My mother snores and my grandmother snored (loudly), so it's genetic for me.

I have been happily married for over 35 years to a snorer. Not just a "snorer". He's a world-class, lumberjack in the woods, buzz saw snorer.

Poking the person does not good. Waking them up does not good. They just go back to sleep, just as anyone else would do when waked up from a deep sleep. There is no good position that guarantees no snoring.

My best advice to anyone is to realize that when flying, you are on public transport and other passengers have just as much right to their sleep as you do. You can mitigate the disturbance by noise-cancelling headphones or industrial strength ear plugs.

What do I do? I have a weird disability. I can hear great in one ear, nothing in the other. I just bury the good ear in the pillow, and ambient noise vanishes. Being able to hear with just one ear has a lot of drawbacks (stereo? what's that?), but it has saved our marriage.

+1 The shure earpieces are my first line of defense. However this has sometimes occurred on a night flight and I have trouble falling asleep with background music (nor do I want to run down the battery). So loud snorers have been known to override the earpiece.

This happened on a flight to Australia with the guy seated behind me in C (head to head formation). I kept slamming my fist into the seatback to wake him up. He would stop momentarily but eventually the locomotive would return. After quite a few slams he finally stopped long enough for me to fall asleep. All of these types certainly know that they snore loudly and yet do nothing about it so I don't feel any guilt about waking them.

This thread reminds me that I need to pack breathe-right strips to hand out next time one of these d-bags is seated behind me. :mad:

I've found that pinching Mr. Kipper's nose closed startles him enough that he wakes up, stops snoring, and then usually, by the time he starts again, I'm asleep. :)

Although, I've also found that if I wake him and keep him awake for about half an hour, he can't get back to sleep, thus leaving our bedroom a snore-free zone so I can sleep. :)

I figure it's much the same as flying overnight when one guy in the cabin wants to read. It's all dark except for that one glaring light. If you really have a problem with getting to sleep with that one glaring light in your eyes, you are well advised to bring a eye mask. You cannot tell that one guy with the light to turn off his light so you can sleep.

If you know you would have a problem with snorers, then bring ear plugs or noise cancelling headphones and an iPod.

^ +1

I sleep with my mouth open... and have trouble sleeping on planes because I'm afraid of semi-snoring. Kudos to those who can!

ok I was not travelling at the time but I had a few nights in hospital over the Christmas /New Year this year and slept like a log thanks to my Bose QC15 headphones and the "White Noise" app I downloaded to my ipod and my eye mask. Bliss! They had to wake me up the next morning.

^^^

That's what I usually do. I know that I am a snorer so I'll let my seatmate know that they can nudge me to wake me up. I don't mind that at all.

How does white noise help? Am I missing something here? Thanks..

Try sharing a train compartment with one! My Father is the World Champion snorer and after many trips with him I've learned to not go anywhere without Tylenol PM and earplugs. Sadly, there's not much else you can do.

Quick aside: Once years ago with said Father of mine, we were on a JFK-AMS flight in J and the FA came to me and my brother and said "other passengers are complaining about your Father's snoring, do you know anyway to make him stop?" We said "sorry, my Mom has been trying for years".

I was recently on a PHX - CLT redeye, and the guy next to me clearly had sleep apnea. I felt sorry for him, though. Forget snoring, he sounded like he was suffocating. Luckily for me I can sleep through anything, so it didn't bother me at all.

I almost want to help people who sound like they are drowning..:(

White noise is like a vacuum cleaner running, or the sound of waves breaking on the shore, a train running along the tracks........It can relax you and help you drop off to sleep. I first used "white noise" on a baby that would not sleep.