The best travel pillow for sleeping on planes

Almost every traveler has encountered the travel pillow. They come in infinite colors, patterns, and degrees of technological promise, dangling from backpacks and necks like half-hearted hope. Now, there are travelers who successfully nod off to sleep with these pillows (my husband), but many of us just stare red-eyed into the void, necks swaddled in foam and desperate for sleep that lasts more than 30 seconds. 

Now, no travel pillow can make a crammed coach seat feel like layflats or your own bed. But as a frequent traveler, I am thrilled to report that I have found a travel pillow that facilitates real, meaningful sleep on long-haul flights.

Previously, I’ve used all kinds of pillows across price ranges, and even once panic-ordered one of these inflatable numbers (which, to date, I haven’t used because it looks like portable humiliation). My primary plane-sleep obstacle is head bobbing. I can often drift off, but eight seconds after that happens, my head bobs forward, snaps, and I wake up. Imagine how many times this can happen over the course of a nine-hour flight. 

Behold: this $50 Cabeau neck pillow has freed me from the dreaded head bob. Although it felt a bit expensive, I bought this travel pillow ahead of three trips to Europe on which I desperately needed to arrive rested. The pillow’s key features are 1) the extended sides that smush your face and 2) the strap that attaches the pillow itself to the headrest. These two features work together to hold your head up long after your sleepy neck has collapsed. Bob and snap no more.

The first time I boarded a plane and rigged up my new pillow, I had reserved optimism. But then I found myself waking up after having fallen into a solid two hours of sleep. Miraculous! I won’t claim that a travel pillow made a long-haul flight into a spa day. I still woke up periodically. Yet just being able to sleep—really sleep—en route to Europe is a game-changer for a trip’s first day. 

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There are some caveats: namely, you will absolutely, unmitigatedly look ridiculous in your Cabeau travel pillow. Have you ever played that middle-school icebreaker where you smash your own face to make yourself look chubby and try to say words to hilarious effect? It’s like that. Also, the strap that goes across your chin may induce mild claustrophia. Yet I’ll happily make that deal. 

Bonus: the pillow rolls down into a carrying case that clips onto your hand luggage. 

I also assume this pillow may not have the same effect for everyone based upon your height, where everything aligns on your neck, the headrest configuration, and other variables. I can’t make promises, so I’m simply aiming to share the good news so you, too, might be set free from the bob and snap that has destroyed so many arrival days.

Bon voyage et bonne nuit!

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