Noise canceling headphones. I swear by the Bose Quiet Comfort series. Personally I still have the 25 model (with a third party Bluetooth dongle), that way when the battery dies I can simply swap it out, takes simple AAA ones.
Else I’d recommend to bring slippers to wear during the flight. Feet tend to swell up a bit, so wearing shoes is uncomfortable, and walking in socks as many people do is not exactly hygienic, especially in the bathroom (seriously, who does that???).
I’m also freezing easily, so I’ll bring a thin scarf to protect my neck from the long exposure to low temperatures.
Lastly, have a set of fresh underwear, t-shirt and wet towels in your hand luggage, along with a toothbrush & paste and deodorant (make sure the volume is hand luggage capable). Then about 1.5h before landing, lock yourself in a bathroom (ideally the ones in the middle, they are a bit more spacious), strip naked, give yourself a through wash, change of clothes etc., and land arrive somewhat refreshed.
I swear by my WH-1000XM4’s. I don’t even usually play anything, just turn the noise-cancellation on. Makes flying so much more chill.
These are what I have and use every flight… and to mow the lawn.
I love how good they are at noise cancelation.
I can’t quite get myself to subject them to the amount of sweat generated during mowing the lawn. I’ve got some cheap nasty DeWalt cans for that. No ANC, but they muffle the sound outside pretty good, and as a bonus still have Bluetooth. Lawn mowing is prime podcast time.
Loved my QC25s until they broke. The new versions are a pain to keep charged…
Yeah that’s what I heard, especially for longer flights that’s super annoying. And the 25s can at least still play mono sound even with dead batteries, I heard that the newer models are simply dead.
On my 25s the left speaker died after 5 years, I contacted Amazon and they swapped them out for a new one, no questions asked, way out of warranty. That was pretty awesome, and the ear pads are cheap and easy to swap out.
I’ll ride them to the end and then see what happens after…
I feel like a shill for compression socks, but they help with that foot swelling and makes things infinitely comfier
I used to have some of those but found them not awesome on planes. I use Shure earbuds now, not even ‘noise canceling”, and they are better than the Bose QCs ever were. Can’t hear a damn thing in the plane except my music.
Bose were great for the office though!
This is good advice, though honestly I would advise waiting till you arrive and doing your washup at your destination.
If your airport is only 30min from the hotel, I say forgo his and just endure. If you land and the. Have 2+ hours more to your final destination, the I’d do it in the much larger and more accomodating airport bathrooms.
Unless on a very tight schedule or travelling in a big group, just ask your partners to wait and give you 10 to 15 to manage business. Be quick, but it shouldn’t take too long to strip down and hit your body with some body wipes. When you come out refreshed and in different clothes they will understand.
Ear plugs or noise canceling headphones
As an alternative, IEM style earbuds or circumaural headphones. Both can offer a lot of isolation from exterior noise without active electronics.
I’m not getting a circumcision for a flight!
But, the coupon says, “half off”!
Well if they’re taking it off, they’d best take it all off! I’m not coming in for a second session.
Don’t worry. We’ll make sure you get to see Loraina Bobbitt.
Just googled that. Well … thats a story
Noise-canceling headphones. Eye mask (some planes might provide one, but get a nice one that fits you). A good mask (planes can be very low-humidity so even if you aren’t worried about anything else, this can help keep you more comfortable).
Wear loose-fitting clothing (except compression socks if that’s something you want to do) or otherwise comfy clothing.
Other than that, get up and stretch every couple of hours if you can and are not sleeping.
I have flown from NY to Tokyo multiple times (which is like 15 hours depending upon weather).
This is a great list.
I wear loose athletic pants for long flights. Not bedtime sweatpants, but Adidas style pants. I wear comfy shoes, that I unlace once I start napping.
I bring a sweatshirt so it becomes a pillow and something to pull over my eyes if it’s needed.
I also have a couple of airplane blankets and I bring my own. It comes in handy on flights where we cheap seats people don’t get blankets, and in airports when it’s nap time. I roll it up tight and strap it on the bottom of my backpack.
I also bring Sudoku puzzles. It’s a nice diversion from watching videos the whole way.
I got a Manta Sleep mask on the recommendation of a friend last year and it is so, so good. I take it everywhere with me now, and use it on any flight where I need to get some rest. That and good earbuds make a huge difference if you’re a light sleeper like me.
Which type of Manta did you go with. They apparently have quite a few variants, and I might invest in one for my next flight.
I have the Pro version because I’m a side sleeper and their site said it was great for that. They were right! Other sleep masks I tried would come off by morning but this thing stays put. It’s really comfy.
I sound like an ad but I usually wake up as soon as sunlight creeps into the room, and this thing helps me get an extra 1-2 hours during summer, which is huge. I really love it.
Buy the upgraded seats.
Elastomeric respirator like 3M 6200. It will be more comfortable than an N95 if worn for a long time. But wear an N95 (maybe change them every few hours as they get damp) if you have to. Plane rides are super spreaders and so are airports.
Build a flight routine:
- Screenshot your QR code to board. Crop it to just the code so your boarding zone is missing, and board in the middle of the second main group (Zone 2, Group 2, Etc. Not any of the special categories). No one will stop you.
- Pick a seat in the back of the plane. You will deplane slower, but no one fucking cares unless you have a connection
- Because of 1), you will board and head straight to the back, giving you time to sort your carry on and backpack/purse.
- Stow the carry on immediately, drop your bag into your aisle seat. Remove your seating essentials once you size up your seat.
- Bring a magnetic phone mount you can clip to the closed tray table (check amazon for one you like), plug in your charger brick, but not the cable, other passengers will kick it.
- Open the overhead air vent nozzles to full, point them at your seat. If you sit, and it’s too much, point 1 or 2 of the others away. If you like all 3… Hope the other passengers never notice.
- On a long haul you will probably be given a little pillow and blanket. Temporarily toss these in the overhead ontop of your bag. If need a neck pillow, get that out of your backpack. For lumbar support, if you think the provded pillow is enough, grab it after takeoff. You don’t want the blanket or pillow now.
- Stow your water bottle (bring a refillable 24oz or 36oz tall steel bottle). This will hold the flap of your seat back pocket open a bit. Stow any snacks you want, and gadgets. Overload this pocket, items you consume will decrease over time, so anything goes here, stuff it.
- Once you have everything out and stowed, your gadgets, headphones (I recommend over-ear noise canceling if you fly frequently) your phone mount your everything, then stow your backpack in the overhead. Again, no one will stop you. The flight attendants are helping load the plane and prep, and people do this anyways. On a long-haul it’s first come first serve, hence the seat selection toward the back.
- Raise all the arms of the seats on your asile. This will let the other passengers get in faster. Raise the aisle armrest by pushing the button in the back of the arm by the hinge.
- Wait, and fully extend your seat belt while you wait, so it’s super easy to grab and buckle later. Wipe down anything you like with a wet wipe, especially your headrest and armrest handles. Keep the armrests up though.
- Once your seat mates have shown up, lower the two arm rests closest to you, and plug in your charger cable to the charger brick. Buckle up loosely.
- After takeoff, use the rest room immediately, grab your blanket if you want to rest, and settle in. Late notice, but if you wear slip ons: slip them off now and relax in your seat. You can change socks after landing. Your feet will thank you. At this point, raise the headrest if you need to, and bend the sides, most headredts are now adjustable on the sides as well and can form a C shape to support your head. This is not as good as a neck pillow bit helps tons when combined with one.
- During flight, press the hinge button on your asile armrest again whenever you need to get up, to make getting out easy. If anyone needs out, grab your phone, and unplug your cable from the charger brick, and sidestep into the aisle, take two steps forward or back, away from the nearest restroom, and then reseat but don’t lower the armrest until they return. DO buckle again. (Freak turbulence on long hauls is no joke sometimes).
Bonus 1) Lookup and purchase a plastic shim for AC adapter prongs online. Maybe 5 bucks, infinitely reusable. US airplane plugs tend to be very very loose due to extreme overuse. This will keep you from chasing your charging brick around the floorboards.
Bonus 2) For headphones, Bose Quiet Comfort or Sony WH1000XM3 or XM4s. The XM3 and XM4s IMO are superior noise cancelling to the Bose (subjective), and both fold up and are more compact than the later Sony XM5 series. You can find either of these “renewed” on Amazon sometimes for a huge discount. Buy them and never look back.
This works on 99% of flights. You get to stretch out as much as your seating allows, should have all your stuff accessible, and be comfortable to rest if you can. Personally I am too tall to sleep comfortably on most flights so instead I listen to podcasts or read something with very low volume background orchestral music as background to avoid silence/white noise. You’ll have to adjust for what works for you, but that early start gives you tons of time to get situated and I think this makes the real difference.
I haven’t been on a long-haul flight that had the air nozzles “customizbale” or at all?
In the US airlines at least, most lately let you angle them like a ball-in-socket joint. They aren’t too “customizable” but you can generally point them and adjust how open they are. Older planes are less adjustable however.
Super long haul in the US or from the US? My long hauls have all been 10+ hours and none had “personal” air nozzles.
Both. Maybe I’m not describing it right, but the air nozzles in most larger aircraft have been slightly adjustable for a long time. They are typically like a ball in joint socket you can point anywhere in its cone of motion, and that you can twist to open or close. This has been standard on flights for a really long time.
Newer flights have nicer versions of it, but some form of directional air nozzle has been around for a long time.
Regarding your first tip, I’m not sure where you’re flying, but I fly around the US for work, and they absolutely will send you to the back of the line if you try to board in the wrong spot. Happened to me once recently by accident, got two flights and their boarding groups mixed up. They weren’t rude about it or anything, but they were not going to let me on before my group.
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.
Active noise cancelling works well on planes.
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.
I fly a lot with the Star Alliance airlines, and sometimes that takes me via United. Whenever the flight is more than 4-5 hours, I start considering upgrading to business, and often I’ve racked up enough points to do this without paying.
I flew from Copenhagen to Singapore on business class last year, only using points to upgrade, and it’s by far my favorite flight experience so far.
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.
Earplugs are number one. I also suggest compression socks since no one else has, they help with restless legs since you sit there for so many hours. If you have the money, a steam deck :)
Noise cancellation headset
Take a thin, snug hoodie. When your ready to sleep, take your arms out of the sleeves, zip it up, and cross your arms across your body. You’ll sleep better and your back and shoulders won’t feel as strained. I also have a long, wide scarf that i use for this. For neck pillows, i like the turtl one -hard but kind of flexible plastic with a wrap around sleeve. it works well and it’s easy to pack.
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.
Other than business class?
Yeah, other than an upgrade 😄
- 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.
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.
