Motion sickness - will business class help?
#1
Original Poster

Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Posts: 143
Motion sickness - will business class help?
So the thread on how much business class alleviates jet lag made me wonder... over the last few years, I've been getting motion sickness on flights. It's really miserable, and I''ve tried meds and acupuncture bands and all that with no result.
So for my next trip, I'm saving up to fly business class. It's expensive, though, because I live down south of Africa, and generally travel to Europe. How much is it likely to help? Obviously the motion of the plane and the drone of the engines is the same, but it would feel a lot less claustrophobic (due to the motion sickness, I've also started getting edgy and feeling a bit trapped in economy). Would lie flat seats help, changing the angle of your head?
Or am I just paying a lot of money for more room for my barf bag?
So for my next trip, I'm saving up to fly business class. It's expensive, though, because I live down south of Africa, and generally travel to Europe. How much is it likely to help? Obviously the motion of the plane and the drone of the engines is the same, but it would feel a lot less claustrophobic (due to the motion sickness, I've also started getting edgy and feeling a bit trapped in economy). Would lie flat seats help, changing the angle of your head?
Or am I just paying a lot of money for more room for my barf bag?
#2




Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,895
Did you try the passive band that just tie around your wrist with a metal contact or the one with electrical pulses? The passive one does nothing for me, but the one with electrical pulse is amazing. I think I have the ReliefBand Voyager and it was worth every penny I paid.
#3
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: DAY/CMH
Programs: UA MileagePlus
Posts: 2,474
Did you try the passive band that just tie around your wrist with a metal contact or the one with electrical pulses? The passive one does nothing for me, but the one with electrical pulse is amazing. I think I have the ReliefBand Voyager and it was worth every penny I paid.
I've seen cheap imitations but I have a feeling they won't work.
#4




Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,895
My wife always suffered from motion sickness until she got a ReliefBand. We got one of the now-discontinued models with a replaceable battery. At $120, the Voyager model costs $1/hour, which is a bargain compared to the misery it averts.
I've seen cheap imitations but I have a feeling they won't work.
I've seen cheap imitations but I have a feeling they won't work.
#5
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: DAY/CMH
Programs: UA MileagePlus
Posts: 2,474
Oh wait.. the ones that I have are with replaceable batteries, so they are probably not Voyager. I think maybe they are Explorer or something? I actually got one real one from Sharper Image I think.. and 1 fake one from ebay. They both work for me. My wife uses it when she was pregnant with our son, and it worked for her also. My 2 wrist bands were always on loan to my relatives... I think there is a genetic trait in my family that many of us suffer from some form of motion sickness.
#6
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: PHX these days
Programs: US Chairman, M&M FTL
Posts: 222
It depends on what really triggers your motion sickness.
My sister cannot recline her seat at all, let alone lie down while traveling - she gets nauseous immediately. Do you have travels in a car or in a bus?
My sister cannot recline her seat at all, let alone lie down while traveling - she gets nauseous immediately. Do you have travels in a car or in a bus?
#7
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Calgary, Alberta
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Posts: 18,686
Business Class was definitely over the top nice. Should alleviate jet lag, but it was still long hours, and doesn't change the fact my family has to navigate airports and catch another leg.
The short trip from Frankfurt to London Heathrow were wider seats, but no where near lie flats. The long haul is nice when the near lie flats/lie flats are provided for our legs to and from Europe.
The short trip from Frankfurt to London Heathrow were wider seats, but no where near lie flats. The long haul is nice when the near lie flats/lie flats are provided for our legs to and from Europe.
#8

Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: KUL/TPA/OTP
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Posts: 3,140
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3G: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 7_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/537.51.2 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0 Mobile/11D167 Safari/9537.53)
If you will be able to sleep better in business class the answer is yes. I have terrible motion sickness although rarely on planes (thankfully!). I find the best prevention and remedy to be sleep. Outside of that, half a Dramamine. I've heard of bands but never tried as I though they were a joke. Based upon this thread, I'll give one a try. Would love to be a passenger in a car for once! (I cannot as I get terribly ill).
If you will be able to sleep better in business class the answer is yes. I have terrible motion sickness although rarely on planes (thankfully!). I find the best prevention and remedy to be sleep. Outside of that, half a Dramamine. I've heard of bands but never tried as I though they were a joke. Based upon this thread, I'll give one a try. Would love to be a passenger in a car for once! (I cannot as I get terribly ill).
#9
Original Poster

Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Posts: 143
Thanks for the feedback on the ReliefBands - I have seen them advertised, but they're pretty difficult to get here, and expensive, so I didn't want to get one if they're junk. Sounds worth trying, though!
Cars are generally fine, but sea sickness started at the same as the motion sickness. I can never sleep on the plane, but I tend to think that if I could, I wouldn't be so aware of the motion and so might not get sick... hopefully.
Cars are generally fine, but sea sickness started at the same as the motion sickness. I can never sleep on the plane, but I tend to think that if I could, I wouldn't be so aware of the motion and so might not get sick... hopefully.
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist




Join Date: May 2012
Location: Sydney Australia
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Posts: 14,393
Business Class was definitely over the top nice. Should alleviate jet lag, but it was still long hours, and doesn't change the fact my family has to navigate airports and catch another leg.
The short trip from Frankfurt to London Heathrow were wider seats, but no where near lie flats. The long haul is nice when the near lie flats/lie flats are provided for our legs to and from Europe.
The short trip from Frankfurt to London Heathrow were wider seats, but no where near lie flats. The long haul is nice when the near lie flats/lie flats are provided for our legs to and from Europe.
#12
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Programs: Hyatt Diamond, Fairmont Platinum, Aeroplan Diamond, HHonors Gold, SPG Gold
Posts: 18,686
Didn't matter it was business class, my youngest son who was 2 years old at the time wouldn't sleep in his business class seat. My wife was tired. When we reached our London apartment, we crashed. We were all hungry, so that didn't help neither. It was a challenge.

