Ear Pain on a Flight: Babies, Colds and Popping Your Ears

Ear pain on a flight happens when air trapped behind the eardrum can’t match the changing cabin pressure, and the fix is to keep the tiny tube behind the nose opening: swallow, yawn, chew, or feed a baby during take-off and especially during landing. Below is what works at each age, how to pop your ears correctly, when a cold means you should delay flying, and when pain that lasts after landing needs a doctor.

Why do my ears hurt in an airplane?

Each middle ear is a small air pocket behind the eardrum. A narrow channel, the Eustachian tube, links it to the back of the nose, and it opens briefly every time you swallow or yawn to even out the pressure.

On the way up, cabin pressure drops and air escapes from the ear easily, in small bubbles you might feel as a click or not at all, so most people barely notice the climb even on a full, noisy flight. On the way down, cabin pressure rises, and the tube has to open to let air back in. If it’s narrow, swollen or slow, the eardrum is pushed inwards. That’s the full, muffled feeling, then the sharp pain. It’s why the descent, in the last 20 to 30 minutes, hurts far more than take-off.

Children get it worse because their tubes are shorter, flatter and narrower, so they clog more easily and open less readily, and a cold, a runny nose or a seasonal allergy swells the lining of the tube and makes the same problem worse for adults and children alike. Timing is everything.

How to prevent ear pain during a flight: by age

Babies under 6 months

Offer the breast or bottle as the plane climbs and again when the captain announces the descent. Sucking and swallowing open the tubes, and a baby who is feeding steadily through the last half hour of the descent will usually land calm, even if the adults around you are clutching their own ears and wincing. Keep the baby upright or semi-upright while feeding. A dummy (pacifier) works too if your baby uses one. Nothing but breast milk or formula at this age, so no water or ghutti “to help the ears”.

6 to 12 months

Feeding, a dummy, or a sippy cup of their usual milk or water. Time it for the descent rather than the whole flight, or they may be full just when you need them to swallow.

1 to 3 years

Drinks through a straw, a small snack they chew well, and yawning games (“show me a lion yawn”). Crying is actually not bad news. A crying toddler is swallowing and moving air, which is exactly what the ears need, even if the passengers around you would disagree and you feel every stare in the cabin.

3 to 6 years

A drink, chewy snacks, and practice at home with pretend yawns and swallowing. No hard sweets for younger children because of choking.

Over 6 and adults

Chew gum or suck a sweet from the start of descent, sip water, yawn widely and swallow often, and if you know your ears always suffer, try the pressure-regulating earplugs sold for flying, which slow the change enough to help some people. Cheap. Worth a try.

How to pop your ears correctly

Swallowing and yawning are gentle. Try them first. If the ear stays blocked, adults and older children can try a soft Valsalva move:

1. Take a normal breath and close your mouth.
2. Pinch your nostrils shut.
3. Blow gently, as if blowing up a balloon through your nose, for 1 to 2 seconds.
4. Stop when you feel a pop or click. Swallow.
5. Repeat every few minutes during descent if the fullness returns.

Gentle is the word. Really. Blowing hard can hurt the ear, and it’s pointless if the nose is fully blocked. The Toynbee move is kinder: pinch your nose and swallow a sip of water.

Can you fly with ear pain or a cold?

You can, but a heavy cold, a sinus infection or an existing ear infection makes flight pain much more likely and much more intense, because the swollen lining keeps the tube shut just when the pressure is changing fastest on the way down. Plan ahead. Here’s the honest guide:

• Mild cold, clear nose: usually fine. Use the swallowing tricks, and blow your nose before descent.
• Badly blocked nose or sinus pain: ask a pharmacist before travel about a decongestant nasal spray or saline for adults, and how to time it. For children, stick to saline; ask before anything else.
• Current ear infection, ear pain before the flight, or recent ear surgery: see a doctor before flying. It may be wiser to delay.
• Grommets (ear tubes) in a child: these actually let pressure equalise, so flights are often easier.

Home saline drops for the nose: half a level teaspoon of salt in 250 ml of boiled, cooled water, a few drops in each nostril.

Ear pain after flying: what helps at home

A blocked, dull ear for a few hours after landing is common, especially after a cold or a steep descent, and it usually clears within a day as the tube opens again with ordinary swallowing, eating and talking. Be patient.

• Keep yawning, swallowing and chewing.
• Try the gentle Valsalva or Toynbee move.
• Steam from a bowl of hot water or a shower may help a stuffy nose; keep children well away from bowls of hot water.
• A warm cloth over the ear for comfort.
• For pain, ask a pharmacist for a suitable painkiller. For children, the amount goes by weight from the pack or a pharmacist.

If the ear feels blocked with wax rather than pressure, see our blocked ear wax guide. For a child with earache that isn’t linked to a flight, children’s earache covers the causes.

Myth: cotton in the ears stops flight pain

Cotton wool doesn’t slow pressure changes. Air passes straight through. Proper pressure-regulating earplugs do help some adults. The cheapest tool is still a swallow at the right moment.

A surprising fact: the pain is usually worse on short, steep descents, which is why short domestic hops can hurt more than a long-haul landing.

Flying for Umrah or Hajj? Our jet lag and Umrah travel guide covers sleep on arrival. More everyday fixes are in Desi Remedies.

Flight ear pain: common questions