Dread boredom on long flights? These accessories will make flying so much more easier

Going on a long flight means spending hours inside a metal tube with hundreds of other people and limited things to do. Thankfully, there are a number of handy accessories available to keep you occupied and make your travel easier.

Noise Cancelling Headphones (Rs 13,000 onwards)

If you’re annoyed by the constant hum of airplane engines, noise cancelling headphones should be on your must-have list. A pair of good quality active noise cancellation headphones will reduce a majority of the ambient noises including the engine roar during the flight. You can choose from brands like Plantronics, Bose, Sennheiser and Sony. Keep in mind that the best noise cancelling headphones usually have an over the ear design and always require charging (or batteries) for the active noise cancellation to work.

Smart Sleep Mask (Rs 9,600 onwards)


Neuroon Smart Sleep Mask. (Image: amazon)

If you’re traveling across multiple times, apart from dry skin, cramped legs and dehydration, you also have to deal with jet lag. Using an intelligent sleep mask like NeuroOn or Illumy, you can train your body to minimise the effect of jet lag by sleeping better on flights. These sleep mask use coloured LEDs and light therapy to replicate a dimming sunset colour to help you fall asleep. To wake you up, they replicate sunrise – you can set the wake-up time to ensures that your body gets accustomed to the new time zone automatically.

Grid-It case (Rs 1,500)

A gadget-laden travel bag is a common sight. Multiple devices, chargers, headphones, cables, battery packs are a pain because you may have to pull them out during security checks. Plus they’ll end up being dumped in your bag making it difficult to find something. The Grid-It organizer has an interweave of rubberized woven elastic — you can use these to fit multiple things and they will be firmly held in place. You can then place the Grid-It case in your carry bag and remove all your electronic devices for airport scan immediately if required.

iRing (Rs 199)

In case you don’t like to mount your device while travelling and would rather hold it in your hand or keep it on the seat tray, you can look at the iRing. This is a small metal ring on a metal or plastic plate that sticks to the back of your phone or tablet. The ring has a swivel design which allows the you to rotate your device from landscape to portrait. You can also use the ring as a kickstand or as a grip when you’ve got too many other things to hold.

AirClipz (Rs 4,500)



Domestic flights typically don’t have entertainment screens. That’s why you’ll typically see people using smartphones, tablets or e-readers. But holding the device up for longer durations is a pain right? AirClipz lets you mount your device on the seat-back tray and lock it at a comfortable angle for viewing. If the seat in front of you reclines, you can always adjust the angle of the screen and keep watching.

Smart Luggage
Suitcases no longer have to be dumb — technology has caught up with this domain giving you multiple option of smart suitcases. These smart suitcases have built-in weighing scales, internal power banks with multiple USB ports, location tracking while some even offer fingerprint scanners, internal LED lighting, speakers and proximity sensors. Almost all of these offer app control – you can view the weight of your suitcase and control its lock/unlock status from the app over Bluetooth. You can get them from brands such as Travel Pro, BlueSmart and Fugu and prices usually start from Rs 20,000.

Aero Tray (Rs 4,500)



At just 700 grams, this portable workstation assistant can easily fit inside a backpack or messenger bag. You place it on the seat-back tray in the flight or even on your lap if there’s limited space. On the tray, you can place your laptop at an inclined angle for ease of usage. It has a twotier design: you can electronics on one level and food on the other. In addition, there is a pull-out tray with a cup holder. When closed, you can even store smaller electronics inside the tray