Sleeping on an Airplane

pfarber said:
My wife tried one of these and it was horrible.

She's a tiny little thing (5'2" and 93lbs).

Any sort of gut and its a hard no.

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.
Click to expand...
Worked for me when I was 40# overweight. I don't know if that counts as any sort of gut. YMMV.

Brad W said:
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?
Click to expand...
I'm a side or stomach sleeper and it works well for me. Looks weird as hell and I wind up drooling all over my phone, but seatmate is usually jealous.
 
Kinder said:
I seem to have accidentally gotten on the Passengers of America forum
Click to expand...
That would be www.FlyerTalk.com. More worldwide than "of America", though.

I always say that I can't hardly sleep on an airplane. Unless, of course, it's my leg!

Coach is almost impossible for me. My lower back and bum hurt trying to "lie back" in a coach seat with limited recline. That's why the lie flat seats up front are so expensive. They work.
 
Oh this is easy. You just need to start with moderately boring and then ramp it up. For the trip back:

Warm up by reading a NIST publication while waiting at the gate. 800-53 is a good start. Take notes.
On the plane, watch any mandatory HR training video.
Watch 30 minutes of a recording of a work teams meeting.
Listen to a sales presentation from any of the top 3 cloud providers.

I had trouble staying awake just writing this list. Make sure to set an alarm...that last one can put a healthy person into a state where some EMS people won't try to revive them.
 
What worked for me on my most recent international trips was to not try to sleep, but to stay awake and read until I couldn't keep my eyes open. I have sensitive hearing and wore both ear plugs and my ANR headset. Even then, the cabin noise drowned out my tinnitus.
 
Just be careful when you attempt to capture that submarine.
Some of the things in it don't react well to bullets.
 
I fell asleep on a ladder once. Airplanes are cake.
 
After 30 years of around the world, domestic back side of the clock flying ... I gave up trying to sleep on a plane, at home etc. Been retired since 2018 and Zyquil is my drug. Don't use your iPad, phone etc. as the light fires up your brain. Try flying from (this was a somewhat typical trip) Louisville, to Cologne Germany - 24 hour layover - Warsaw (24 hr layover) Hong Kong (48 hour layover) Dubai (24 hour layover) Hong Kong (24 hour layover) Anchorage (48 hour layover) Hong Kong (36 hour layover) Dubai (24 hour) Cologne (24 - 48) Philadelphia and then dead head back to Louisville. Oh, next trip add in Sydney, Seoul, and many cities in China...sleep HA!
 
Landed on the return leg today. 9+ hours to Venice last week, 11+ hours today back from Rome. Didn't get much sleep on the outbound leg (which was at night). The coach seat, even my window seat, was just too uncomfortable. I also have the sense that the cushions on the 767 we took on the outbound leg were at their end of life. The trip back on a 330 was longer, but the seat was better. No sleep there either although I didn't try (daytime flight). Oh, and the food in coach is still awful. Hello, Delta... How 'bout you hook up with Stouffers and private label their 10 most popular microwave heat and eat meals. Its gotta be less expensive and more tasty than what you're doing now...
 
As an experienced can't-sleep-on-planes guy, I have had exactly one thing work.

Wake up on Saturday morning and don't go to sleep until your flight leaves... On Wednesday. o_O

OK, it works, but I can't recommend it. Longest I've been awake in my entire life.
 
The usual stuff — Window seat, eyeshade, earplugs, and a ball cap to pull down low over your eyeshade. Lean into that sidewall and fall asleep. And this is key: don’t lean your seat back because upon descent, the flight attendant will wake you to return your seat to the upright position, Costing you that last 45 minutes of precious sleep.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top