Huh.... my problem is trying to stay awake when flying. A flight after lunch on a warm summer day with gentle light turbulence has me wanting to fall asleep at the control yoke. :D

way to give yourself dvt

what are u traveling for? do u have to do anything the day that you arrive?

my strategy for going from chicago to beijing for visiting family/vacationing. 13-14hr flight. leaving chicago in morning. arrives beijing mid afternoon.

the nite before the flight. do not sleep. watch tv, drink coffee, soda, whatever.
once airborne, get out of your seat. stand and chill next to the stewardess/kitchen/emerg exit area. there's usually a folddown seat for the stewardesses so if captain turns on the seat belt sign, u can just sit down and buckle up there instead of trying to find your way back to your seat. the stewardesses are usually fine with this as long as they have enough seats too.
stay on your feet as much as possible. watch the movie, chat w/ ppl. grab a drink. ask em if they have any extra peanuts....

when u arrive at your destination, you will be dead tired. grab a bite for dinner and drop into bed and sleep. u'll wake up the next morning about 6-7am.

I just hope that you are not the pilot in command.....

The fact that you are thinking about it so much is probably not helping. What worked for me was starting to recognise when I was getting drowsy and settling down straight away - even if I only got an hours sleep out of it.

Other things that helped me change my pattern:
ask for a blanket - most long haul flights have them. Getting warm helps get drowsy.
ask for a pillow or two and try and build a "nest" for your head so it covers at least one ear.
if cattle class, get a window seat - you can then wedge your head and pillow in the corner between your seat back and the wall. The also means that no-one is climbing over you to get out - the person beside you does not disturb you when they get up to go to the washroom.
go to the washroom before you settle - nothing worse than getting comfortable and drowsy then your bladder says 'hey - remember me'

These days on short (1.5hr) early morning flights (6:30am depart) I am often asleep before they push back - my travelling companions from work just shake their heads. It comes from years of long haul flights and millions of miles in the sky.

Tim

geez, man up and take the benzo. Or send them to me...

When Dan said "dash one" how many other people here immediately had pain in their five points of contact?

If I needed to sleep, I'd take a few Tizanidines (zanaflex for you name-branders). But since I'm such a sound, early-to-bed sleeper I've never had to resort to that.

When I am not in the cockpit, I go to sleep on the taxi-out, then wake up after 20 minutes or so...

You need to relax and just enjoy the flight. You are most likely going to die in a car accident, not the airplane... :)

Did you leave me the keys to the bike? :)

Joe

Melatonin

I've pretty much given-up on sleeping on planes. Never happens (or in cars either). I've tried drugs but without much success and prefer not to go that route anyway. So,I just work, read or watch shows/movies.

+1. I have been in transit for over 26 hours with a three hour wait for a hotel on the homestretch with no sleep. Sucks....

When I commuted weekly I used to do this. Something about the gentile rocking of taxing.

yeah, but the problem is you were scheduled to go to Sydney! :D

As opposed to the Jewish rocking of taxiing. Or did you actually mean 'taxing'?

Well, if you want to take that outlook and feel that the Jew's tax more than others, then you would have to fly on American, Delta, United, Jet Blue and so on and get absolutely bent over with their extra fees.

I have flown no one other airline than SouthWest the last couple of years for my CONUS flights as they are one of the few who do not screw everyone with their "add-ons" charges.