>What essentials do you bring on red eye flights to help you sleep?

Earplugs!

I swear by them.

However, what's crucial for them to be effective is correct insertion. For example, when I'm on a flight I see a lot of people just "cramming" the foam plugs in their ears. That's next to useless.

You need to roll them between your thumb and forefingers for 10-15 seconds into a compressed cylinder, then reach over your head, pull on the ear to straighten the ear canal, then slide them deep down into the ear canal and wait about sixty seconds for the plugs to 'expand'. Makes a HUGE difference.

There's a thread on ear plugs here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ight=ear+plugs