I almost always suffer badly with ear pain on descent and find that sudafed and earplanes together work fine, i didn't have either when i flew back from Boston on Monday night and boy did i pay for it, i tried chewing gum but found it caused more pain than it alleviated i did notice i had less pain on the way into Boston last week sitting near the back of the plane but on the return i was nearer the front so i'll remember that another time