Plenty of people are scared of flying. There’s certainly no shame in it assuming that you don’t wet yourself at the sound of the landing gear retracting. Everyone has their own way of coping with aerophobia. For some it’s alcohol, for others it’s drugs and for many, it’s the power of prayer. I’m sure plenty of you pray prior to flights, but up until I flew from Bali to Jogjakarta, I had never seen a formal in-flight invocation card printed by an airline. Thanks to Lion Air, however, we can now see how peoples of several faiths can cover all of their bases before ascending to 30,000 feet and hurdling through the air at several hundred miles per hour.
Whether you’re Muslim, Catholic, Hindu, Buddhist or Protestant (sorry, Jews, Sikhs, Pagans and Rastafarians), Lion Air’s got you covered when it’s time to bless your flight in the hopes of a safe voyage.
The invocation card provides blessings in the languages of the specific faiths as well as some fantastic English translations. While they all differ slightly, the gist of each is “Dear, [insert deity], please get us to our destination safely, make sure our flight crew isn’t drunk and thanks for the lift.”
I don’t pray before flights (or during flights, after flights or in between flights). I usually just buckle up, assert my dominance of the armrests and fall asleep before takeoff.
What about you? Do you pray for safe passage to your destination? Share your experiences in the comments.
To view larger images of both sides of the invocation card, click the thumbnails below.
Author’s note: Yeah, yeah, I see that the invocation card says “Please do not remove from the aircraft.” Such warnings have never stopped me before.
