- 3D eye mask
- in ear noise cancelling headphones
- zip up travel hoodie
Most long haul flight have seats with decent head rests but for shorter flights I want to sleep on, I use a soft cervical collar. More comfortable without it on but it means you don’t wake up with your head in a weird position and sore neck.
3D eye masks mean your eye lashes aren’t brushing against the eye mask.
I prefer in ear headphones as it means you can rest your head against the window or whatever, it is more comfortable and you don’t get buzzing from the plane being carried through.
I got a great travel hoodie that has heaps of pockets, some on the inside, a big hood with a fold down flap for extra darkness, ensures a comfortable temperature etc.
For shorter trips I’d recommend a moisture wicking long sleeve top to help keep you at a comfortable temperature but not take up space in your bag.
Edit: The hoodie I got years ago and still have was a Burton Sleeper Hoodie, sadly it seems they have stopped making them?
Other than business class?
Yeah, other than an upgrade 😄
Silicone water bottles take up no space and travel well. Extra leg room seats in normal economy are usually narrower than normal seats due to the table and entertainment. Also no unseat storage, but it’s less of a concern because once the flight is in air can just get your bag down.
I’m 190cm tall and 150kg. I just survived an 11hr flight on Turkish air boeing 777, following an 6hr flight on a Airbus a330 in economy on both. The Airbus was more comfortable. But Dramamine is your friend.
If you’re flying internationally, look up to see if you get free alcohol.
I was stretching during my long flight and the flight attendant totally hooked me up multiple times with fun drinks.
Any kind of headphones that block out some noise. Even if they aren’t noise cancelling, if they reduce the sound coming in just by physically being there, it’s nice.
A hoodie with a massive hood, if you like hoodies.
I prefer sandals and socks, so I can take them off quickly. But that depends on your luggage situation.
Steam deck
I was concerned about battery life with my international trips that I mostly played classic/retro looking games. the flight I had didn’t have outlets, only USB ports which did slow trickle charging.
im glad I did because I was at 10% power left after like 5 hours of gaming.
I normally mix in some retro games with an inflight movie and it usually covers the time. I also have a phone with some music and a kindle loaded with books using calibre
When I flew intl I asked a doc to give me a prescription for two zanax (one each way) to be super chilled out and ended up asleep most of the way. Not sure if that’s common, but I think it might be worth asking. Note: had we had an emergency landing, I would not have been able to protect myself, but that’s because I mixed it with a bit of alcohol (which you should not do).
Going alone? On a wide body if the middle has 4 or 5 seats, move to an inside aisle seat next to a couple or group of three, respectively. They’re more likely to disturb each other to get up for bathroom breaks than you. If you can do this with one seat between, that seat will be one of the last to fill.
I love me some window seats, but on the long haul it sucks to have to wake peeps to go take a piss.
Do get up and walk the plane. Your legs will thank you.
Buy a little sign that sticks on your seat to let the flight attendants know to wake you for food or do not disturb.
Steam Deck + noise cancelling headphones.
I haven’t worked out the sleeping part yet, but will be scouring the comments here for ideas.
Sleeping is hit or miss for me. I find the smaller/shorter you are the more likely you can sleep well, bit if you break out all the tricks it may be possible for tall folks too.
I listed my tips elsewhere, but slip off shoes, using the headrest wings, noise cancelling headphones with background non-verbal music, and maybe an eyemask give you good odds I suppose.
A neck pillow and cookie package. A pair of headphones for your device and a power bank.
Power banks are not allowed to be used on most long haul flights I’ve been on (trans-pacific), and when transiting through China they even confiscate them if they are over a certain capacity, but all flights have AC plugs at each seat.
Not sure about US companies, but I’ve never seen an AC plug on European and Asian companies’ airplanes. They do have USB ports but they’re underpowered (barely enough to keep my battery at the same level while playing music on BT headphones) or straight up don’t work. Ask a flight attendant in the latter case, they’ll reboot your screen which might fix the issue.
Yeah, make sure it’s not above a certain voltage. You can find this information on the website of your airline. I think it was 12500mAh for most, but I could be wrong.
Definitely the neck pillow! A nice proper one if you have the space, but at least an inflatable one! And a big bottle of water once you’re through security.
An empty bottle, you often can refill them for free after the check in. Thanks for reminding me.
Depends on your time of day/night:
- Sleeping mask
- Comfy jacket/scarf
- Melatonin
- Ear plugs
- Some of your favorite snacks
I haven’t had anything else, myself. Other than lots of digital entertainment.
Frequent long haul flier here.
This depends entirely on your seat. If you’re flying economy, a travel pillow and a large loose hoodie helps you sleep in a position that doesn’t fuck you up too much.
Bluetooth ear buds are are really nice to have. I’m tempted to say that noise cancelling isn’t that useful on a plane, as there will be plenty of brown and white noise.
Depending in how long your flight is, consider bringing a portable charging method. Also, most seats on long haul flights have an USB outlet, just keep in kind that these are pretty low wattage and won’t allow you to charge very fast.But by far the biggest comfort you can buy is a seat upgrade. Something as simple as extra leg room is worth it. But if you can defend the price tag, business class is the only way to fly really comfortably.
Hard agree.
Business class is worth it, and the only affordable way to buy those seats is with points. Business saver on United often has cheaper business seat pricing than premium economy. IMO, this is the best and only way to spend credit card points. As long as there isn’t some goofy card where points expire, keep them for years and spend them this way.
3 weeks from now I’m doing a long haul and got 5 business class tickets with points (between 800k and 900k points) which is a butt load of points, but the dollar cost was over $12k EACH. That’s like 6 or 7 cents per point, which is much more generous than taking the cash payout.
Edit: the downside here is if you want to buy tickets now you should have started saving points 2 to 4 years ago lol. Unless you get some sweet introductory offers.
Active noise cancelling works well on planes.
Seat selection.
My buddy is 6’2" and he swore up and down to seat selection being the best perk on the plane.
I picked up a set of AR glasses for my last flight and was surprised how much of a game changer they were. I plugged them into an older Samsung phone and the Samsung Dex software let me switch the main phone screen off. This gave me something like 9 hours of video time on a larger screen that I could watch in any head position, with shows I brought myself.
What brand/model did you get? How much was it?
I got a Viture One on sale last Prime Days for $300. I also have an Xreal Air 2. The Viture One has a better case for traveling - it has a separate compartment for the cord - and it’s better if you want to share it because it has focus controls on the glasses. But I’m still trying to get the nosepieces into the right place to get full top to bottom clarity. The Xreals need a prescription lens insert, but that means they’re better if you want to use them as real glasses, and the nosepiece is more comfortable and adjustable. The case can hold the cord, but there isn’t a separate compartment so there’s a risk it’ll scratch the lenses. I can’t recommend the Xreal Beam accessory, the battery life is really short.
Dramamine. Takes care of any motion sickness and makes you nice and drowsy.
