•   I used this product on my last trip from New York to Amsterdam and got off the plane feeling I'd spent the night in my own bed. For once I could actually feel my ribs expand and contract as I breathed, instead of having them jammed down into my stomach by the lack of back support found in all economy seats.

•   I loved using this on the airplane! I have fibromyalgia and I could tell the difference even after a very long day of traveling. I barely fit into most airplane seats and was worried about accomadating the extra space behind.......not a problem. I did feel weird taking it out and blowing it up but....after I fell asleep I really didn't care. =) I highly recommend it to anyone. Unfotunately, mine developed a leak, so I will need to get it replaced. Well worth the cost.

•   After reading about the 1st Class Sleeper in a travel newletter, I tried one on a flight to NZ and subsequently to Singapore and Sumatra. It works, but inflation is the key to comfort...not too much air. It fills in that space behind your back and supports your upper body..my seatmates were envious.

•   I won't travel without this ...I used it for the first time traveling to Antarctica. I now use it for all flights. Overnight is even almost comfortable. I use it in conjunction with the little foot stool. Makes deep vein thrombosis a much less likely problem in an older short person! I love it.

•   I purchased a 1st Class Sleeper for my 73-year-old mother, who travels between Israel and the US every year. She tried it on a 4-hour domestic flight and loved it. For the 11-hour long leg of her return flight she said it made a world of difference in her economy-class seat. Now it gets passed around to everyone in the family over there for when they travel -- and I need to get one for us over here!

•   First-Class sleeper is the only way to travel. After flying all night from South America, I was able to go straight to work feeling well rested. I use the First Class sleeper on all flights over 4 hours. I am surprised every traveler does not have a First-Class sleeper. Well worth the cost.

•   I flew from SFO to Brazil, WOW, was I impressed.

•   I have used this on several really long flights from NJ to China and Viet Nam and Thailand and it is wonderful, but it needs its own cover because the plastic gets fairly hot against your skin, I am hoping Magellan will come up with something like the pillowcases I cover it with.

•   Great product! A little cumbersome to use because of the limited space in the economy-class seat. However, it can be improved if it can be redesigned or supplemented with a air-cushioned seat. The discomfort of the economy-class airplane seat is ironically exacerbated by the comfort of the sleeper. Can anyone or Magellan suggest a supplier for the air-cushioned seat for travel?

•   The GREATEST invention ever!!!! I will not travel without it! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

•   Gee, this is a wonderful product. It has saved me a sleepless night on so many occasions. It has also saved me a bundle of money coz I no longer need to travel business class on every international flight. Now I can sleep almost as well in coach as in business. It really works!

•   I used the sleeper for my flight from California to the Philippines. As mentioned, inflation is key. I found it easier to over-inflate slightly, then lean back and release air as necessary. The location of the valve makes this simple. You really must have foot room. If you have your carry-on in under the seat, it limits your stretch-ability and comfort.

•   My fellow travellers from NY to Hawaii were amazed with how long I was able to sleep in comfort in coach! Absolutely everyone asked me what it was and how they could buy one for themselves.

•   I used this on several long flights and long tour bus trips; it makes the seat much more comfortable and helps to take pressure off the base of the spine, especially if used in conjunction with a pressure-relieving seat cushion.

•   I've been using the 1st Class Sleeper for five years and I would never fly without it. I've been on twenty-one, 9-15 hour flights, during that time and the key is using it correctly. (I'm certain that those who had a problem with it over-inflated it or used it improperly.) You don't need much air; just enough to cradle you. I sleep like a baby and arrive much more refreshed than without it. And, don't loan it to the person next to you...you won't get it back!

•   I brought one but never used it on the plane to Rome. I used it in the hotel room to ease my back pains when the mattress was hard as a board. Do not overpuff it. It just need very little air to cushion your back/hip. It helped from ruining my vacation.

•   I actually slept for the first time on an overseas flight. In fact, I was so impressed that I bought one for a traveling friend.

•   I tried this cushion on a recent trip to New Zealand and found it very comfortable, as long as you don't have too much stuff crammed under the seat in front of you (you have to stretch your legs out)and follow the inflation instructions (the cushion will look underinflated, but once you put it behind you, it will be just right).

•   This thing really works! I fly trans pacific several times a year and I wouldn't think of getting on the plane without it. You do not have to recline your seat, and it is so comfortable you don't want to get up. I have a long neck and the inflatable neck-pillows don't do much for me. The First Class Sleeper, ear plugs and a bandana and I am out like a light. Highly recommended!

•   I wanted to like this, planning to use it on a 10 hour flight. But my legs are short, making the recommended angle impossible. Also, the thing is made of vinyl and it was hot. Nice, however, was its small size and weight. I left it at the first hotel.

•   We used the product on an 18 hour flight to Kuching, Borneo. We were disappointed. When you scoot forward in the seat to accomodate the Sleeper, your behind ends up on the edge of the seat, and it is not the softest part of the seat. After about one half hour of using it, my butt was sore. It was not comfortable at all, and my wife experienced the same thing. Don't know if we did something wrong, but it was not what we expected after reading a lot of glowing reviews. I believe we followed the instructions correctly.

•   My husband and I used this product on our long flight from Los Angeles to London. Regretably, we didn't do as well as the other reviewers. We tried to like this product but it just didn't offer us the comfort we were hoping to achieve. I've sent them back.

•   I don't seem to be able to get comfortable with this. I think I need a footrest. I find that I slide forward in my seat even when it's barely inflated. It doesn't really support the lumbar region as the air shifts because of the partial inflation. This makes my lower back collapse and I'm constantly moving and trying to get more comfortable. It does work well on international flights if one is lucky enough to get a center aisle with all 5 seats. I just raise all those arm rests, spread out the Sleeper mat and lie down on it. It makes a better mattress!

•   I returned it after my first flight. For one, It took forever to inflate. Second, because it only comes in one size, it is not recommended for short(er) people -- my head only reached halfway up indentation where the (entire) head is supposed to rest. Thus it wasn't comfortable for me.

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The Gadget Guy, Dick DeBartolo, June 26, 2003:

“It’s a little like (an) AeroBed®. A neat way to make a coach seat way more comfortable…offers far more support than the typical airline seat…this handy gadget will help you get a first-class snooze while sitting in coach.”

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“This feels great!” Los Angeles’ Channel 5, KTLA’s Gayle Anderson, April 8, 2003

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"For sounder sleep on the plane, try the Visual Approach Corp’s, 1st Class Sleeper." Newsweek, Jonathan Adams, May 26, 2003

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“…need only partial inflating with about 12 breaths to provide support for the neck, shoulders and back.” USA Today, Audrey Warren, May 7, 2003

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2003 Travel Goods Show Momentum Award Winner
Products chosen must be original and unique and must be seen as a future industry standard. Las Vegas Travel Goods Show, March 26 th , 2003

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“It’s like getting a first-class seat in the coach section.” Duncan (the inventor) said. He proved his point on my 6’3” frame. It was a comfortable fit.” In Business Las Vegas, Richard Velotta, March 28th, 2003

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1st Class Sleeper

Pay Coach Price for some First Class ZZZs

By Patricia Kutza, Travel and Business Writer

I was hunkering down for a flight that promised to be long and way too uncomfortable. Wedged between two unsavory seatmates, a sixteen-something girl with a cell phone glued to her ear and a seventy-ish man threatening a snore-a-thon, I strained to remember tips from my positive-thinking book collection.

Having treated my friends to a farewell cocktail before boarding the plane, my eyes were soon droopy and I was ready to surrender my body for some ZZZs’. Normally this is a tortuous affair as I fidget, trying to configure my 5’ 10+” frame to the considerable limitations of the coach seat. This time was different.

Rewind back to a month earlier when a small article in a travel goods trade magazine peaked my interest. The article talked about the 1st Class Sleeper, a product promising the kind of comfort that first class passengers purportedly enjoy. I was mesmerized by this prospect: I could pay for a coach ticket and, sans the free drinks and better grade of beer nuts, feel like I was flying in first class.

So, back aboard this flight, I was not fidgeting. Instead I spread out the 1st Class Sleeper cushion behind my back, inserted the plastic hose in the nozzle and inflated it with ten easy breaths. I adjusted my seat belt to fit and settled down for some well-needed sleep. Granted, this handy product doesn’t give you 1st class leg or elbow room. But it does provide an adjustable way to increase your comfort, whether your flight lasts 25 minutes or 13 hours.

When the pilot announced that we were within 20 minutes from landing, I opened the valve, pressed my back against the cushion, and released the captured air. With four easy folds to the cushion, I stuffed the Sleeper back in its bright orange carrying bag, nesting it with some accessories in my computer case. Well-rested, I was ready for terra firma.

From The Travel Insider (www.thetravelinsider.info):

The First Class Sleeper
Magically makes coach class travel comfortable again
Much better than just an inflatable neck cushion and/or an airline pillow.
This simple effective device solves the twin problems of sore necks and sore backs when trying to sleep on planes.

You might feel self conscious when pulling out your First Class Sleeper. But soon you'll be blissfully asleep, while people around you are looking enviously at you enjoying your First Class Sleeper!

Coach class travel is never comfortable, and on a long flight there's nothing you'd like to do more than sleep, but achieving this is often difficult and uncomfortable.

The First Class Sleeper - designed by an airline pilot - provides a simple and innovative solution to this common need.

Developed based on years of experience

Bob Duncan has been a pilot with Alaska Airlines for many years, and over this time, has spent too many hours wedged into coach class seats himself.

He wanted to have a more comfortable way of being in his seat so he would have a chance at getting some sleep during flights at odd hours of the day and night. After considerable development, we all now have an opportunity to benefit from the results of his ingenuity.

What You Get

The 1st Class Sleeper comes in a nylon carrying tube, and includes a helpful color 'Quick Start' instruction guide on a piece of light card.

There is also a plastic tube that can connect up to the overhead air vent (assuming you're on a plane that still has these things) for easy and quick inflation of the Sleeper. Personally, I'd hesitate to use this, for fear of what people (and flight attendants) might think I was doing!

The Sleeper and its carry bag weighs 1lb, and packs up into a tube of about 2.5" diameter and 11" long - slightly larger than a travel umbrella.

The Sleeper has a 90 day, no questions asked, money back guarantee, and a one year warranty on the seals not breaking.

Using the Sleeper

You're either going to feel very superior to your fellow passengers, or perhaps slight embarrassed, when, while other passengers are struggling to get comfortable with nothing, or with one of those around the neck inflatable collars, you pull out your much larger 1st Class Sleeper and start inflating it!

But, for sure, the first impression that the people around you have will quickly be replaced by awe, wonder, and envy, while your own feelings will change to smug satisfaction, comfort, peace, and soon, sleep.

Using the Sleeper is simple, but in a manner reminiscent of a water bed, it is important to get exactly the right amount of inflation. Too much, and it is uncomfortably firm, too little and it is uncomfortably insubstantial.

An inflation tube extends out of the top of the Sleeper. Bob recommends '10-11 big breaths' into the Sleeper, at the end of which it looks very limp and uninflated. But this is all it needs, no matter how it looks.

You then simply drape the Sleeper over the back of your airline seat (or car seat or bus seat or whatever) and sit back into it.

Your body pushes the air out of the middle and into the sides, causing it to wrap slightly around you.

As your bottom moves forward on the seat, the gap between your lower back and seat - instead of staying empty, stressing your spine, and causing you pain - fills up with the air that your upper back is displacing, and so gives you good firm support from top to bottom.

Bob has designed the head area so that the center piece of the head rest doesn't much fill with air, but the part around the sides does, so you truly have excellent neck and head support.

When I first used it, I blew the recommended 11 breaths into the Sleeper, and with beginner's luck, decided I had it absolutely perfect. I then retested by first over-inflating it, and then, little by little, letting air out to experience the different feel of the Sleeper, until reaching the point where there was clearly not enough air in it.

Correct inflation is important, but there is a fairly wide zone of acceptable levels of inflation, and it is easy to 'calibrate' the Sleeper by simply putting in a bit too much air, then letting it out, little by little, until it feels just right.

There is also a 5 minute video available for viewing on their website. This clearly shows you how to get best use and maximum comfort from your Sleeper.

It doesn't use up valuable seat room

The obvious concern is that this device will take up valuable space and push you forward in your seat, jamming you up even more tightly against the seat in front of you.

In theory this is correct. But, in practice, a different situation occurs. When you are lying back in your seat, you slide forward on the seat cushion anyway. The 1st Class Sleeper does not push you appreciably further forward, it merely fills in the empty space behind you (which would otherwise stress your lower back and cause you discomfort) and wraps slightly around the side of you.

This seems like 'something for nothing' - more comfort and padding, but not taking up more space! Maybe it is. But, unquestionably, the Sleeper makes your journey more comfortable while you're trying to sleep, without wasting valuable seat space.

Other Issues

The Sleeper can also be used for lumbar support alone. You only blow 3-4 breaths into it, fold it in half, and it fits between your lower back and the seat.

The inflation tube was easy to blow into and easy to open and close. Many of the small inflatable neck collars have horrible inflation tubes - too small to easily blow into, and a plug to close it which keeps slipping out. The Sleeper tube is of a good size and has a screw valve to open and securely close.

The nylon construction of the 1st Class Sleeper seems to be robustly managed, and has the same types of welds as you'd find on a water bed mattress, making it resilient and likely to last a long time without puncturing.

In addition to the video and the instruction card, there are also instructions printed on the Sleeper itself (triple redundancy - Bob's pilot training and caution is obvious, here!), making it easy to quickly re-familiarize yourself with the unit if it is a few months since you last used it and you somehow forgot the simple concept of unfold, inflate, enjoy.

Bob says the Sleeper acts as a cushion and shock-absorber and so reduces the effect of turbulence. I have yet to be using it during a period of strong turbulence, so can't comment.

Price

The unit is for sale on Bob's own website, www.1stclasssleeper.com, and is priced at $49.95. Shipping is free if you buy two or more.

Other travel sites also sell it, and if you go to Magellans (one of the industry's best travel websites with lots of great things offered at good prices) you'll find it for only $39.85.

Summary

This is one of these wonderful and simple 'why didn't someone think of this before' type devices that really do help make a long plane flight more comfortable.

At only $40 from Magellans , it is the best investment in improving the comfort of your journey you'll ever make.

Recommended.