This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase or sign up through any of the links on this website, at no extra cost to you. View disclaimer for more information.
Looking for carry on essentials for long haul flights? You’re in the right place! Here are the 20 things I actually pack for flights over 10 hours, after nearly a decade of doing them on repeat.
Living in Chiang Mai with my family back in Chicago means I don’t get to be casual about long flights. I’ve done that trip enough times to know exactly what earns a spot in my personal item and what stays home. This list is the result of years of trial and error, and it’s what I repack every single time.
This post is all about carry on essentials for long haul flights.
This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something through one of them, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I only recommend things I’d tell a friend to pack.
Get the Trtl travel pillow or a memory foam neck pillow, not the squishy inflatable kind. The cheap ones collapse the second you fall asleep and your head snaps forward, and then you’re awake again.
The Manta-style contoured sleep mask has little cups so nothing presses on your eyes. Total blackout, even when the person next to you keeps their window open over Siberia at 2pm body time.
Loop earplugs take the edge off engine noise and crying babies without blocking the meal cart announcement. They weigh nothing and live in my bag permanently.
Not glamorous. Wear them anyway. Compression socks are the difference between landing with normal ankles and landing with ankles that look borrowed from someone else. On anything over 10 hours they’re non-negotiable for me.
Airplane blankets are thin and always feel slightly damp. A large travel wrap scarf is a blanket, a pillow, and a way to hide from the cabin lights all in one.
Your feet swell on long flights, so I board in shoes I can kick off and switch into cozy slipper socks with grips. The grips matter because you WILL walk to the bathroom in them.
If you upgrade one thing on this list, make it noise-cancelling headphones. The constant engine drone is half the reason you land exhausted. Silence it and a 14-hour flight becomes weirdly manageable.
The thing nobody tells you: your wireless headphones can’t plug into the seatback screen. A tiny Bluetooth airplane adapter fixes that. It plugs into the headphone jack and beams the movie to your own headphones. Ten dollars, feels like magic.
A portable charger goes in the carry-on, always (airlines require batteries in the cabin anyway). Seat power fails more often than you’d think, and landing in a new country with a dead phone is my personal nightmare.
Airport outlets are never where you’re sitting. A 6-foot braided charging cable means you’re not standing against a pillar holding your phone at head height for an hour.
My Kindle Paperwhite has saved me on every delayed flight of my life. Download the books at home. Airport wifi will betray you.
One AirTag in the checked bag, one in the carry-on. When a connection gets tight and your bag doesn’t make it, you’ll know where it actually is instead of taking the airline’s word for it.
A collapsible water bottle packs flat through security, then holds a full liter once you fill it at the gate. Asking the crew for a new tiny cup of water every 40 minutes is not a hydration strategy.
Cabin air dries you out faster than you notice, and dehydration is most of what people call jet lag. I add electrolyte packets to my water bottle mid-flight.
Lip balm, a small moisturizer, and a hydrating facial mist under 100ml. Reapply somewhere over hour eight. Your face will thank you at immigration.
A tiny pouch with a travel toothbrush kit, face wipes, and deodorant. Brushing your teeth an hour before landing is the closest thing to a shower at 38,000 feet, and it resets your whole mood.
Tray tables are cleaned approximately never. Clip-on hand sanitizer, use it before every meal. Getting sick on day one of a trip is a rookie tax you don’t have to pay.
Checked bags go missing. One small packing cube with underwear, a top, and leggings in your carry-on means a lost bag is annoying instead of a crisis. Cheap insurance, zero effort.
A dedicated tech organizer pouch for the charger, cables, adapter, and power bank. Digging through your whole bag for one cable in a dark cabin gets old by hour two.
The most boring item on this list and the one you’ll be desperate for. Plenty of countries still hand out paper arrival or customs forms, and the person who packed a pen is suddenly the most popular passenger in the row. Tape one inside your bag pocket if you have to.
[MID-POST OPT-IN SPOT: printable carry-on checklist freebie graphic goes here once the freebie exists]
Sleep gear (neck pillow, mask, earplugs), tech (headphones, power bank, long cable), hydration (empty bottle, electrolytes), a freshen-up kit, and one full change of clothes. Everything else is a bonus.
Stack the odds: window seat so nobody wakes you, compression socks on, mask and earplugs in, seatbelt buckled over your blanket so the crew doesn’t tap you during turbulence checks. Then set your watch to your destination’s time and commit to it.
Liquids over 100ml per container, sharp objects, and (this one surprises people) power banks in checked luggage. Batteries must fly in the cabin with you, which is another reason the tech pouch lives in your personal item.
For anything over 8 to 10 hours, yes. They keep blood moving while you’re wedged in seat 47K, your ankles won’t balloon, and your legs feel dramatically less awful on landing.
A few snacks, yes. Meals come at weird times and the gap between dinner and breakfast can be 8 hours. Protein bars and nuts travel well. Skip anything smelly out of respect for your 300 closest strangers.
This post was all about carry on essentials for long haul flights.
Other Posts You May Like:
Check out some of my favorite tools and companies I actually use when I travel.
Need a Bank Account for Life Abroad? Wise is the best option for travelers, study abroad students and expats. I use it as my everyday checking account since it lets me hold and spend in multiple currencies without getting hit with a bad exchange rate every time I cross a border.
Want to Travel for Free & Skip the Foreign Transaction Fees? I put my spending on my Chase Sapphire Preferred card and let the points cover flights and hotels I'd otherwise be paying for out of pocket. I've been able to use the points I earn on this card to pay for flights, hotels and meals all around the world!
Please Don't Forget Travel Insurance! Travel insurance protects you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. I never go on a trip without it. My two favorites are:
Need a Flight? I personally love using Google Flights to track prices and compare dates before I commit, the flexible date view alone has saved me a lot of money. Skyscanner is another great search engine to find cheap flights because it searches sites and airlines around the globe, so you know no cheap deal is being left on the table.
Getting Around Southeast Asia? Book your buses, trains, and ferries with 12Go Asia. One search shows you every route and price, so you're not digging through ten different local booking sites.
Need a Place to Stay? Book your hotel with Expedia, where I start looking, especially when I want to bundle flights and stays together. Hotels.com is my backup when I want to compare prices or I'm chasing their rewards program for a free night.
On a Tighter Budget? Hostelworld is where I go for hostels. It has the largest inventory out there, and you can search for dorm beds or private rooms depending on what you're after!
Want a Free Way to Travel? Try TrustedHousesitters! You look after someone's home and pets while they're away, and in exchange you get free accommodation (minus the subscription fee). It's a great option if you're traveling long term and want to cut costs. I personally use this as a host and a sitter, and it's truly great!
Need Inspiration or Just Want to See What's Out There? Go Guides is a solid resource for destination guides, must-see landmarks, local markets, best beaches, and things to do, browsable by place or by theme. It's a good stop whether you already know where you're headed or you're still looking for your next destination.
Check out my full packing gear guide for everything I bring on international trips, or browse my favorite travel finds on Amazon for quick links to it all.
Check out my full resource page for every company I use when I travel. I list them all in one place so you can go from planning to booked without digging through old blog posts!
Hey there, I'm Angelique!
I'm a Filipina-American, Chicago native living abroad and running my online design agency from Chiang Mai, Thailand. Over a decade of traveling in, and yes, I still pinch myself. With family split between the US, UK, and SE Asia, travel has always been part of my story. This blog is where I share the honest side of living and traveling abroad, the places I explore, my best study abroad tips from personal experience, and the little hacks that make this life actually work. Glad you're here, friend!
Studying abroad soon?
everything to sort before you go, in one printable page.
I share what I'm actually doing, where I'm going, and the things I wish I'd known before I booked the flight. No spam, just the good stuff that you'll actually enjoy reading.