Air India crash this month.
Dr Sara Quinn, chief executive of the Australian Psychological Society (APS), said the feeling of helplessness contributes to a heightened fear of flying.
Humans often don't know how to cope with a loss of control, which can lead to panic and a "chain reaction" of fear responses, she explained to 9News. But there are plenty of ways anxious flyers can keep their fear at bay.
"The physical symptoms, the sweating, when your heart rate goes through the roof, and you have that overwhelming sense of anxiety, that can be incredibly distressing for somebody," she said.
"Learning how to manage your own breathing to decrease that level of distress is really important.
"A lot of the ways that we do that are through mindfulness strategies, relaxation techniques like deep breathing and square breathing, also progressive muscle relaxation."
It was an odd experience for me to feel so anxious before and during a flight but if there is one thing I take away from this, it is that some things are simply out of our control.
I won't let it stop me from travelling.
But I do think it's important to keep up-to-date with these kinds of situations we may encounter on our travels, if only so we're not surprised if our trip is impacted.