Sleeping on an Airplane

kyleb

kyleb

Final Approach
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Marietta, GA
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Drake the Outlaw
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I have a long overnight flight tomorrow (in coach) and would love to get a few hours of sleep. On similar flights, I've been mostly unsuccessful getting much/any sleep. I use earplugs to filter noise, a mask to kill ambient light (actually flickering light from movement and others' screens), and a neck pillow (which never seems to help at all).

Other than getting buzzed before the flight and taking 6 Benadryl (or some other form of chemical assistance), what tips do y'all have? Can't work any worse than my efforts so far.
 
kyleb said:
I have a long overnight flight tomorrow (in coach) and would love to get a few hours of sleep. On similar flights, I've been mostly unsuccessful getting much/any sleep. I use earplugs to filter noise, a mask to kill ambient light (actually flickering light from movement and others' screens), and a neck pillow (which never seems to help at all).

Other than getting buzzed before the flight and taking 6 Benadryl (or some other form of chemical assistance), what tips do y'all have? Can't work any worse than my efforts so far.
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Upgrade to first or business class :rockon:
 
kyleb said:
I have a long overnight flight tomorrow (in coach) and would love to get a few hours of sleep. On similar flights, I've been mostly unsuccessful getting much/any sleep. I use earplugs to filter noise, a mask to kill ambient light (actually flickering light from movement and others' screens), and a neck pillow (which never seems to help at all).

Other than getting buzzed before the flight and taking 6 Benadryl (or some other form of chemical assistance), what tips do y'all have? Can't work any worse than my efforts so far.
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ANR headset or AirPods with ANR?
 
Avoid caffeine and sugar the day of the flight.

Agree with the eye mask (get a quality one, not the crap they give you in the amenity kit) and an ANR headset.

Ever listen to guided meditations? There are a ton of them on YouTube. I think those things could put and 10 year old with ADD to sleep inside of five minutes.
 
Try to deprive yourself of much sleep the night before.

Eat your meal on the ground. Forego any drink or meal service on the plane to save it for sleep time. Try to fall asleep as soon as possible. Goal is to try to get a “night’s sleep”. No movies, no reading, etc.

Do your nighttime routine, brush teeth, etc.

I’m 5’7” too. Window seat so you can lean. I like to pull my underseat luggage out and put my feet up on it. Pillows or blanket (take your own) in the void behind your back allows more slouching in the seat.

Very comfortable clothes for the flight. I put my suit or corporate clothes on in the airport bathroom after landing.

All the best. I’ve got dozens of transatlantic flights under my belt, many of the early career ones in coach. I don’t envy you.
 
window seat and most recline you can find, sit near the engines so that's all you can hear.
 
I don't sleep well on planes either. And I don't have one of those neck bean horseshoe pellows, but I have friends that swear by them.

Also use some comfrortable noise cancelling headsets or earbuds (that really seal) and create a more mellow playlist that you have on low to be more of a din than music playing that your mind wants to be alert and paying attention to. Some people actually like just white noise and I know some people that say a little bit of the engine noise sneaking through into their ANR headsets or just ear plugs also works as "noise" to just put them to sleep. Bottom line is you need to just let your mind shut down.
 
pfarber said:
My superpower is that I can be asleep before the hold short line on just about any commercial aircraft.... even if I have the middle seat.
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Same, never been an issue for me. Headphones on, relaxing music, I'm out.
 
Don't sleep ON the plane. Try sleeping IN the plane.

Listen to something you find relaxing.
 
To your list I’d add a big meal right before departure, and at least for me pray for light to moderate turbulence. For some reason turb puts me right out.
 
kyleb said:
I have a long overnight flight tomorrow (in coach) and would love to get a few hours of sleep. On similar flights, I've been mostly unsuccessful getting much/any sleep. I use earplugs to filter noise, a mask to kill ambient light (actually flickering light from movement and others' screens), and a neck pillow (which never seems to help at all).

Other than getting buzzed before the flight and taking 6 Benadryl (or some other form of chemical assistance), what tips do y'all have? Can't work any worse than my efforts so far.
Click to expand...
It's a little late for you now, but I start getting into my destination's time zone a day or 2 before the flight. It is just a couple of hours around my "core time". During the flight, I try to be awake when people at the destination are awake, and try to sleep when they do. I try to get a bulkhead window seat so I can rest against the side of the plane and I can also get up without disturbing people. The problems with these seats is that the airline uses those overhead bins for their equipment, there is generally no storage under the seat in front of you, and the windows aren't useful for looking outside. I have enough status that I can board early enough to claim overhead space for everything, and I'm sleeping or it is dark, so there is little to see outside.

If anyone from Airbus or Boeing is here, maybe consider a stronger bulkhead and space for storing the mandated airline equipment so passengers can use the overhead bin? During a 6 week period, I was in PR China, Wash DC, Grand Rapids, MI, and Naples, Italy. I'll be in San Diego and Florida soon, so I know a little about airline seats and long flights.
 
Cap'n Jack said:
It's a little late for you now, but I start getting into my destination's time zone a day or 2 before the flight. It is just a couple of hours around my "core time". During the flight, I try to be awake when people at the destination are awake, and try to sleep when they do.
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100% that.
 
My superpower is being able to sleep anywhere and pretty much on demand, so I might not be as helpful. That being said, bring whatever makes you sleepy on the ground. Reading, watching a show, etc. Think about ways you can make the plane more like going to bed at home. Do you need a pillow and blanket to sleep normally? Then bring those. Do you need absolute silence? Get the best ANR over ear headset you can.

If you're a light sleeper who needs everything to be perfect to fall asleep, I have some bad news for you.
 
Lindberg said:
Find one of these with first AM shipping.

View attachment 145238


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I've wondered about these sorts of pillows
I can't sleep on an airliner well either.
And those neck pillows are pretty much useless for me. Maybe a little bit better if teh seat reclines, but not much. I've always reckoned that it's because I'm a side sleeeper. Can't sleep on my back, and using a neck pillow seems too much like back sleeping to me
I spent a premium for our last trip to Europe to get an upgraded nice memory foam neck pillow. It was notably better than others that I've tried, but still could only at best doze a little. I did ultimately get some sleep lying on the neck pillow that was lying on the tray table...sort of like a kid sleeping on the desk at school..... but it was tight. I'm 5-9, and it was really too tight for me to be lying like that. I woke up with a sleeping arm that stayed asleep for long enough that I was considering a trip to the doctor..thinking deep vein thrombosis. In hindsight, I probably should have! Got lucky probably...

I wonder...for those of you who can't sleep on an airliner, are you a side sleeper?
or those of you who can sleep on a plane sitting up, are you a back sleeper?
 
I think it goes back to my days in Vietnam. We learned to sleep anytime, anywhere. On commercial flights, I almost always fall asleep while taxiing, then wake up during takeoff, then go back to sleep soon after we are in the air.
 
I do not handle east bound time changes well. Especially large changes like when flying to Europe. In addition, I never sleep well on a plane, car, train.... pretty much any moving vehicle.
The best I can do, is avoid all caffeine for three days before (I mostly drink decaffeinated tea, and switch to water for three days before the flight to avoid any caffeine). I then start shifting my sleep schedule an hour earlier each day for the last few days before the flight. The goal is to prepare for the time change switch. Then I survive on regular tea as much as possible combined with "power naps" of no more than 25 minutes to get my biological clock switched to the new TZ.

Tim
 
tspear said:
I do not handle east bound time changes well. Especially large changes like when flying to Europe. In addition, I never sleep well on a plane, car, train.... pretty much any moving vehicle.
The best I can do, is avoid all caffeine for three days before (I mostly drink decaffeinated tea, and switch to water for three days before the flight to avoid any caffeine). I then start shifting my sleep schedule an hour earlier each day for the last few days before the flight. The goal is to prepare for the time change switch. Then I survive on regular tea as much as possible combined with "power naps" of no more than 25 minutes to get my biological clock switched to the new TZ.

Tim
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And by the time you adjusted, it’s time to fly back home. I just accept being a zombie every time i go to Europe lol.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
And by the time you adjusted, it’s time to fly back home. I just accept being a zombie every time i go to Europe lol.
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I normally go for two weeks, so not as bad :D
If I do not start adjusting before I go, it normally takes me about a week to adjust east bound. West bound, I am pretty much good in two days.

Tim
 
I thought this was going to be about being stranded somewhere and stretching out in the back seat for a night or something.

Maybe sleep in an L shape with torso on back seats and legs over folded down front seat. Hmmm
 
have you tried the vulcan nerve pinch? the death grip would be a little extreme, methinks.
 
Hang 4 said:
Do not sleep on day of arrival until normal bedtime. You’ll be sorely tempted, but resist. After lunch is the worst.
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A lesson of what NOT to do...
my first ever trip to Europe was with my boss and an older coworker at the time. I was in my late 20's. They had both been over there several times before. So we landed in Stockholm, maybe about 10 or 11AM as I recall, and checked into the hotel downtown. They went to their rooms to sleep.

I said to myself no way am I doing that! Mostly because of the adventure, but also I figured that it was the wrong thing to do for jetlag. I figured the best thing to do was to stay up, and go to bed at a regular-ish time. After a little freshening up, I went walking and exploring. Walked all over that downtown area and had a blast, even if I was by myself! By mid to late afternoon, I ended up back in the room and layed down just for a rest before dinner, not to really sleep.

A short while later, the phone rings. It was them calling to see if I was ready to go to dinner.... You bet I was!

Well, we ended up on a trek, bar hopping along the way to Hard Rock Cafe because one of them wanted a t-shirt, then the bar hopping continued. Dinner happened...I think....
Yeah, bed at a regular-ish time didn't happen, not to mention way too much Swedish beer sampling....
Getting up for breakfast and the train out of town was rough....

Good times!
 
I know you said "other than...chemical assistance", but I have friends who swear by melatonin to help sleep-shift for shiftwork and jet lag. I've tried it and it's no good for me (relaxes me and lets me nod off, but then I wake up 30min later, wired), but I seem to be the outlier in my friend group.

If you (or someone else reading this) decide(s) to try it, I'd suggest doing so at home on a free weekend first. If you have some strange reaction you might not want that unexpected experience to be while you're trapped in an airliner.
 
If you want to sleep *on* a plane, I suggest a metal biplane with a good sleeping bag and a large mosquito net.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Yeah, don't do that. Sorry, I have no tips for you. I can't sleep on planes either. I always dread the flights to Europe because I know I will want to sleep but can't.
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The endless flight from China in coach a few years ago was the absolute worst. Packed 747, sitting in coach beside a college student who coughed endlessly for the entire flight and still hasn't covered her mouth. Awful... At least on this flight, I'll be in a window seat with my son beside me in a 2 seat row, so if I lean on him or something it won't be a huge party foul..
 
Wear a neck pillow on the front to keep your head from tilting forward. Get a window seat and lean against the wall. Take a pretty girl to sit next to and cuddle up. Eat a gummy before going through security. If a long flight? An ambien taken at takeoff will allow you to sleep and function the following day without jet lag.

Enjoy the trip.
 
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