Things to do on a long flight: a realistic list for people who can't sleep on planes

My flight from Helsinki to Singapore is seven hours. From Singapore to Auckland it’s another ten. I have done this route more times than I have had sensible ideas in my life, and I still haven’t cracked the code on sleeping through it.

What I have cracked is how to get off a long-haul flight feeling like a functional human being rather than like something that fell out of a dryer. It involves a specific mix of things I do and things I deliberately do NOT do, and I am sharing all of them with you now.

First: accept that it’s a transition, not a productivity window

Most advice about long flights frames them as an opportunity. Write that novel! Clean your email inbox! Learn Portuguese!

I tried this. I have started approximately nine Duolingo Portuguese streaks on long-haul flights and maintained exactly zero of them. The language learning phase ends somewhere over the Arabian Sea and by the time I’m over the Indian Ocean I’m watching a Marvel film I’ve already seen twice.

There’s a better framing: a long flight is a transition. You’re moving from one version of your life to another, and the cabin is a liminal space where the normal rules don’t apply. What you actually need is rest (even if not sleep), low-stimulation entertainment, and to land in a reasonable physical condition. That’s the goal. Not transformation. Not the novel.

The things that genuinely help

Good headphones, not okay headphones

This is the single biggest quality-of-life upgrade for long flights. Not noise-cancelling in a vague sense, but genuinely effective noise cancelling that reduces the constant low-frequency engine roar that you stop noticing consciously but that drains your energy for the whole flight.

Good headphones make everything else better. Music sounds better, films are actually immersive, podcasts are comprehensible, and when you’re trying to sleep, the silence they create is QUALITATIVELY different from earplugs alone. If you fly long haul regularly, the price of a good pair of headphones returns itself within two or three flights in improved arrival condition.

The plane headphones are for people who forgot theirs.

Download everything in advance

Long-haul flights over oceans and polar routes often lose connectivity, and even when connectivity is available it’s expensive and slow and you’ll use it for checking Instagram rather than anything that will improve your flight.

Before you board: download a podcast series you’ve been meaning to start (a long-form narrative one works best, something you can lose yourself in), download 2-3 films from whatever platform you use, and save some long articles or a book you’re genuinely interested in, not one you feel you should read.

The key word is “genuinely interested in.” Long flights are not the moment to read difficult improving literature. They are the moment to read the thriller you’ve been saving or the food memoir that looks delightful. Lower the bar. You’re in a metal tube at 35,000 feet.

Sleep preparation even if you can’t sleep

Trying to sleep on a plane and failing is more exhausting than accepting that you won’t sleep and resting instead.

What “resting” looks like: headphones on (noise cancelling, low music or nothing), eye mask on, seat reclined as far as it goes (yes, do this, I know it’s slightly annoying for the person behind you but you are on a 14-hour flight and you may recline your seat), legs elevated if you can manage it, nothing on the screen. Not sleep, but not stimulation either. Your nervous system will get some recovery out of this even without full sleep.

If you can sleep: melatonin (0.5-1mg, see the jet lag article) timed to when it’s dark at your destination helps. An eye mask, earplugs or noise-cancelling headphones, and a neck pillow that you’ve actually tested before the flight. The inflatable ones that clip around the back of your neck and stop your head from falling sideways are significantly better than the U-shaped ones for most people.

Compression socks. Not optional on anything over 8 hours. Deep vein thrombosis is rare but the precautions are easy, and compression socks also just make your legs feel dramatically better when you arrive.

Get up

Aisle seat for long flights. Specifically and unapologetically the aisle seat. Window seats are romantic, but they mean you’re trapped for the duration while the two people between you and the aisle sleep at all the wrong times.

Get up every 2 hours. Walk to the back of the plane. Do the standing quad stretch and the ankle circles that look ridiculous but work. This is not just about DVT prevention, it’s about circulation, it’s about your lower back (which will develop opinions about 14 hours in a seat if you don’t address it), and it’s about breaking the psychological experience of the flight into sections that each have an endpoint.

The walk to the back of the plane is also where you’ll find the interesting passengers who couldn’t sleep and are standing around looking at the flight map and eating crackers. Some of my best flight conversations have happened back there.

Films and shows: the strategy

Watch something you want to watch, not something you feel you should. Save the art films and challenging documentaries for when you’re on the ground with full cognitive function. Long flights are for comfort viewing.

Specifically: television series work better than films for long flights because they impose natural break points at episode boundaries. You watch two episodes, stand up and walk, come back, watch two more. A single film feels more effortful to maintain attention through. The exception is a film you’re very excited about, in which case you’ll be fine.

Watch something familiar on the later stages of the flight when you’re depleted. Comfort rewatches (shows or films you’ve seen before) require less cognitive engagement and are genuinely easier on a tired brain at hour eleven.

Eat lightly and skip the alcohol

Every time I have a glass of wine on a long-haul flight because the cart comes around and it’s free and it seems like a nice idea, I get off the flight slightly worse than I would have otherwise. Not dramatically worse. Slightly. Dehydrated, puffy, worse sleep quality from the alcohol, and marginally more headachey.

The food itself: eat it when it comes regardless of your hunger (meal timing helps with jet lag adjustment), but eat only what you actually want. You’re not obligated to eat everything on the tray just because it appeared. The bread roll is usually fine. The rest is variable.

Drink the water. Keep drinking the water. Order it proactively; don’t wait for the cart.

The productive things that actually work at altitude

I’ve done a lot of long-flight productivity experiments. Here’s what works vs what doesn’t:

Works: Journaling and personal writing. Something about altitude and detachment from normal life is very good for reflective writing. Not professional work, personal writing. Thinking through a decision, processing something, writing a letter you might or might not send.

Works: Listening to podcasts or audiobooks that you’d otherwise never make time for. The passive/active sweet spot is perfect for a long flight. My ears are engaged but my hands are free to fidget with the tray table.

Works: Planning the trip. Looking at the itinerary, researching things to do, reading travel guides and saving restaurants, sorting out your connectivity (reminder: an eSIM you can activate before landing means you step off with working maps, which for certain airports is genuinely valuable). This is enjoyable, low-cognitive-effort, and useful.

Doesn’t work: Responding to complex emails. Your judgment at altitude after 8 hours is not your sharpest judgment and you may write things you’d revise on the ground.

Doesn’t work: Learning anything genuinely new. The brain retains new information poorly when tired. Save the new for when you arrive.

Doesn’t work for me personally, but might for you: Writing with any professional intent. I find altitude gives me false confidence in my own sentences. I have re-read long-flight writing on the ground and it’s always weirder than I remembered. Your mileage may vary.

The overnight long-haul strategy

For flights that go through local nighttime at your destination (say, a flight that has you over the Pacific in what is technically bedtime in your destination):

Don’t watch anything when you first board. Put on your eye mask and try to sleep immediately. Even if it doesn’t work, you’re giving your body the chance. If you fall asleep for four hours, you’re in much better shape than if you watched a film for four hours and then tried to sleep.

The entertainment is for the second phase of the flight, when you’ve either slept or definitively accepted that you won’t.

The things that make the layover survivable

If you have a layover of more than four hours: leave the airport if you can. A lot of airports in major transit hubs (Singapore, Amsterdam, Dubai, Tokyo Narita, Hong Kong) have efficient transit systems and you can be in the city within 30-60 minutes.

Singapore specifically is extraordinary for this. Changi Airport itself is an experience (the indoor waterfall, the Jewel, the sleeping pods), and if you have 6+ hours you can get to the Botanic Gardens and back for $10. The difference between spending 8 hours in even a nice airport and spending 8 hours in a city with a bowl of laksa in front of you is enormous.

For this you will need your phone working. A data SIM for the transit country, or a multi-country eSIM that covers your layover destination. Worth sorting in advance rather than at the airport data SIM counter, which will eat 45 minutes of your layover time.

The honest truth

The people who are very good at long-haul flights are the people who’ve flown long-haul a lot and have found what works for them specifically. My system won’t perfectly match yours. The core of it: manage light and sleep timing, manage hydration, move your body, and lower your expectations about what you’ll accomplish on board.

Arrive less depleted. That’s the win. Everything else is a bonus.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have three more episodes of that show I’ve definitely seen before.