A very helpful post. Thanks
I just did a round trip to New Zealand on Air New Zealand (code share with United). Outbound was 13 hours on a 747. Back was 12 hours on a 777. I vastly preferred the 777. Much more comfortable. As for essential items for the flight, Bose noise canceling headphone are a must-have.
The larger an airplane is, the more variance there is in layouts for the seating and other amenities, so it’s not always possible to generalize how comfortable a specific type of plane is. (For example, I think a 777’s coach seating can be 2-5-2, 3-3-3, or even 3-4-3. The last one is going to be noticeably more cramped than the others.)
Take a book. Something light and entertaining. Watching movies on a crappy little screen with dodgy headphones isn’t that great, even if the AV system doesn’t crap out on you. Your goal should be to get as much sleep as you can anyway.
There will be kids on the plane, and if you take a seat by the bulkhead that sweet, sweet leg room comes with a fair chance of you being seated next to a frazzled parent with a toddler - who might sleep half the flight in the dinky little bassinet or might just have a two hour plus temper tantrum within arms reach.
Some people argue you shouldn’t drink much alcohol on flights due to the air condintioning meaning you’ll get a hangover or somesuch. These people are wrong. Drink as much as you need to help you get to sleep for the duration of your flight. But not so much as to make you constantly go to the toilet, which can get pretty foul as the flight goes on.
Most airline food is pretty bland and inoffensive in my opinion. Personally I tend to go for the option that best fits the airline’s nationality - so the asian option on asian carriers for instance. I base this on the theory that caterers are more likely to get the familiar palatable than the unfamiliar.
Don’t be the asshole who tries to fit oversize carryons into the already overfull bins. Seriously, if you’ve got checked luggage anyway why lug heaps of stuff around? One small carryon is all you should really need anyway.
Get noise cancelling headphones, you will thank me later on.
If you are particular about your pillows, get a nice travel sized one to bring along. The airline supplied ones hardly even meet the definition of pillow.
On the other hand, in non-bulkhead seats you run the risk that the guy in front of you will lean his seat back as far as possible 5 minutes into the flight and will be in your lap for seven hours. Which just happened to me on a flight to London.
The bulkhead seats also sometimes have the tray table and video screen in the armrest, which can make them wider. If seat width is an issue for you, you might want to avoid those (or seats in the back where the fuselage tapers and the seats are offset).
The first (and consequently last) time I did this, I found that premium economy or economy plus or whatevertheyarecallingitnow was much beloved of upper middle class young couples who had the dough (or points) to upgrade to get a bit more room for looking after their baby. Place was like a creche. You have been warned.
Nope, get in-ear phones, canalphones or whatever. Far cheaper and far less bulky for just as much noise reduction. I bought some recently and they were a revelation. Not only are they smaller to carry but you can sleep with them in much more easily, especially if you tend to sleep with your head to one side, which over-ear headphones block.
The last two international trips I’ve taken were on:
Boeing 747 - Older aircraft, I was stuck way at the back a few rows in front of the toilets. Not a fun flight.
Several flights on Airbus A330’s & A340’s. Found them both very good & comfortable.
Airbus A380 
Very nice, even in economy class.
I don’t know of Delta even still has planes that can make it all the way across an ocean (or even a large body of water), but I’d avoid Delta like the plague. They’re always on mechanical delay and the ones that do fly smell like they use the toilet water to mop the isle way.
Oh, yes they do. Tel-Aviv – JFK non-stop. And yes, they’re pretty bad.
37th-ing that 757 should be avoided. These have mostly been relegated to Charter and El-Cheapo companies by Old World airlines, dunno about American ones. Another reason to fly European.
Oh, and a general word to the wise – your attitude when arriving at the airport should be similar to a soldier’s attitude on the day their unit gets transported – Hurry Up and Wait will be the order of the day. Be patient, take things in stride, be nice to the poor frazzled staff and they may be nice to you in return, just do what the TSA says and laugh about [del]them[/del] it later (and yes, I’m separating them from the rest of the staff for a reason…)
Of the four largest airlines in the US, three of them fly more than 100, so they’re definitely still around.
This, absolutely. Even without screaming babies nearby, the noise level in the cabin (mostly the engines and the slipstream noise) will wear you down after a multi-hour flight. I always bring disposable earplugs (I have a couple of boxes of them in the house anyway for motorcycling, lawn-mowing, and power tool use).
With earplugs, you don’t need to spend the big bucks on noise-cancelling headphones; you can just use regular headphones and crank up the volume to get the sound level you want through the earplugs.
I’m heading over to Riga and Tallinn (with a 24 hour layover in Amsterdam on the way back) on Wednesday. Here’s my routine:
Booking: Use seatguru and find the best seats. There are two of us and luckily the plane is 2-3-2, meaning that we won’t have to share our armrests with anyone else. We booked economy comfort seats (my SO is a Delta Platinum member so the upgrade was free). The seats are as far away from the bathrooms in economy comfort as possible. Not just to get away from any smells, but after every meal, the area starts to get clogged with people who don’t always have the surest footing or quietest mouths. Always avoid those seats as well as the seats at the very back of the plane.
The bonus with economy comfort is earlier boarding.I like to properly place my bag in the overhead and make sure I have plenty of footroom before the hoi polloi start boarding and thinking that they can just toss their jacket up there and don’t move it 'til asked so other people can place theirs up there too.
Pre-flight: I go to the doctor and get Rx for Zolpidem (Ambien). I don’t get the side effects, sleep through the flight, and wake well-rested. I also take it the first two days to overcome jetlag. This has worked wonders for me but with all Rxes, YMMV. We also booked a 45 minute massage near our gate at the airport two hours before the flight.
Platypus water bag. If where you’re leaving from has potable water from a drinking fountain/sink, then fill this up after security and you’ll have a lot of water to drink during the flight. Flight attendants can disappear when you’re thirsty and it’s nice to have access at your seat to a lot of water when needed. Plus, this saves money on buying a $6 bottle from the airport stores.
Since we board early, I find my seat and stow my bag and then use the bathroom. This is the last chance to do it before the sleeping pill kicks in and you never know how long you’ll be sitting on the tarmac or not allowed to get up again.
Packing:I am a One Bag packer. That website changed how I travel completely and it’s so much nicer to have less to worry about when I’m on my trip. I leave for up to two weeks with a single backpack that fits the 22" x 14" x 9" for Delta. I pack all of the clothes at the bottom, the toiletries at the top, and all of the in-flight items on the side pouch.
In-flight items for me include:
Zolpidem
Sleep mask
Ear plugs
Pen
Crossword puzzle
Kindle
Ipod
Noise cancelling headphones. (I’ve got these from Sony and they’re great for cutting out the engine noise)
Snacks. (I’m partial to picking up these GoPicnic ones which are really quite delicious)
A battery operated iPod charger for those really long flights.
A comfortable sweater too that can be turned into a pillow. (I’ve tried all types of flight pillows from the inflatable, to the bean to the memory foam, and even this one. They all sucked for me. The last one with the link has a string that wraps around the back of the seat which will cover up the screen of the person sitting behind you making them unhappy.)
The most important thing? Bring something which can tell time. Everytime I’ve flown internationally, I start to get that feeling that I will never ever ever leave the plane since it feels like time passes so slowly. It does. You’ll awake from a long nap and look at the clock and see it’s only moved 15 minutes. But you’ll want to know how long it is until you land. There’s a modicum of sanity to be found in that bit of information. And nothing worse than having to ask every 20 minutes if we’re there yet while the inflight TV doesn’t show info but an episode of Two and a Half Men instead.
I should have mentioned this upthread. If need be, you can survive a three-hour domestic flight with the one small cup of beverage they give you. A 8+ hour international flight? If you rely on the tiny amount of liquid they hand out, you may be jeopardizing your health. So yes, a Platypus/Camelbak, or else by a couple of liters of bottled water in the terminal before departure. Drink often and liberally. If you’re getting up to pee every hour or so, that does two things:
-
it’s a reassuring metric that you’re staying well hydrated in a very dry environment, and
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it forces you to get up and move around on a regular basis, reducing your risk of dangerous deep-vein thrombosis.
Other tips (pain reliever, music, reading material, etc.) have been well covered upthread.
Delta has one of the largest trans-Atlantic operations of any U.S. airline. Dozens of flights across that ocean daily. The also have some trans-Pacific flights.
Half a dozen miniatures in rapid succession = slightly drunken sleep, and no pressing need for more than one piss on a trans-Atlantic flight. I kinda love and hate flying though - I still have the huge childish glee of a window seat at take-off and landing, but I know I will have horrible pain on landing. I broke a cheekbone years ago, and the sinus behind it was damaged. When the cabin pressure comes back up on the landing approach, I am in absolute agony. I’ve never found a way to ameliorate that. 
I refuse to fly sober anymore. All those petty in inconveniences just fade away when you treat yourself to a few preflight scotches or whatever your preferred hard liquor is. No beer, as Mich as I love it. I don’t want to have to use the lav.
Can anything smaller than a 747 get from San Francisco or Los Angeles to Australia or India nonstop?
I flew San Francisco-Sydney a year ago, and it was 747s both ways.