Some people have no trouble falling asleep on airplanes.

“They sit down, close the window shade and immediately go to sleep. It doesn’t look like they need any help at all,” said Carol Landis, a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle who researches sleep and the health consequences of disturbed sleep.

Others just stay awake on airplanes no matter what. “Maybe it’s because of an underlying anxiety about the reason for the trip, or about flying, or because they’re trying to sleep sitting up rather than lying down,” said Landis.

But squeezing in even a short in-flight cat nap can make a big difference in your trip. “You’ll feel like a new person when you wake up,” said Sara C. Mednick, author of “Take a Nap! Change Your Life” and an assistant professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside. “All studies show the more you sleep, the better.”

But how can you catch those 40 winks while squeezed in a metal tube going more than 400 mph?

Landis and Mednick agree on the basics.

“Don’t drink caffeinated coffee, tea, soda or eat chocolate or anything else with caffeine for six to eight hours before a flight and during it,” said Landis. Bring along earplugs and an eyeshade to block out light and sound. And pack a pillow and a blanket. “Your body temperature drops when you sleep,” said Mednick, “so being sufficiently warm is important.”

Thinking of taking a sleeping pill? Think twice. “We usually discourage sleeping medications,” said Dr. Flavia Consens, an associate professor at the University of Washington in the departments of neurology and anesthesiology and pain medicine who is a specialist in sleep medicine. “There’s less oxygen while you’re flying, and these medications lessen your drive to breathe. There’s also a concern that when travelers take these pills they don’t move around, and on a long flight, that increases the chances of DVT or deep vein thrombosis,” the formation of blood clots known sometimes as economy class syndrome.

To help passengers snooze, some airlines offer a variety of onboard sleep aids, including mood lighting, “do not disturb” stickers and other amenities.

“Right now the industry standard in long-haul business class is seats that can be turned into horizontal beds,” said Raymond Kollau, founder of airlinetrends.com. “And for some economy class fliers, Air New Zealand offers the ‘Skycouch,’ which is three standard economy seats which can be changed into a single horizontal space.”

On late night departures, All Nippon Airways (ANA) hands out ‘Sleep Support Kits’ that include aromatherapy cards (‘Relax’ and ‘Refresh’) that emit a lavender or an ‘ANA Original Aroma’ scent when a small button is pressed. “And British Airways offers sleep advice podcasts from sleep expert Chris Idzikowski, aka Dr. Sleep, on its in-flight entertainment system and on its website,” said Kollau.
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Podcasts and other audio programs that may help you sleep might soon be a regular feature on other airline entertainment systems as well. At the recent Airline Passenger Experience Association conference in Seattle, IFE Services announced that it is now the exclusive seller of the pzizz sleep system to airlines. The software application creates audio soundtracks that promise to either induce a power nap of between 10 and 90 minutes or a deep sleep of up to 10 hours.

If the program is offered for free, it can’t hurt to give it a try, but sleep experts say you’d be better off spending your money on an upgrade instead of a pre-recorded program.

“There’s no research that shows these special programs work,” said Mednick. “There’s music you learn to listen to that might help you sleep, but there’s no music that’s a sleep inducer.”

Instead, Mednick suggests bringing some of your sleep rituals from home with you onto the airplane. “Brush your teeth, change your clothes, and get into something that resembles pajamas. We are creatures of habit, so if you can create or simulate the sleep habits you have at home, the more your body will respond.”

(This originally appeared on msnbc.com Travel’s Overhead Bin)

Categories: Airplanes, Sleeping
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Like a lot of other small airports, Tennessee’s Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport is trying to boost the number of passengers that use its services.

The airport serves about 600,000 passengers a year and offers nonstop service to Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth and six other cities. Inside the terminal, there’s a restaurant, a deli, free wireless Internet and a free business center where the amenities include complimentary snacks and beverages.

“With a new Volkswagen factory in town, two new Amazon distribution centers on the horizon and lots of business growth in the region, the airport decided now was a good time to improve its brand awareness,” said Christina Siebold, the airport’s director of marketing and communications. A Birmingham, Ala.-based advertising firm, Big Communications, was hired to do a study and come back with some ideas.

Preliminary results were presented to the airport board Monday night. Among the consultant’s suggestions: Adopt a new logo and a new tag line (“Get on board”) and embrace a new name: Chattanooga Airport, which is what everyone already calls it.

Siebold says the board accepted the report and voted to move ahead with phase two, which involves creating commercials and print ads and exploring social media.

Photo courtesy: Chattanooga Area Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB).
This post originally appeared on msnbc.com’s Overhead Bin.

Categories: Airports
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Flu season is just around the corner and many airports around the country are, once again, doing their part to keep travelers healthy.

First to begin spreading the word: the San Diego International Airport.
They’re offering influenza, Tdap (to address the pertussis/whooping cough epidemic), Hepatitis A and B and other CDC-recommended vaccinations, for a fee, to ticketed passengers now through November 28 at two post-security locations in Terminal 1 East and West rotundas, Sunday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

I’m gathering details about other airports offering flu shots and other vaccinations this season, so if you see a kiosk set up at your airport, let me know.

Categories: Health
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Here’s a lovely short video that celebrates the San Francisco International Airport’s newly renovated Terminal 2 – and a way for your to get free samples, free food and some worthwhile travel discounts next time you pass through.

Here’s how to get your discounts:

Travelers who check-in at SFO’s T2 on the geo-social network Loopt, can watch the video and get “digital deals” such a complimentary product samples at Kiehl’s, discounts at Natalie’s Candy Jar and 10-20 percent off last minute travel discounts on Virgin America, which is a partner in the promotion.

The airline says it will also throw in some random two-for-one and free flight offers.

Categories: Air Travel, Food, Free Stuff
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If you watched the Sunday night premiere of “Pan Am,” you might be wondering if the idyllic version of 1960s air travel matches the reality of those who worked for the iconic airline.

Msnbc.com’s Overhead Bin wondered, too. So I asked two former Pan Am flight attendants to watch the show and tell me if their experiences were anything like those portrayed on-screen.

Bronwen Roberts in a 1958 Pan Am graduation photo.

Bronwen Roberts was hired at Pan Am in 1958 shortly after graduating England’s University of Leeds with a degree in French. She flew until 1989 and kept in a scrapbook the advertisement listing the 15 qualifications required of flight attendant applicants. “You had to have a pleasant personality and speaking voice, excellent health and you had to be single,” said Roberts. “Really single. Not widowed, divorced or separated.”

A weight between 110 and 135 pounds was another qualification. Roberts said the pre-flight weigh-ins and grooming inspections depicted on the show were true-to-life.

“When you checked in for a flight you’d go into the office and there’d be a grooming supervisor on duty all the time,” said Roberts. “She could say, ‘Your hair is too long’ or ‘You are overweight’ and send you home until you fixed it. Just like the TV show, you could get grounded for uniform violations.”

Helen Davey also found the on-screen grooming checks familiar. Now a psychotherapist in Los Angeles, she was hired as a Pan Am flight attendant in 1965 at age 21 and flew until 1986.

Helen Davey in an undated photo from her days as a Pan Am flight attendant.

“Yes, we had to wear girdles,” said Davey. “And if you were one minute late for a trip, they’d send you home.”

In the first episode, a child is escorted into the cockpit mid-flight to visit the pilots. Passengers are also offered ashtrays so they can smoke. Roberts and Davey both said that those in-flight activities were once very common.

“We definitely took children into the cockpit so they could sit in the pilot’s seat,” said Roberts. “And in terms of smoking, we’d have little packets of cigarettes and matches that we’d go around with.”

“Even flight attendants could smoke,” added Davey. “But when they did, they had to be sitting down.”

In the episode (spoiler alert), two of the flight attendants are shown doing work for the CIA. If this seems like the least plausible story line, Roberts and Davey both said it was realistic.

“That is definitely a true story,” said Roberts, who during her tenure heard rumors that at least one flight attendant was involved with the CIA. “At one point she just disappeared. No one knew what happened to her.”

In fact, Nancy Hult Ganis, an executive producer for the show and a former Pan Am flight attendant, told wired.com that her research turned up stories about the airline’s involvement with State Department operations on behind-the-scene missions in dangerous locations.

The TV program also shows flight attendants with plenty of time to chit-chat, and at least one crew member involved in an off-duty affair with a passenger.

“Some of those flights were quite long – 15 or 20 hours – and there were fewer people, so you could get to know them,” said Roberts. “People weren’t glued to their laptops like they are now. And some people did end up marrying passengers they met on flights.”

Roberts and Davey had only a few quibbles with the first episode. Both said their uniforms were a warmer, more subdued shade of blue than those worn by the TV actresses and that flight attendants in their day would never be allowed to have hair touching their shoulders.

But there’s one moment that Davey said was spot on. “I liked the scene when they were ready for take-off and one flight attendant says to the new hire, ‘Buckle up. Adventure calls.’ That’s how it was. We all thought we had lucked into the best job into the world.”

Categories: Air Travel, Aviation history, Entertainment
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