[The following article includes tips to help cruise passengers on long-haul flights find ways to make the journey tolerable.]
My trip from Helsingborg, Sweden, to Asheville, North Carolina, began with a ferry crossing to Hamlet’s Castle, was interrupted by a bomb threat that turned out to be an electric toothbrush inadvertently activated in someone’s unattended luggage, and ended with the weather delays that occur so frequently at Atlanta’s International Airport that frustrated passengers often mock the hometown carrier by conferring an unfortunate acronym, Doesn’t Ever Leave The Airport.
Coming from the hinterlands of Sweden, via Helsinki, mine was a particularly long and arduous journey — from 4 p.m. Sunday until 12:30 a.m. Tuesday. And this morning, now home in Asheville after arriving just past midnight, I feel something I rarely feel: my age.
The reason is in part due to my poor planning. I failed to reserve a comfortable economy-class seat on the transatlantic portion of my flight home. Yesterday at just after noon, I contorted myself into seat 25A on Lufthansa flight 444 (666 would have been a more appropriate flight number).
The space was so tight that in order to get my knees locked into the back of the seat in front of me, I had to push my butt as far back in my seat as I could manage. In such a position, my upper body had no choice but to tilt forward. My head could not reach the headrest without lifting my chin to the ceiling, which is what I did for much of the 10 hours. I looked like a mental patient or someone awaiting a herring to be lowered into my mouth (as in the photo).
The Grand Inquisitors could not have produced a more effective instrument for torture. I don’t know that I should expect special consideration for my 6′5″ frame, but I do know that the seats are not designed for someone of my stature to travel without pain. In fact, on a flight to Hawaii in 1990, I developed a blood clot in my lower left leg from sitting in a space that was too tight.
The fact that long-haul flights can be hazardous to one’s health manifests itself in a condition known as Deep Vein Thrombosis, also referred to as Economy Class Syndrome. DVT is the formation of a blood clot in a deep vein, caused by a number of factors, including immobility, which is what happens on cramped long-haul flights. In rare instances, DVT can lead to pulmonary embolism.
There are ways to make long-haul flight tolerable and even comfortable. You could, of course, upgrade to business class. Crystal Cruises, for example, offers business class air upgrades on select Baltic and Mediterranean sailings, and these begin reasonably at an additional $999 each way. But I find it hard to justify the expense. The wealthy founder of IKEA once reportedly said that opting for economy class over business class is the “easiest money you’ll ever make,” and indeed paying an additional $2,000 to upgrade both ways comes out to about $100 per hour.
Here are a few tips for comfort that will cost you much less, if anything.
- Choose an airline with a generous seat pitch. You can sort the chart at SeatGuru to compare seat pitch. On its Boeing 777s, ANA (All Nippon Airlines), for example, provides a roomy 38-inch seat pitch in international economy. Near the bottom of the chart, American Airlines provides only a 30-inch seat pitch on its Boeing 767s. Lufthansa’s seat pitch is 32 inches in international economy, and, as noted, it was an instrument of torture for me. You can also check seat width at SeatGuru.
- Select your seat when you book your flight. If you’re booking online and can’t select a seat, call the airline.
- Obtain elite status with a preferred airline. If you are one of the carrier’s elite customers, you can often select preferred seats, such as exit row and bulkhead seating in advance. In an exit row, I often have as much room in front of me as I do in the rare instances when I get to fly business class. Also, some airlines, such as Delta, will upgrade its elite passengers to business when economy class is oversold on international flights.
- Drink lots of water, get up and move and wear compression hose. These tactics will help you avoid swelling and discomfort and potential clotting. One company, SIGVARIS, has produced a video about compression hose, embedded at the bottom of this post.
During the last two years, I have crossed the Atlantic more than 12 times, and most of my flights have been good ones, even comfortable ones. Yesterday was the exception, and I vowed to never let that happen again.
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