Face Masks for Flying

[scottishwolf]

Would anyone particularly recommend a certain face mask for long-haul travel?

What do you use? Is it comfortable?

[Mel TS]

I haven’t flown yet – although fingers crossed it is on the cards. But I do wear a mask all day for my 11 hour work days – I have the 3M Aura 9320+ FFP2 mask and it’s fine. Elastic goes round the back of my head rather than my ears so is less painful, and miraculously it only very occasionally fogs up my glasses. Husband also using it to get in practice and says it’s ok. Not tried sleeping in it yet though,soI’m sure there will be other better suggestions!

[The Savage Squirrel]

Cloth rags/masks of all varieties are a terrible idea, collect moisture, feel hot and fit terribly. If the public stopped wearing these stupid things they’d complain less about trivial mask wearing stints for 15 minutes round Tesco’s.
FFP masks are a bit restrictive for the general population.
To be honest, a box of IIR masks is better than anything. They’re designed for healthcare professionals to wear all day every day so are pretty decent for comfort and lack of restriction, and the moldable metal strip over your nose (not your chin like so many!) will prevent steaming when molded correctly while giving you a bit of space round your lips and chin to not feel restricted. Just pull out a new one if it gets damp/soiled/scratty. Ear loop or tie-behind is personal preference.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by The Savage Squirrel.

[Rhys]

I just use the blue surgical ones and replace them when they get a bit gross. The only issue I have is that they sometimes hurt my ears although it depends on how much I’ve been wearing them recently.

[Travel Strong]

Add ‘mesh’ and ‘breathable’ to ebay face mask searches and you’ll find some things that are truly comfortable, totally useless as a mask of course, but the option is there. Darker coloured mesh is best.

[davefl]

It depends on the airline. Lufthansa and Finnar (and I believe Austrian) ban any type of cloth masks and the cabin crew/gate staff will provide you with a disposable medical mask. I was sitting down waiting for a Lufty flight and was challenged just as I was about to swap my cloth one for an FFP2

On my flight to Cyprus this week BA were offering both wipes and disposble masks on as we boarded. Ah I remember the old days when it was sweeties on boarding.

[E]

Air France also don’t allow cloth masks and will give you a disposable medical one on boarding. And I think Air Canada specifies it has to be a disposable medical mask or a cloth one. Suggest checking with the airline you’re flying with to make sure you get the type of mask they allow.

[ChasP]

I have a very comfortable FFP2 mask – partly because it has a vent but I see that most USA carriers dont accept masks with vents

[Tracey]

BA flight to St Lucia ~ 9 hours in CS. Not a single person was wearing a mask when in their seat with the door closed!

[Sandgrounder]

I ended up with an infected cyst after flying with the behind ear blue medical masks. I bought some ear savers which I now use to avoid this happening again.

[Andrew J]

Same, although I prefer the black disposable ones which I think look a bit smarter (I do think that was a good choice by Virgin to have those as the uniform mask rather than BA’s blue ones – Emirates crisp white ones look nice too).

[K4sper]

We’ve just got a couple of boxes of FFP2 masks from Hong Kong that have a firm and slightly boxy structure that keeps them off of your nostrils and mouth – very comfortable. Reluctant to share the details because they are quite hard to get hold of 😀

[NorthernLass]

Not about a specific mask but on the 4 1/2 hour flight to TFS (the furthest we’ve been in 2 years!), I found aiming the air nozzle at my face a huge help in preventing my face getting hot and moist, which I hate!