13 Simple Tips to Make the Economy Feel Like First-Class

Overcoming sleep, noise, and food challenges on flights is crucial for a positive landing experience. We focus on optimizing our economy class flight for enhanced comfort and enjoyment at our destination. Let’s see what tricks we have for you today.

1. Pack your favorite entertainment.

Feeling bored is a significant issue during long airplane journeys, particularly in economy class. At times, there may be no screens available for watching movies, listening to music, or playing games, so it becomes essential to bring your own entertainment.

Perhaps you’d like to catch up on your favorite series? Just ensure that you’ve downloaded it onto your device before boarding. Reading a book is also an excellent way to pass the time during a long-haul flight.

2. Carry socks with you.

Experienced travelers take a couple of pairs of socks with them onboard. It’s often cold onboard planes, and keeping your shoes on is uncomfortable. In this case, another pair of warmer socks will help you immensely. The main thing to remember is to put your shoes back on when you go to the lavatory or when walking around the plane to warm up your muscles.

Compression socks can become an excellent alternative to socks. They help improve blood circulation and decrease the risk of swelling and thrombosis.

3. Choose your seat wisely.

One should approach the task of strategically choosing a plane seat: the air in front of the aircraft is fresher, and the plane bounces less in these seats and the seats over the wings. It is best not to opt for the seats by the engines, the toilets, or the kitchen. The closer you are to the bow of the aircraft, the less you will be disturbed by engine noise. The seats near the aisle are a few decibels quieter than the ones near the windows.

4. Dress (not) to impress.

When you go to catch your flight, it’s best to wear soft and casual outfits because you don’t need to impress anyone. It’s actually a good idea to bring some extra clothes in case it gets chilly. Having a cardigan or small blanket with you is always helpful in case it gets cold.

You can also try to reproduce your everyday routine on a long-haul night flight: change your clothes for comfortable jammies, brush your teeth, read — all in all, do all the things that you normally do before hitting the hay.

5. Take care of your hair.

In order to prevent hair from electrifying and to make it look neat, experts recommend tying a scarf on your head. Also, to protect your mane from dryness, you can apply a leave-in conditioner to the hair. These measures will make any flight harmless for your hair.

6. Don’t use makeup and make sure to moisturize your skin.

It’s better to leave bright lipstick, blush, and mascara outside the plane. The air inside the plane is dry, and it’s recommended to apply moisturizing cream to the face before boarding instead of foundation. It would be best if the moisturizer had SPF, and you could also carry a serum, just in case you feel dehydrated.

To care for your skin even more, you can seek help from cloth masks. As a rule, they contain hyaluronic acid and other moisturizing ingredients. The main thing to remember is that you should opt for masks without a strong smell to not inconvenience your fellow travelers.

7. Eat or drink something cold before sleeping.

Before sleeping, our body temperature decreases because the body’s internal systems begin to work less intensively than when you are wide awake. This mechanism can be used during flight to convince the body that it is time to get some rest.

8. Find a comfortable sleeping pose.

Experienced travelers recommend reclining the back of the seat as much as possible and opting for a window seat for a more comfortable rest. However, sleep experts say that bending over the tray is the best pose for sleeping well. One also shouldn’t bend over the wall near the window. As the survey shows, you’ll unlikely sleep well in this pose.

9. Place your travel pillow backward.

An experienced traveler shared a life hack that helps him sleep well onboard planes. All you need to do is use a travel pillow backward. In this case, the pillow will support your chin, and your head won’t bend forward. At the same time, the back of your head also has support — the seat itself.

10. Don’t cross your legs.

We often put one leg over the other when seeking a comfortable pose. However, it’s better to skip this when up in the air. Crossing your legs on long flights restricts blood flow and increases the risk of blood clots. Experts urge you to keep your legs straight, slightly bending them at the knees.

11. Drink only from sealed containers.

An experienced flight attendant shared on social media that the reservoirs, where the water is stored onboard aircraft, are not washed as regularly as you’d expect. She recommends only consuming drinks from sealed containers: water from bottles, soda, and juices. She also advises abstaining from drinking tea and coffee prepared from the water in the reservoirs.

12. Don’t turn off the AC.

Air conditioners on airplanes serve as barriers — they “blow off” bacteria, forcing them to settle on the floor faster and preventing them from getting onto our mucous membranes. Therefore, it is advisable not to turn off the individual ventilation system, maintaining a medium or strong airflow throughout the entire flight.

Due to the low humidity onboard, our mucous membranes dry out, making us more susceptible to disease. By turning off the air conditioner, we risk catching an airborne infection.

13. Change your underwear before landing.

When arriving at your destination, you want to feel freshened up and less gross after a long flight. Changing your underwear before landing is a smart move, and it’s always worth the effort.

Bonus: How to warm up your muscles on a flight

• You can use the toilet to restore blood circulation. Sit on the closed seat and stretch your legs up the wall. Stay in this position for 10 minutes.
• To relax during the flight, try doing the following exercise: strain all the muscles of your body, keep the strain for 30 seconds, and then relax for 10 seconds. Do 4 reps.
• To improve the blood flow in your legs, lift your knee to your chest and keep it in this position for 15 seconds. Do 10 reps for each leg.

We can minimize the inconvenience during a long flight in economy class with proper preparation. If you are someone who wants to travel for the first time, make sure to read travel tricks that might be useful later on. Reaching out to experienced travelers is also smart, as they may have encountered unexpected experiences.