I have air buds and a bunch of podcasts downloaded on my phone. Listening to podcasts really helps me drown out the chatter (real chatter plus my own anxieties!). Often puts me to sleep, too. You could download some meditations for anxiety, too. Spotify is great for all of the above (plus music!). Make sure you actually download what you want to listen to, otherwise they may not be accessible in the air.

I hate turbulence too but I’m afraid to take any kind of pill because I don’t want to be too doped up to save myself if the plane goes down. (Seriously, I know that’s ridiculous.)

Pay to upgrade to”coach plus”. It makes all the difference in the world.

I try to upgrade to premium economy but that isn’t always possible. I’ve learned to sit on the blanket they give you and wrap it around me so my arms stay tucked in. It’s also easier for bathroom visits. Of course I load up my iPad with movies but even better I download a bunch of podcasts on my phone. That way I close my eyes and listen. I also have noise cancelling headphones but they are kind of a pain. I also have a good travel pillow. It’s not the usual horseshoe shape. It’s flatter in the back to it doesn’t push my head forward and it has a clip in front to hold it on. Sometimes it works better if I turn it sideways.

and then I take a little bit of Ambien.

I always fly out in the evening when going to the U.K and always take a lunesta shortly after boarding. I sleep through the whole flight and wake up good as new with no side affects.

I forgot to add, this is the neck support I use. It keeps my head from falling forward. Traditional neck pillows don’t work for me. You can also find these on Amazon

https://calderaintl.com/products/releaf-neck-rest

Xanax 😀

I always had trouble sleeping on planes, I could fall asleep, but any little bump would wake me up. Although I'm not a particularly nervous flyer, my doctor prescribed Xanax. Now I am able to stay asleep. Those little bumps might wake me up for a second or two, but then I'm right back asleep.

I also like listening to podcasts as I drift off. I set my podcast player on a timer for about 20 minutes.

I have this pillow, which I find very comfortable and supportive. https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00DW3CXPW/?coliid=IO30HEZE7H3VV&colid=F37BXBSDFRZ4&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

I agree that if you can buy yourself a little more comfort, that would be ideal. I take a lorazepam to calm my nerves (aka my flying pill). It helps and I really don't have any groggy side effects. I don't drink alcohol on flights but do keep well-hydrated.

While I do have noise cancelling earbuds, I did just purchase this little accessory and imagine it would be very helpful on long flights. I tried it at home and it works great.

Bluetooth Eye Mask

My concern about turbulence is motion sickness so I wear Sea Bands (acupressure bands). They’re about $8 at a drug store. If you do feel sick, put both arms down hard on your arm rests and open your vent full (advice from a flight attendant). Or try a Dramamine or non-drowsy Bonine.

I also use a ReLeaf neck thingie (above). For me, it works better than those thicker neck pillows. It keeps your head from dropping and jerking you back to fully awake.

Even in a fully reclined seat, I’m not a great sleeper on a plane. I just accept that and keep my eyes closed, with a mask, ear plugs in, & rest as much as I can. Contrary to everyone else, after a few hours at my destination, I do allow myself a 1 hour nap. I wake refreshed and then go to bed at a normal time. I’m fully adjusted to the time the next morning. It’s probably the only thing I can claim as a skill. 😆

I bring my own bottle of water so I don't have to wait for beverage service. Years age on a short flight, they said we don’t have any water. How could that be?! I’ve been traveling with my own since then, doesn’t matter if it’s a 10 minute flight or 10 hours. I need to know I have access to my own water.

Thank you so much for the helpful hints! I think what I'll do right this minute is order the bluetooth eye mask. I can absolutely envision using that and piping my "white noise" app through it. I tried to sleep with an eye mask in Iceland, where it never got fully dark at night, and had trouble using it comfortably in bed. I think, though, that on an airplane where there's a lot of commotion, it would be a welcome relief.

I have a friend who swears by the Trtl https://www.amazon.com/Trtl-Pillow-Scientifically-Support-Washable/dp/B00LB7REFK/ref=sxin_0osp48-e615e6b5_cov?ascsubtag=e615e6b5-7127-441d-a1c1-51d2f5b03500&creativeASIN=B00LB7REFK&cv_ct_cx=turtl&cv_ct_id=amzn1.osp.e615e6b5-7127-441d-a1c1-51d2f5b03500&cv_ct_pg=search&cv_ct_wn=osp-search&keywords=turtl&linkCode=oas&pd_rd_i=B00LB7REFK&pd_rd_r=5b8da423-fca1-4b1d-9bcf-be925fc11f9c&pd_rd_w=m0ueb&pd_rd_wg=PuIRZ&pf_rd_p=140a205b-f67a-4c02-ac82-821d6da2ec96&pf_rd_r=0799S8CKE9CT057Z24E5&qid=1582124755&tag=spyonsite-20

I don't/can't sleep on planes (never been able to - like Sue b I'm a nervous flyer and don't want to miss the captain telling us to Brace, brace, brace) so I have a good book, snacks and yes to the personal hygiene products. I am clean before getting on the flight and I only wear face hydrating cream and no makeup, lots of water and brushing teeth during and just before deplaning..

I saw this advertised recently. I have no personal experience with it, but it looked intriguing.

Delta Economy Plus was a big difference when I went to/from China and it was only about $100 more each way. I also was able to upgrade to American Main Cabin Extra on a short flight last week.

I have ”old lady” type compression stockings that I wear for flying. I also have some of the sporty-type compression socks but the real ones are much better. Get up and walk around every so often and do the leg exercises. Stay hydrated and don’t drink too much alcohol.

I fly business to my long-haul destination and premium economy on the way home. To sleep on the outbound flight, I wear my eye mask and ear plugs and take a Xanax with my dinner. I also wear loose, comfortable clothing, drink lots of water and wear compression socks. On the inbound, I wear my Bose headphones and watch movies or listen to podcasts that I have downloaded.

I bring my own bottle of water so I don't have to wait for beverage service.

Me too. When I'm thirsty I want water now!

Fun2be - those leg support contraptions aren't allowed on many airlines.

I had a trtl head support "scarf", and it worked fairly well, but made me kind of hot. Unfortunately, I left it on a plane in San Francisco. 🙁

I will admit I can not get over my anxiety to get on a plane after my stroke but when/ if I do fly again I will not take anxiety meds for if they knock you out too much you might not move enough to avoid clotting and I will never ever again squeeze into an economy size row. I blame flying economy on my stroke. I had a pfo in my heart my whole life and I had lupus with antiphospholip antibodies sense I was 27 but it was not until I flew in the most cramped economy coach seat that I ever stroked. It was the third strike in my stroke causing trifecta.

Wear compression socks and please make sure you get up almost every hour during any flight over three hours. While in your seat frequently stretch your legs and rotate your ankles to avoid blood pooling. My hemotologist told me to write out the alphabet in the air with my feet while a passenger in cars or planes for long trips.

Drink tons of water, keeps you hydrated while reminding you to get up and move for you will need the loo more ;).

For turbulance I would practice 7/11 breathing it calms and induces sleep for me.

Have a great time on your holiday!

I fly business to my long-haul destination and premium economy on the way home.

I've always thought this was logical, but I never seem to be able to do it. I think it is not even possible using miles in the programs I'm part of, and when I price it out in cash, it is not materially cheaper than doing both legs in first or business. It seems to me everyone is willing to do the same so there is no advantage to be had?

What everyone said about personal care (tho I just use paper towels and not an actual washcloth) and comfy clothes, also comfy shoes, I wear my least tattered pair of house shoes (I always have a good pair and a cooking-stained pair in rotation), Merrill slip on mules/clogs, suede, fleece lined for fall/winter travel or plain leather for the rest of the year, and bonus, they are great for walking around hotel rooms but are suitable street wear in all but full on summer as well. They’re not cheap, but last forever and are quite supportive and comfortable. Stylish, well, it’s a matter of perspective, but comfort rules in my world, YMMV. I also always, even on an hour flight, bring a large wrap to use around shoulders, as a lap blanket or to wad up as a pillow. I have a variety, from lightweight linen to wool/viscose combos, and I literally take one on any flight and even when we drive to see our kiddo at college 2 hours away, DH and I have different body temp preferences, and if I’m warm, the sweat is literally forming on his head (sorry for that image), but I hate to ride with a coat on, so a shirt and sweater plus wrap, to his polo shirt, mind you, is the trick.

Fun2Bhere - that leg thing impacts the seat in front of you every time you move. So even if it is allowed, it's incredibly rude to the person in front -- like banging on your tray table.

As for compression socks, I've taken to wearing them on any flight over 3 hours and it makes a huge difference.

I hope someday I will be able to fly first class ...or even business, for that matter! Just once would be nice!

As to getting through the flight, I do take a pill, but I can sleep just about anywhere-more for nerves than anything and no after effects. No alcohol. I also always leave in the evening, so it is normal to sleep.

Usually can't sleep on the plane, if I can-got lucky

Most my flights-15 hours. Since the move to CA.

I get very cold so always bring socks and layers to wear. Reading material. Hand sanitizer. Either only bag and carry-on-or if very long trip, most important things are in the carry-on. They lost luggage couple times. Was recovered, but in between-not a pleasant thing to deal with. Creams, hygiene products, medicines, etc-as close to me as possible. I'll also make several bags, disperse these a bit, so I don't stay without.

Neck pillow if possible.

Always flying economy..

Once they promoted me to business class. I was very happy-but then I got very sick during the flight, so stayed in my memory as "great flight that got wasted on me" lol

I have special diet, so extra attention they don't mix mine with somebody else's. Once they did. Good thing I was with my DH, he's very assertive. Especially when it's about me. They brought me modified meal from first class. White plate cloth napkin even. If I was by myself I'd just be sad and hungry.

(interesting phenomena-one is more concerned about food shortage when travelling)

No tomato juice-once I was drowsy, clumsy, spilled that tomato juice allover my jeans. Wet and red. And cold as hell. Only time I didn't have spare pair of pants too. Since that flight-a) always a spare pair of pants b) no tomato juice.

Mtn....buying the middle seat for more room is a great idea, but when “bff doesn’t show” don’t they give the seat to stand-bys? Do people still fly stand-by? Also, are airlines keen on refunding your ticket if you're a no-show? Obviously, I don’t fly enough to know all the ins and outs.

I think Mtn meant to purchase a fully refundable fare for the "bff" middle seat, but cancel it in accordance with airline requirements. I don't think she meant there would actually be a "no show" (except, of course, the "bff" was never intended to take the flight in the first place). Clever ruse, if you can pull it off. ;-) However, people do still fly standby ... one of my friends goes all over the globe that way.

Our seats on the flights going and returning are waaaaaaay at the back, where there's just two seats together. Unfortunately, we'll be subjected to the nocturnal comings-and-goings in the lavatory, but at least we will be near them and won't have to crawl over a row of people to get up. I've checked other seat options, and there's just nothing that appeals enough to me to consider paying additional at this point. I'm really just concerned with making the best of the seats we have.

I don't drink alcohol on the plane, ever. I think I may have mentioned that last year when I flew to the UK I was separated from my traveling companions on the leg to LHR, and ended up seated next to a mother/daughter duo who seemed initially delightful. However, as the flight proceeded, it became clear that they were a pair of substance abusers who popped Ativan and drank copious quantities of red wine. You can imagine what THAT combo produced: Loud and obnoxious women, the youngest of which wanted to lay a smack-down on me when I finally had enough, crawled over them and begged a flight attendant to DO SOMETHING ABOUT THEM. They were cut off from further alcohol after they'd already been overserved, and the plane was full so I had to endure being the third person in our row-of-three for hours. After I got up to report them, a flight attendant came over and told them to be quiet. The daughter was apparently lucid enough to connect the fact that I had talked to the flight attendant, and proceeded to call me "anal WH*RE" for a few hours. It was horrible ... so I figure anything that happens on my next transatlantic flight has got to be an improvement.

I’ve read this explanation of turbulence before and thought it might be helpful for you, IC.

First you need to know that turbulence is a problem for people only because people think turbulence is a problem for the airplane. Actually the airplane couldn't be happier than when in turbulence. It just doesn't bother airplanes, only us who think it bothers airplanes. Second, it can help to understand that turbulence is natural. The jet stream is caused by earth rotation, and zips across the U.S. up at 30,000 to 40,000 feet. If you fly in it, it is smooth. Also, if you are some distance horizontally or vertically from it, it is smooth. But when its vicinity, friction between fast-moving jet stream sort of makes the nearby slow-moving air into ball bearings to roll across the sky on. Then, when you are flying in those rolling ball bearings of air, you get turbulence. When you go into one rolling up, the airplane goes up; then you come out the back side which is rolling down, and the plane goes down. Try this: practice matching every down with an up. It is easy to not notice the "ups" because most of our childhood fears are about downward motion (falling) not upward motion.

Captain Tom

IC, you might also consider upgrading to a seat over the wings. A seat all the way in the rear is going to feel more turbulence than one over the wings.

Your experience with the jerks sounds totally awful. It is too bad that they couldn’t be ejected ... at 30,000 feet.

@terezosa / terriks and @1929Spanish-GW Thanks for the info on the inadvisability of the foot sling contraption. I was thinking of buying them as gifts so I appreciate knowing that they are not a good idea.

Mtn...sorry, I misunderstood. Thanks for the further explanation.

Just curious, when you book seven seats for your family of five, I would think the airlines would ask for seven names. And how does that work with boarding passes? Perhaps enough people do this and they don’t question. And only works where seats are assigned, otherwise you’d have latecomers asking to sit in the middle. (I should travel more, but flying just sounds so miserable these days).

DD & DSIL wear compression socks when they run. I wear them when I fly. We’ve found Comrad Socks. They are a little more stylish than many other compression socks! I’ve found anything with more compression than 25mmHg are too hard to get on, so Conrad’s 15-25mmHg are perfect!

Joanie, Sometimes the agent is flummoxed (please hold) but they can do it without 7 names. And guess what - you get to check luggage for 7 people this way too! The 2nd boarding pass says, iirc, "extra seat". I don't fly any airlines without assigned seats.

Both DH and I fly a lot, including transatlantic flights. One thing that works for me is taking melatonin when I want to sleep and/or when it’s night time at the destination. I also take melatonin before night time when after I reach the destination.

A friend got me the foot sling thing and I actually found it very helpful. The person in the row ahead of me didn’t complain or even give me a strange look. So it either didn’t affect the previous row or I was totally oblivious.

yes to comfy clothes, washing and brushing teeth. An easy to put on and easy to remove sweater is good for temp control. I have a poncho like thing, except it’s made of a cotton blend. I can put it on and keep my arms covered or uncovered as needed. I usually keep all my toilet stuff, iPad, reading materials and poncho in the under-the-seat type bag for easy access.

I also recommend podcasts or audiobooks. And a good noise canceling headphones.

Turbulences don’t bother me. Can’t be avoided.

I bring my own snacks and loaded up iPod, and books/magazines on my phone. I try to sleep as much as possible, use earplugs & I always wear a hoodie so I can cover my eyes when sleeping. My neck pillow is memory foam.

BTW, DH bought me this for Christmas, and I've used it twice since I've been to Florida twice and it was fairly cold. I used it as a wrap/shawl since clearly I should have packed warmer pajamas. And it's always cold in the conference rooms.

travel scarf

I traveled overseas a good bit before retirement and pretty much did a routine very similar to Mtn’s every time. I always travel with my own little airplane kit, even though I usually was in business class, and it contained a toothbrush and mini tooth paste, lotion, and washcloth in a plastic bag, facial spray, eye mask and ear plugs, and lip balm. I always traveled in comfy pants and top and took spare socks. I did have compression socks later, mainly because of ACL surgery and my doctor insisted I use them.

I also have a shawl, and my new favorite is Lululemon’s Vinyasa, which is a mostly cotton thingy you can drape all sorts of ways and has snaps to keep it in place. So cozy.

Thanks Mtn....very helpful info.

Use SeatGuru.com to help you avoid the worst seats.

This has been such a helpful thread! Thanks to all who provided valuable suggestions; you've given me a lot of really good things to consider.

think of turbulence as "potholes in the sky"

think of turbulence as "[potholes in the sky"

I read an article once called something like "Ask the Pilot", and that's exactly what the pilot said - turbulence is like driving on a bumpy road with potholes. I found it very reassuring, because we know that bumpy roads in and of themselves are not dangerous.

I took a "fear of flying" course a number of years ago and it was quite helpful. I even corresponded with the commercial airline pilot who developed the course and he was very kind. He said the same thing about turbulence which I found somewhat comforting, although I know there have been rare occasions of turbulence so severe as to cause injury. I still find thoughts of the worst case scenario bothersome.

Which airline? Do you need to fly specific days/times, or can you fly less busy days/times? Do you have connections? Some flights are less likely to be full. For example, from Europe, when I fly non-stop, I try to take a flight that arrives too late in the US for any domestic connections.

Are you flying by yourself or can you get window and aisle seat and hope the middle seat stays empty?

Other than Halcyon, Ambien, ... try Melatonin sublingual. I also try to listen to meditation/relaxation podcasts; even though I can't sleep, it kind of makes me drift off.

Ida - many injures due to turbulence happen because people don't stay buckled in.

Yep. I stay buckled.

We are flying American, overnight flight going and noon flight coming home. No connections. Our seats are in the back of the plane, two seats in the row.

I did purchase the bluetooth eye mask and it seems like it will be comfortable and hopefully help me to doze.

Tips for sleeping on long haul flights in coach from ThePointsGuy.com

I haven't read through so apologies if this has been mentioned. I'm always cold on flights so I wear a lightweight, warm lounge-y type sweater on board (this doubles as loungewear in the hotel and sometimes an extra layer when out and about). Then I take a lightweight, lined, hooded rain coat which can be folded up and goes in my day pack when hiking or sightseeing. For extra warmth and to save space in my luggage, I place it inside another slightly heavier quilted coat and use them as needed for the flight, hiking, sightseeing, etc.

While at an airport recently, I observed a passenger struggling to reduce her baggage weight. I suggested she take a couple of outer layers and place them inside one another which got her to the desired weight limit.

I’m such a fashion maven, that I know you will want to follow my plan precisely! 😂 Nevertheless, here it is. It is comfortable to sleep in and still look put together when you arrive. I wear the same day-of-travel outfit every trip, either in navy (warm weather) or black (cooler weather). Pull-on leggings that fit but aren‘t too tight, a long-ish knit shirt in a color that won’t show spills, and a long cardigan sweater (navy is a linen knit, black has some wool in it). A scarf around my neck or folded in my carry-on (cotton when warm, cashmere when cool). Compression socks and slip-on sneakers (I’m partial to Ecco).

Sister similarly has a day-of-travel uniform. She prefers a long skirt (black), a tank top (black), and a denim jacket in warm weather. She also carries an appropriate weight scarf in her carry-on. She says a skirt is easier to handle in an airplane bathroom!

We both have this ultra-lightweight down jacket that packs super small, small enough to slip into a medium size purse. (P.S. The gray that we have is currently on sale for $30).

Air New Zealand is investigating the possibility of beds in economy. There is much conjecture about what the product will actually be. Wonder if they will be on the lower level like the bathrooms on Lufthansa’s A-346?

^^^ I saw this on the Points Guy's FB feed today too. Wouldn't it be great if airline travel started to become comfortable again???