I always yawn on the way up and "Valsalva" down. I find that you make your ears worse when you try to blow them out while ascending.

I find that gum helps me.

I can usually move my jaw back and forth and it will clear it out.

The couple of times I've tried the valsalva thing, it's made the problem much worse, but the yawning technique is amazing.

@mbouchard:
Yup, I do that as well. I buy a pack of gum before my flight. Chew once before takeoff and before landing.

i chew on gum...simple, and i dont look weird doing it :P

If none of those work, taking the PATH train between NYC and Hudson County or NJ Transit through the North River Tunnels from Penn Station to Newark (or vice versa) always gets the ears to pop.

I'm going to veto the valsalva maneuver, as people have passed out doing it. Who cares about your EustacHian tubes if you have a TBI?

Here's one I was taught by stewardess many years ago. Get two paper cups. Stuff each with a paper napkin. Dampen the napkin with really hot water, making sure to drain excess water out. Cup the cups over each ear. Breath deeply. The heat loosens the tension of the eardrums and lets the air come in. I've used this for years and it really works.

I'm guessing Ben has spent the afternoon trying all of these, probably in vain me thinks..

@mbouchard: Gum is a lifesaver (earsaver?) for my ears.

I can't be the only one who can do the throat/jaw movement to open the Eustacian tubes without a real yawn. You know, where you can hear that crackly noise? My wife looks at me like I'm crazy when I try to explain it to her, but at least I don't end up chomping gum and clutching my ears.

Be careful if you get up in the air and decongestant wears off. You can have problems going up and coming down. Divers can get what's known as a reverse block if their decongestant wears off while they are diving. Similar thing happens in the air.

Some people (like me) can also just flex some tongue-Eustachian tube muscle and let the pressure out. Oh, and be careful with the Valsalva thingy, I've given myself some wicked painful ears doing that while congested.

And for a long term solution: Icepick

Federal law requires you to show your drivers license to buy pseudoephedrine. The clerk records your information and you are a candidate for identity theft.

Take a breath, pinch my nose, close my mouth and exhale. Because the air is blocked my ears pop. Works every time I am standing in an elevator in a high rise going down.

@edrebber: Maybe if you use a small ma and pa pharmacy to get your PSE. Most major pharmacy and retail chains either scan or type the pertinent info in, and stores the information securely, most likely off-site.

@Plates: Of course, you might have to fly out there and then fly back home to do that...

@Cyclokitty: That's what I do. Works every time.

@Gene Howard: Yep, that's what I do. Its weird how nobody gets it when I explain it either.

@ohnoes: Yes. I stopped doing it after one time it made me extremely dizzy and I ended up with a horrible headache the rest of the day.

@Gene Howard:

Yeah, I can flex the tubes at-will without even moving - as often as I want, and as many times as I want.

I used to think everyone could do it.

I agree with the Afrin. I use it every time I fly. But don't abuse it. It will make your congestion worse if you do.
I also chew gum and take 12 hour Sudafed or Zyrtec-D. Then I'm absolutely fine unless my allergies are really bad in which case I just suffer.

@Gene Howard:

Yeah I can do that too, I've done it fifty times in the course of reading this article, now my ears are ringing. I wonder why everybody can't do it.

"I'm going on a flight later today so I need 35 boxes of pseudoephedrine."

@Gene Howard: Fellow Genetic Aberrations, Unite! Obviously we are the precursor to some new race of really-comfortable-flying people.

Suddenly I'm following a travel blog?

@spenc938: Yea, that only works when the pressure is increasing. This is particularly useful for divers when they descend.

Breastfeeding works too. For the baby. For an adult, you'd probably get thrown off the plane in the best-case scenario. It only goes downhill if you pick random stranger boobs.

@ohnoes: Actually, its the most effective way. Its called equalizing, you do it when scuba diving as well, it works exactly the same way. I prefer to do the yawning/jaw thing when I'm in an airplane or an elevator, but when im underwater its much easier to valsalva... you just have to be careful not to blow too hard.

I'm usually so exhausted from lack of sleep due to the:

(a) baby screaming up front
(b) guy falling asleep on my shoulder
(c) irritatingly loud announcement speaker directly overhead
(d) cramped space
(e) et cetera

that I have no problem yawning nonstop at the end of the flight. That works!

@Gene Howard: Finally. Other people who know what I'm talking about. Looks like we should start a club.

Also, the valsalva maneuver is contraindicated for people with heart problems and/or hypertension.

@Gene Howard:

LOL I'm joining the club too.

Only time I ever had a problem with a stuck ear was flying home after a week of Scuba Diving while getting certified in Catalina.

My one ear was stuck for a good month afterwards. Morale of the story is, don't fly the same day (or day after) you dive.

I NEVER fly without EarPlanes. These ear plugs are indispensible for me. When I was a kid, Sudafed (psuedoephedrine) worked well enough, but I had a cross country flight at the age of 17 that caused me serious pain and substantial hearing loss for days. EarPlanes can be purchased for about $5, and are usually good for an entire roundtrip (2-4 legs of flight). They come in children's sizes, too.

An additional note: I tried using a knockoff brand (CVS, maybe?) and even though they were brand new, they failed on me partway through on descent. I was in so much pain, and it was a short trip, too, so I know I still need these ear plugs.

@Andrew Makk: It's also a good way to get sudden and unexpected nitrogen bubbles in your joints and blood, you know, the bends. Dive tables really don't take flying into account, they probably covered that in your certification class I'm guessing :)
I know they harped on it in mine, complete with gruesome anecdotal stories!

@ShabazOSU: So is the taking of pseudoephedrine, as long is you're going to hit one hit both :)

If ear-popping is too painful, I recommend two styrofoam cups with a warm, damp paper towel in the bottom of each. Put the cups against your ears during take-off and landing, and it helps the ears adjust.

I know, it sounded ridiculous to me, too, until I had to ask for it for my sick wife, and the flight attendant knew exactly what I was talking about!

@lawndart:

There was plenty of time following the dive for the nitrogen to leave the bloodstream before we flew out.

Ear just got stuck on the last dive and the flight just made it worse.

@ribex: I'm waiting for the disclaimer that this is a paid advertisement and does not reflect the view of The Consumerist lulz

The pain comes from the difference in pressure from the air inside your head to the outside air. Yawn every now and then during the flight (up, down and all around). It'll make the pressure inside your head the same as the pressure outside. So? No pain.

I used to think that everyone could do it too. I used to laugh at people who complained about their ears getting stuffed up - "just unplug them - it's like blinking but with whatever those internal earflap things we have".

I'm going to go home and see how many/whether my kids can do it.

Too bad I'm not allowed pseudoephedrine for medical reasons. The others don't work for me either.

@Gene Howard: Yeah, I do that too. Nobody else gets it.

@Cornelius047: That's because the vasalva technique (which isn't blowing against your cheeks, it's attempting a light blow out your pinched nose) can only increase your internal pressure. The main cause of Eustacian tubes not co-operating is mucus, which is why decongestant is a great assistant. It's possible to manually force the tubes open by tensing the muscles at the back of your neck, You can clearly hear a click when they open, and keeping them open results in a very distinct rumbling. While the rumbling isn't a guarentee that the pressure behind your ears will drop to equalize, holding it for long enough will manage it.

The worst in when you are sitting by a baby who can't figure out what the hell is going on and just screams out of frustration.

i just swallow my saliva. i have better results w/ that than yawning.

I can relieve the pressure in my ears just by wiggling them. I didn't know what ear popping was till I was like 14 because I did it all the time. Never understood why my family would chew gum during plane flights.