They work for me but maybe I have smaller ears being female and all. In fact maybe a female frequent traveller designed them just to spite all the guys sitting in the front of the plane. I'm kidding though. My husband was dismayed with the white ones when we flew to NRT last week. He likes the orange ones. Fortunately I have stash of orange ones in my rollerboard. You can buy them at any local pharmacy and they often come in a little mini ziploc bag very handy for stuffing in the rollerboard. IMO good earplugs are a MUST for business travel, but for me mostly in the hotel at night if it's not so quiet.
I have to say I was pretty happy with the little UA slippers on the NRT flight. They have a small tulip on the side I wonder when they will start printing slippers with the CO globe.