Budget Airlines / Ear Problems

All the airlines will set the cabin altitude to about 8000ft. Aluminium shells can`t be pressurized to more than this else it can cause a fracture of the fuselage.

The new Boeing 787 will have a pressurization to 6000ft and will be more humid too.

There is no difference between low-cost and traditional carriers in this respect.

I'm pretty sure that budget airlines fly in the same way as others - and if they were at a lower altitude, surely the ear pain wouldn't be so bad?

You can get ear plugs that help regulate the pressure - boots sell them, I think they're called Ear Planes or similar? Also, get some nasal decongestant spray and squirt it up your nose about 30 minutes before landing.

Fark me Glider, any opportunity to be a plane-related bore eh? ?

Give the people the information Wonkle.....?

Thanks all

It's really strange, I fly quite a lot, all over the place, and only ever the the pain with budget airlines and UK flights, so always thoguht it was an altitude thing!

Will try Ear Planes and Nasal Spray, thanks ?

You may well have a light constriction of you eustation tubes so not so serious that you can feel it on the ground, as pre-cursor to a cold. I`ve been grounded the last week due to a virus and the flight I did before it i wasn`t feeling right, so it could have been that.

But the operation of the aircraft whether legacy or low-cost in a pressurisation manner is the same ?

Thanks Glider ?

This reminds of the time I had a letter of complaint from a traveller who said that (despite his company's corporate travel policy) he refused to fly the airline I worked for as our planes weren't pressurised as well as British Airways!

Oh I had fun responding to that one ?

Well i thought Ryanair, easyJet and AA have a member of cabin crew blowing into the aircraft to keep it pressurised Mich ?

Also reminds me of an occasion when a passenger asked me to make sure the Captain knew there was a baby on board. I obviously looked very confused and she went on to say that she needed him to know so that he could do a slow decent coming in to land "because there's a baby on board". Stupidly I proceeded to explain to her that Air Traffic control our decent rate and that most aircraft coming in to land will have at least one baby on board. She then informed me that British Airways are always able to comply with her request and she wouldn't be flying with us again !

Love it JB! lol Have you read the stupid passenger comments on Pprune?

I had a passenger the other day ask me for some Valium. I told her that my mum is a nurse and not even allowed to prescribe it! She turned around and said "Are you going to give me the Valium then?" ?

Next I expect her request might include a bloody big yellow Baby on Board sticker to stick to the ouside of the aeroplane! Silly moo.

I have very sensitive ears and I *think* what makes the difference is how fast the descent is. Some airports are faster than others because of the flight paths. Perhaps is coincidence that the airports you have flown to with the budget airlines just happen to have a flight path with a steeper descent. Every once in a while I gert a landing that really hurts, and I can usually tell that we are going down more steeply.

I get this too hepburn and it is agony. I've also found it to be worse on shorter flights. I was really worried about it starting when we went on holiday to USA last year... and I had no problem. I'm going to get some of those ear plane things, thanks for the recommendation, Mrs Winkle. I can always tell when the plane is starting to descend as I get a popping thing in my nose followed by agony in my ears. Am usually doubled over in pain by the time we land!

Bostongirl is right that the rate of ascent / descent does affect your ears. If you decend quickly your ears don't have as much time to adjust. On long haul flights because we are flying at a higher altitude we decent at a stepped rate over a longer period of time so that's probably why you haven't been affected as badly.

Are you flying budget for short haul & premium for long haul by any chance?

The problem is called Barotrauma. Human ears cannot adjust on descent, hence having to make physical gestures to clear it. I`m near enough oblivious to it now, as probably JB is. I rarely feel it now.