A different approach to sleeping on planes

It has worked for my tween-age children, but I think it would be a little too cramped for an average size adult.

I am 5' 8" with long legs and a short torso, so maybe I am an exception - but it works for me. I pull down the tray, plop the teensy airline pillow and blanket on it (a balled up coat works, too), fold my arms on the pillow, but my head down, and SLEEP. So there's one vote. Anyway, it is worth a try!

They actually sell a wedge-shaped pillow that is meant to be used that way. It has a sleeve on the front for you to put arms through. I haven't used it, but my wife bought one for our last trip. My daughter ended up using it, though.

I have frequently used the tray table and a pillow/blanket/coat to sleep on airline flights. I can do it as long as the person in front of me doesn't fully recline his/her seat. The reclining issue happened to me on an Air France trip to Paris last fall. I had not even returned my meal tray when the seat in front of me came crashing into my space. There was little I could do at that point to be able to sleep. The flight had to be the worst flight and most uncomfortable seats that I have ever taken. My husband's back hurt for a week following the flight. We didn't look forward to our return trip at all! We have used Northwest, Delta, KLM, American and now Air France on flights to Europe. The Air France plane that we were on had to be the worst. Maybe there are better planes in the Air France fleet and we just happened to get older one.

If the person in front of you reclines her/his seat fully, does that still work?

I've seen that forward recline pillow be sold in the skymall magazine...it does look a bit silly. I have never seen one be used in person. But I don't think that the seat tray is all that sturdy, to be honest...not that i think it would break but I would be thinking about that as I was resting forward, never getting any sleep at all.

So, I'm still wondering? Were you able to sleep and was it quality sleep? Any one?

I have done it,, and it works for me, but only for short periods as eventually my body just wants to stretch out. I have rarely had a good sleep on a plane,, only if I am lucky enough to get a seat empty beside me,, and that almost never happens anymore( planes used to fly half empty, but now they always seem full)

1) If the person in front of me reclines their seat, then I am out of luck and have to sit up. 2) I can - and have - slept on the floor of a train corridor with a bunch of loud German tourists having a corridor party all around me, so I guess I can sleep anywhere. If you are an easy sleeper, you will likely be able to sleep in the forward position. I can easily get 4 - 5 hours of restful sleep like that. If you are NOT an easy sleeper, I predict that even if you can doze off, your body will rebel (as pat cogently mentions) and you will want to stretch out. My husband has a LOT of trouble sleeping - even in his own bed, never mind in a cramped tin can in the sky! - and so he went to the doctor and got a prescription for some anti-anxiety meds. He takes a couple, has a beer, and can generally get some sleep - just reclining backward. That might be worth a try!

My head flops forward while sleeping if I don't recline my seat at all. Usually one "click" back creates an angle that will support my head. Most of the airplane seats I've used have a little flap in the upper corners. If that is turned in, it will support you head while you doze. Really lucky fliers find the seat next to them empty, so they can half-recline over both seats. Chose a half-empty plane if you want to try this.

I was going to try and do this on my last flight, but the person in front reclined their seat, and thus, there was no way for me to give it a go. I'm hoping to try it again. I "practiced" it on another flight and it was comfortable, but unfortunately, that was a very short flight (one hour), so I don't have any long flight data to share with you.
All my flights to Europe have been with my husband, so we try and use each other for more comfort. Put the middle arm rest up, then I try and put my head on his lap and he puts his head across my back. It actually works okay and gives us a few hours of sleep before we get tired of the position.

Whilst I have not done this myself I did sit next to people who did it on a Sydney to London flight. It seemed to work for them.

I also remember falling asleep on my desk in school and tried it on a number of flights but I could not get comfortable enough. I have resorted to noise cancelling headphones and that allows me to doze off while watching a movie, and I also take my own down-filled travel pillow. My daughter however can sleep anywhere and usually is out immediately and sleeps through the take off. She has done the tray sleeping at times.

I do not sleep easily in anything that's moving (or anything that's vibrating, or not completely dark and quiet - among other conditions). I've got one of those inflatable collar-style pillows that supports your head in an upright position (google "komfort kollar"). It kinda sorta works - it's certainly better than anything else I've found. Keeps your head from flopping over/forward/back, which seems to be the first thing that wakes me up. YMMV.

That's an interesting statistic, but I have to say it's not true! I've been able to fall into a good sleep at much less than 41 degrees on a plane, so good that I've not realized sometimes we've taken off! However, I will say that I have slept in the forward position, tho I much prefer to put my head waaay back and open my mouth and just drool ;)

The blow-up pillow to place on your tray and lean forward for sleeping is pictured (and sold) at the websites below.
I would think you'd want to try for a window seat if you want to use this, becasue it might be awkard for people to wake you to get by. http://www.amazon.com/Skyrest-Travel-Pillow/dp/B000VKP6VW http://www.skymall.com/shopping/detail.htm?pid=96981577&c=10980&%20pnr=59K&cm_mmc=Google-_-G_Travel+-+Comfort+&+Care-_-Phrase-_-skyrest+travel+pillow

I've been waiting for somebody to pop the forty-one degree business. Gongrats, Elaine. Since my time mucking about in flying machines proabably beats anybody else's by a factor of a gazillion (or at least a thousand), I'll damn guarantee that you can sleep in any postition. The goofiest thing I ever saw was a guy that (as part of his basic flying kit) had a velcro strap that he hooked to part of the aircraft structure and a mating velcro patch on his helmet to keep his head from flopping around.

Thanks Ed, and gosh, I never thought of the velcro patch!!

Great posts folks! I expected the answers to be mixed. Some say it worked and for some it didn't. For me, sitting up does not work very well. It appears when sitting up the key is not to let your head to flop around. On my next trip (hopefully this year) I will try the forward approach and see what happens. Nighty-night.

I don't really enjoy being a grump, but I just have to mention the passenger behind me, flopping around on her tray table all night, sending the motion through my seat back. She might have slept some, but I couldn't.

Hee hee, Alice! :D So that's a vote for this NOT being a good sleeping position - since anyone who is flopping, is probably not doing much sleeping.

My hubby has been known to fall asleep standing up!