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Long-haul flight checklist

How to get through a long flight: choosing a seat, water and snacks, a sleep kit, moving and dry air, offline entertainment and a time-zone plan.

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Your checklist

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Choose your seat deliberately
Aisle if you plan to move; window if you plan to sleep. Exit rows give legroom but often do not recline.

Your seat affects ten hours more than anything else, and it is chosen in a minute at check-in.
Check in early and save the boarding pass
Online check-in opens early and gives you the choice of seats. Save the pass offline, not only in your email.
Buy water after security and drink regularly
Dry cabin air dehydrates faster than it feels. Drinking on a schedule rather than on thirst is the rule that works.
Pack your own snack
The gaps between services can be hours. Nuts, a bar, fruit — mindful of import rules at your destination.
Pack a sleep kit
Earplugs, an eye mask, a neck pillow, a warm layer, socks. This is what turns a seat into somewhere you can sleep.
Prepare for dry air
Lip balm, moisturiser, drops if your doctor prescribes them, glasses instead of lenses on a long flight.
Get up and move every couple of hours
Walk the cabin, flex your legs and ankles in the seat. Immobility is the main source of swelling and fatigue.

Moving during a flight affects how you feel afterwards more than the seat and the food combined.
Dress in loose layers
Cabins swing between hot and cold. Loose shoes matter most: feet swell on almost everyone.
Keep medication in the cabin
In original packaging and with a margin for delays. With chronic conditions, ask your doctor how the schedule shifts across time zones.
Download everything in advance
Films, books, music, an offline map of the arrival city. On-board internet may be paid, slow or absent.
Charge devices and take a power bank
Power sockets are not everywhere and do not always work. The power bank goes in the cabin; it must not be checked.
Start adjusting to the time zone in advance
Shift your sleep by an hour or so a couple of days before. On board, live by the destination time.
Go easy on alcohol and heavy food
Both worsen dehydration and ruin sleep. You feel it more after landing than during the flight.
Plan a child's activities hour by hour Flying with children
Several small activities rather than one big one, water, snacks, a change of clothes. And explain what will happen.
Keep the first day after arrival free
Hold out until the local evening and get into daylight. Important meetings that day are a bad idea.

A long flight is survived by preparation, not by endurance

Ten hours in a seat is not a test of stamina. It is dry air, immobility, dehydration, noise and a broken sleep schedule. Each of those can be reduced in advance, and together they make the difference between arriving wrecked and arriving tired but functional.

A separate question is what to do on arrival. Time zones hit hardest those who land and go straight to bed at three in the afternoon.

What actually helps

Factor	What to do
Dehydration	Drink water regularly rather than when thirsty
Immobility	Get up and move every couple of hours
Dry air	Lip balm, moisturiser, glasses instead of lenses
Noise	Earplugs or headphones — they also help you sleep
Back and neck	Support for the neck and lower back, not just the head
Legs	Loose shoes; compression wear if your doctor advises it

Your seat

Aisle if you plan to get up and sleep in fragments. Window if you want something to lean on and would rather not be woken. Exit rows give legroom but do not always recline and are not always available to children. Choose deliberately rather than taking whatever is assigned.

Sleep and time zones

Start adjusting a couple of days ahead: shift your sleep an hour or so towards the destination. On board, set your watch to the destination and live by it: sleep if it is night there, stay awake if it is day.

On arrival, hold out until the local evening and get into daylight — it does more for the adjustment than any attempt to catch up on sleep during the day.

Food and drink

Heavy food and alcohol worsen dehydration and make sleeping harder. Bring your own snack: on a long flight the gaps between services can be hours, and the trolley does not always arrive when you need it.

With children

A child needs occupation, water, snacks, a change of clothes and an explanation of what is happening. Plan activities by the hour rather than for the whole flight at once: attention runs out faster than the cabin air.

When you are ready to fly

The seat is chosen deliberately, water and snacks are packed, earplugs and something for sleep are with you, devices are charged, documents are to hand, there is a plan for the time zones, and the day after arrival has nothing important in it.

Frequently asked questions

How do I survive a long flight and jet lag?

Drink water regularly, move every couple of hours, sleep on destination time and go easy on alcohol. On arrival, hold out until the local evening and get into daylight — it resets the clock better than a daytime nap.

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