Please give me your best tips for surviving 14 hour long haul flight 🙏🏽

[limetrees32]

We travelled from Heathrow to Japan and I'm dreading the return flight .
Not the boredom but the cramped sitting conditions .
Which I know nothing can be done about .
The only bright idea I've had so far is to buy sedating anti histamine in the hope we'll doze
Has anyone advice on how to make it more bearable ?

With children?

I've done UK-NZ several times, including the 17 hour Dubai-NZ flight. My advice is to try and sleep as much as possible.

Beware that antihistamines can have the opposite to desired effect in some people/kids. Dealing with a raving lunatic toddler was worse than just letting them watch screens and then pass out. Also, Ive had to where the antihistamine didnt make me.sleep until just before landing, then I couldnt wake up. Based on my experiences I wouldn't recommend.

Hope you've enjoyed Japan btw. My sister is there currently and having a blast.

We live in Australia so long haul flights are an unfortunate fact of life. After a flight to Europe last year that was an endurance test to put it mildly I have decided that I won’t do anything less than PE over eight hours in future so my first suggestion is any chance of an upgrade.

If not I would suggest a window seat if you can sleep on planes, an aisle seat if not (or if you have an uncooperative bladder). If you take something to help you sleep you need to be in a window seat, otherwise you risk being disturbed which will leave you feeling crap if you have taken anything. DH has had a variety of neck pillows he swears by, the kind you wrap around your neck and the latest incorporates an eye mask but I couldn’t use it as it made me feel claustrophobic. Otherwise break it into manageable chunks, so x no. of hours for a film, x number of hours to read. If you can check out the entertainment options before you fly you could plan what you want to watch. I read two books on my last 12 hours flight, no screens, but that is not for most people. Other than that all you can do is get in the mindset of “this too shall pass”. Good luck.

I did that flight recently. Which airline? JAL had a more spacious plane than BA.

take all the accessories- noise cancelling headphones. Eye mask. Moisturiser. Neck pillow. Extra blanket or scarf.

download nice podcasts or your own choice of movies. Use them to break up the time, so a couple of hours movies, then walk around the cabin for 5 minutes and stretch, then a snack, then a nap etc.

I enjoyed my recent flight!

With kids? Those inflatable foot rest things to turn their chair into a bed.

Without kids, sounds like a dream, read a book, watch some films take a nice blanket, walk about. I wouldn't attempt to drug yourself

Like a dream?! Have you been on a 14 hour flight in economy?! Unless you are one of those incredibly lucky people who can sleep easily it’s miserable

I did that flight not long ago but I now only
do business class for long haul . I’m not of an age where I want to be scrunched up for long periods . If BC is out of your reach I’d go aisle seat so you don’t have to clamber over sleeping people and can stretch your legs in the aisle . Other than that have good movies lined up , kindle etc and stay hydrated. The time soon passed .

Our son ,who is with us ,booked the flight and I think didn't take out age ( mid 70s ) into account .We should have booked extra leg room .
Unfortunately,although we've looked on line ,I think there is no availability to up grade .
I'll keep trying though .
Thank you for empathy and suggestions .
No kids ,just 2 ageing parents and one very kind son in his 30s🙂

No I'm not. But I was writing that at 4am with a 2yo and newborn on top of me. I haven't had a whole chair to myself in years 😂

Read, watch films, get up regularly

The antihistamine I used - London to Brisbane - was great ! Problem is whilst I had no or very little jet lag, I had a really shocking memory loss - basically whilst I really enjoyed seeing my family when I got there and was definitely ‘in the moment’ I later realised I actually couldn’t recall my first 24 hours and my first meet up. Fearing the onset of dementia, I checked with my GP who told me that short term memory loss is not uncommon with Antihistamines - so use with care I’d say ( mine was a phenergan equivalent

Go business class.
Or at least book an aisle seat, so you feel less cramped.

Can you get something stronger to help you sleep? That’s the only way I’ve found long haul bearable! Eye mask, neck pillow, drink heaps of water.

Unfortunately this is the return half of a pre-booked flight and searches for an upgrade have proved negative .
Presumably because all seats are booked and there is no availability.