International airline travel comfort tips and discussion thread

[entertainme]

Baby Aspirin: Always take a baby aspirin the day before, day of, and day after a long flight to prevent blood clots.

Sleep: Don't sleep the night before your flight to Asia. Eat the dinner they serve right away, then sleep until they serve breakfast just before Tokyo.

Upgrades. On Northwest, you can knock down a business fare from US$9K to US$3K or less with 30K miles most of the time, though you may have to be more flexible flying mid-week rather than on weekends.

[lippy]

I took a couple leftover pills of oxycodine on my trip back from Vegas. Having never tried it, I didn't know what to expect. I got really drowsy and fell asleep but woke up whenever there was minor turbulence thinking I was going to die. I'd be awake for a few seconds and feel bad for everyone and their families because we were all going to die. It was really funny but I don't suggest it.

[Freakin]

I'm heading to thailand in august on Eva air (since northwest hasn't released any decent priced tickets).

I'm planning on watching a lot of movies on both laptop and dvd player, and sleeping quite a bit with teh help of valium or benadryl.

I sprung for the middle class where my seat kinda lays down and has a footrest but isn't the fullon first class bed. I think it's like domestic firstclass with in-arm video and footrests... I'm hoping it works out ok. I sleep TERRIBLY on planes and half my body is always going numb. I didn't want to waste the first 2 days of my trip being totally tired and sore.

Definitely going to take a baby aspirin as well as get up every 4-6 hours to get hte blood flowing through my legs. I don't want to be dead on my vacation.

[fm191124]

always request a change when seated in the exit row.....those chairs do not recline

[Freakin]

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always request a change when seated in the exit row.....those chairs do not recline

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the exit row or the rear row of a section?

[MicroBob]

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I always like to bring extra water b/c I get dehydrated and it's a pain to continually bug the stewardesses.

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I like to do this too.
Before our flight from Peru to the U.S. I went to buy a couple of bottled-waters.
The lady asked me where I was flying and then she told me that I wasn't allowed to carry the water onto the plane and that I had to be sure to drink it before boarding.

Wasn't a problem. And I'm sure I could have just stored it in the bag and carried it on (and if they somehow searched or caught me I would have given it to them and plead ignorance).
Thought it was kind of weird that after I passed through the security was where they gave me the warning about not bringing the water onto the plane.

[lippy]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
always request a change when seated in the exit row.....those chairs do not recline

[/ QUOTE ]

the exit row or the rear row of a section?

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See, I don't mind this... you get a lot more leg room in these rows.

[Go_Blue88]

don't drink (too much) of the free wine.

on the way to europe last summer i decided to get drunk to make the flight a lil more enjoyable (+ free wine=awesome); but being drunk on a plane for hours in those cramped spaces= mal. i dunno, i got pretty restless/didn't feel great after a couple of hours.

[fish2plus2]

I cant rationalize paying for anything other than economy unless I have atleast a million bucks.

[adsman]

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I cant rationalize paying for anything other than economy unless I have atleast a million bucks.

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Same here. Upgrades used to be fairly easy to get without any prior connection to a company up to about ten years ago. In the last ten years it's become a bit more difficult. I used to get an upgrade every third flight. Now it's more like every fifth. First way to get an upgrade is to ask when you check-in. It has worked for me on numerous occasions. The second way is to ask as you board the plane. Worked for me once on JAL. The third way is if it's a very busy flight, wait until the last possible moment to check-in. Sometimes they overbook economy. I once had this check-in lady tell me in a very apologetic voice;

"I'm terribly sorry sir, but I am afraid that you will have to fly business class on this flight."

Don't know why she was so apologetic about it.