What should you know about air travel sickness?

It can begin during turbulence, turns, take-off, or landing and often settles when the motion ends. Sensitivity varies, and tiredness, anxiety, alcohol, heavy meals, reading, or watching a nearby screen may make the sensation harder to tolerate.

Your inner ear senses acceleration and position, while your eyes may see a cabin that appears still. When these messages do not match, the brain can trigger queasiness, pallor, cold sweating, excess saliva, headache, dizziness, and vomiting. Air travel sickness is a common presentation of motion sensitivity rather than evidence of a stomach infection.

Symptoms linked closely to aircraft movement usually improve after landing. Persistent spinning, hearing changes, fever, diarrhoea, severe headache, or symptoms that began before travel may point to another problem and deserve separate assessment.

Choose a seat near the wing if available, where movement may feel less pronounced. Face forward, keep your head supported, look toward a stable distant point when possible, and avoid reading or focusing on a close screen. Cool air from the overhead vent and slow, regular breathing may also help.

Before flying, rest adequately, eat a light familiar meal, drink water, and limit alcohol. If you have had troublesome motion sickness before, ask a pharmacist or clinician about a suitable preventive medicine before the journey. Some options cause drowsiness, blurred vision, dry mouth, or difficulty passing urine and may be unsuitable with certain conditions or medicines.

Tell cabin crew promptly if you faint, develop chest pain, have marked trouble breathing, become confused, develop weakness on one side, or have a sudden severe headache. These are not typical features to manage as simple motion sickness.

Get medical advice if vomiting continues, you cannot keep fluids down, you pass very little urine, dizziness persists well after travel, or episodes occur without motion. Young children, older adults, pregnant travellers, and people with ongoing medical conditions may need earlier advice because medicine choice and dehydration risk require individual assessment.

Describe which journeys trigger symptoms, how soon they begin, and whether you vomit, develop headache, or feel spinning. Ask which preventive option fits your age, pregnancy status, health conditions, and current medicines; when to take it; whether it could impair driving after arrival; and what to do if the first dose does not help.