What to Wear on a Long-Haul Flight

If you caught a flight from Melbourne to Sydney on a Monday morning, you would probably find most of your fellow passengers wearing professional attire. But on a long-haul flight, most frequent flyers agree that comfort is much more important than style.

This week our members share some sage travel advice to an infrequent flyer preparing for a long-haul flight to Europe. Forg wishes to stay comfortable on board without looking like a slob.

So I’ve got a not-for-work trip to the UK in a couple of months, and I’m not the frequent traveller in the family; my wife is. Thing is, she can get away with wearing the right type of trackie-dacks & she doesn’t look like a slob, whereas if I try the same I look either like a character from Acropolis Now or a wannabe bikie-gang member doing collections in Bankstown. How do others approach this conundrum?

The advice from our members is not to worry about what other passengers think! As long as you’re not dressed inappropriately, comfortable clothing is fine on a long-haul flight. Some frequent flyers wear tracksuit pants or jeans, while others opt for shorts and a t-shirt.

On overnight flights, many passengers choose to wear pyjamas. In fact, some airlines (including Qantas) hand out pyjamas to Business and First class passengers on long-haul and overnight flights. Airline pyjamas are great because they are comfortable, look respectable and don’t take up much room in your carry-on luggage.

Everyone in first and business class is wearing airline issued PJs – those are pretty much a baggy jumpsuit made from thin cheap material. (Actually, if you know anyone with a spare pair of airline PJ pants they take zero room in your bag and weight nothing.)

There’s no need to board the flight wearing pyjamas. Many frequent flyers choose to wear stylish attire onto the plane and change into more comfortable clothing after take-off.

The easiest solution to this is to have both! Wear your jeans right to your seat on the plane. Have a pair of trackie dacks or shorts in your hand luggage you wear in-flight. If you’re worried about space – just buy a cheap pair of whatever you want at K-Mark and you can ditch them before landing in the UK.

If you’re travelling on an airline that does not supply pyjamas – or in Economy – there’s nothing wrong with bringing your own pyjamas on board. And it does not matter if the pyjamas are from another airline.

I’ve worn Qantas PJs (with a big kangaroo logo) on Singapore Airlines (who infamously don’t supply them) in J-class. No problems.

How do you dress for a long-haul flight? Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Comfy dress vs Acceptable dress

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.