has anyone seen people using CPAP on long haul flights?

[Holden4th]

If I'm flying a long haul overnighter then I need my CPAP and the best way to do it is fly business class. I've done this a few times now and have had no issues. My DW mask, being so minimal, it looks as if I'm on oxygen. Contacting the airline in advance is advised and you can still check in online.

If I flew economy, I don't see how I could use the machine. There would be nowhere to put it that would be safe. As far as noise goes, my machine is only 26 decibels and cabin noise from the engines is certainly higher than that.

I've got a flight to the UK in April and with a 2030 take off and 0500 landing after 17 hours I'll definitely need the BiPAP.

[calusa]

I've only used CPAP on one overnight flight, and had a bad experience, as I described here:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=112771

My sleep doc was really perplexed by this incident. After a battery of tests turned up nothing, he's left with the conclusion that my fainting must have been caused by inadequate air flowing into the Transcend machine (which I've used a couple of dozen other times in a regular bed with no problems).

I was flying economy class and had the Transcend machine sitting on a blanket on my lap. Its air intake is on the bottom, and I can see how it could have been blocked by the soft blanket.

Or my fainting may have been a fluke, unrelated to CPAP. Next time I consider using my Transcend CPAP on an overnight flight, if I can't find a way to make sure the air intake can't get blocked, I'll just snore and keep everyone around me awake!

[billbolton]

Have you personally used your CPAP on a plane

I've been using xPAP on long haul fligths for over a decade now.

The technology to do it is pretty good nowadays with small devices with excellent performance and LiON battery packs with excellent energy density..

and have people stared at you wondering what was going on?

I have no ideas, I'm asleep.... in any case, so what?

If you want to use your xPAP in flight, you will need to make sure that you understand exactly what the xPAP policy is for each airline you will be travelling on.... though at least we have now reached a point where just about all major carriers does have an xPAP policy.

[dvejr]

I used to fly frequently, and many flights were 8 or more hours. Before I owned a travel CPAP I'd fall asleep, sort of, snort and snore like crazy, waking myself up and disturbing my neighbors. Then, if I did sleep, I'd wake up upon arrival with a god-awful oxygen starvation headache that would bother me all day.

So I bought a battery-operated CPAP and used it in flight. Airlines and cabin crew usually didn't mind. I usually pulled a blanket over my head to avoid the headgear scaring other passengers, and to give myself a little less light and noise.

Twice, on United, I was ordered not to use the CPAP because I didn't get permission in advance from United HQ. Who, when I did contact next time, said "no" because my obscure machine wasn't on their very short list of approved machines.

Never, however, did I depend on plugging my machine in to a socket under the seat that probably wan't even there, or likely didn't work.