Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes never travel together

Jan 25, 2009, 8:50 GMT

01/23/2009 - Kate Winslet - \'The Reader\' actress and her director spouse Sam Mendes insist on travelling separately because they are terrified of being involved in an air crash which would leave their children - Mia, Kate\'s eight-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, and five-year-old son Joe - without their parents. © David Gabber / PR Photos

Kate Winslet and her husband refuse to fly together.

'The Reader' actress and her director spouse Sam Mendes insist on travelling separately because they are terrified of being involved in an air crash which would leave their children - Mia, Kate's eight-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, and five-year-old son Joe - without their parents.

A spokesperson for the couple, who recently worked together on 'Revolutionary Road', said: "Where possible, Kate and Sam do prefer to travel in separate planes.

"It is not always possible but, for obvious reasons regarding the children, they do travel separately when they can."

The couple's phobia is said to stem from different air incidents they were involved in.

Before an amendment to his travelling plans, Sam, 43, was originally booked onto the plane from Washington to Los Angeles that was hijacked by terrorists on September 11 2001. The aircraft was deliberately crashed into the Pentagon Center, headquarters of the US Department of Defence in Virginia, killing all 64 people on board the plane and 125 in the government building

A month later, Kate, 33, and Mia were flying from London to Dallas when a passenger claiming to be an Islamic terrorist stood up and screamed: "We're all going to die", forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing to have the man arrested.