Would You Change Into Pajamas, Bathrobe, and Slippers on an Overnight Flight?

On last Sunday's broadcast of The Travel Show presented by my daughter and myself (go to www.wor710.com, click on The Travel Show, and go to the podcast of the opening of the first hour on October 30, 2011), we interviewed Seth Kugel, the Frugal Traveler of The New York Times, about the study he recently conducted on how to sleep in economy class on an overnight flight. The use of cervical neck pillows was among his key recommendations (they support your head and prevent it from falling forward when you fall asleep and thus awakening you), as was a trip to your doctor to obtain a prescription-only sleeping pill; according to Kugel, the over-the-counter sleep remedies are usually ineffective, but several prescribed drugs are potent, but are to be used only if your doctor approves (as they can have dangerous side effects to persons suffering from various conditions).

He also suggested that you might bring your own woolen blanket aboard, avoiding use of those polyester varieties that "don't breathe" and thus make you overly warm, which is not conductive to sleep. And then he seemed to make a more startling suggestion, which I may have misunderstood, but which seemed to me to be a recommendation that economy class passengers put on pajamas as a method of inducing sleep. The reference was not clear and I may have totally misunderstood it.

But I have often wondered whether I would have the nerve to go into the lavatory in the course of an overnight, economy class trip, and change to pajamas, bathrobe and slippers, walking back to my seat with those sleep-inducing garments that first class passengers apparently don on their overnight flights to Asia in a First Class cabin.

Why not? Would other passengers be offended? Would I be jeered at? Made to get dressed conventionally? Would I become notorious, the subject of comical tabloid features? I'd be grateful if readers would respond (by way of a comment below) as to whether they have ever changed to comfortable middle-of-the-night clothing in the course of an overnight economy class trip. Have you ever even considered doing so? Ever seen another passenger switch to pajamas? How would you react if one did? And should we all start a movement to encourage public approval of such a practice? Perhaps: Smart travelers wear PJs!"