In the old days of long haul flights, you’d see rows of people making do with the sad mini pillow and crackling with static every time they wriggled under those fleece blankets which airlines provide. Upon landing in some far-flung country, necks were cricked, all feeling in feet was long gone, and eyes were puffy. But nowadays, you’re more likely to see flight-savvy young things trussed up in hi-tech neck pillows and luxurious silk eye masks. I recently flew to Mauritius and was dreading the two 12-hour night flights (cue tiny violins).
I’ve never been able to sleep on aeroplanes, but I’d seen TikToks of Gen Z’s complex flight-time rituals involving hammocks which suspend from chairs, multiple neck supports, and complex combinations of masks, and decided to put them to the test. They may look ridiculous, but who’s laughing when they are sound asleep and you are sat blinking at the little plane moving over the globe on your screen?
