Apple AirPods Pro 2: My Go-To Travel Earbuds

Be careful sleeping with them on planes, the can easily fall and into the seat. I've sadly lost a single bud this way and while you can buy just the single bud it's pretty steep. Totally agree though, my over ear headphones are for home. My Samsung equivalent buds are for the road.

Get the AirFly pro deluxe, for the 2pin adapter (or get the adaptor alone off Aliexpress) on some more older airplanes.

Same here, 3x different PLT UC 8200s over ears ANC that I use at home but gave up travelling with. Airpods are perfect, including business travel needs.

As a regular air traveler, one has to agree with those who praise these AirPods.
As for those who express concerns about sleeping with them in, again one has to agree, however, my solution is to remove them when intending to sleep and replace them with old fashioned foam ear plugs. These are far less expensive to replace.

Would you consider getting separate over-ear headphones especially for those long-haul flights or the AirPods would be good enough for you?

Worked great on recent Newark to Madrid flight 3/4 yo screamed the whole flight even before boarding at the gate and then saw a newborn baby as quiet as a mouse sleeping, I put my AirPods Pro 2 on noise cancellation and slept great.

The "Find My" feature, and playing a sound on them is definitely useful for finding either the case or one of the pods. But definitely agree it's an issue trying to keep track of them. I like over-ear headphones for the convenience of putting the headband around my neck, and the longer battery life. But agree it's hard to beat the combo of size and capability of the AirPod Pros. The instant connect with Apple devices is my favorite feature.

@ Mike O. -- The AirPods are good enough for me. I no longer travel with over-ear ones, including on long haul trips.

Do you find the noise-cancelling capabilities sufficient on the AirPods, comparing to over-ear style headphones?

DO THE BOOGIE WOOGIE BOOGIE YEAH YEAH YEAHHHHHHHHH

I prefer the Sony xm5 earbuds for sound and anc. Airpods win for iPhone compatibility but not enough to make me switch. I still lug around the QCs for long haul. Better anc for sleeping, and not worth the risk in case somebody inconsiderate brings their crying baby on board.

Thanks I’m considering switching from my wired Bose NC earbuds but share the concern about losing one.
I switched from over ear Bose after losing my 2nd pair years ago - loft on plane but why I’m concerned about the iPods 😉
But like my 25 year old Briggs & Riley Baseline wheelie, I’ll use my wired Bose earbuds until they quit or go missing 🙂

I still do both. Sony xm-5s for longhaul and sleeping. Airpod 2 pros for shorter flights. The airpods are small enough to not matter.

Tip: if you live in the UK and have Revolut Ultra, when purchasing from the app store with the URL from the Revolut App you get 21 points per £ spent. That converts 1:1 to most airlines, but I find BA Avios being the best value.

I recently purchased the top of the line Bose QC over ear headphones and have been very impressed. Ironically I ONLY use them on planes and everywhere else (running, car, phone calls etc I use my non NC AirPods)

For me I travel with both, I just find the comfort and extra noise cancellation is worth it due to how close proximity everyone is on a plane (even in business) that extra NC makes a noticeable difference.

Granted they do take up a lot of space but what I do is I don’t travel with the case and I either wear them around my neck as I board and go through security or hold them by the headband - works a treat!

For those who prefer the "other" earbud shape, Amazon has a number of comparable alternatives. Same features, longer lasting, and a fraction of the price. And, given the lower price, shelling out for back-up pairs is not even a thought should the primary pair be misplaced.

While I do agree all the points in the article these are a great set of earbuds, no matter what I do I can't seem to keep the left one from falling out of my ear. Tried all of the little attachments too with no go. It's happened with other brand earbuds as well, so I don't think it's the fault of the hardware and more my ear anatomy lol.
I'm always afraid that one will fall out if I sleep on the plane so I still bring my Bose QC35s

I bought after-market memory foam tips for mine. The fit is tighter and more secure while also more isolating and comfortable.

Comply brand works great for me.

@ Ben - How do you manage the 6 hour battery life on long 12+h flights ? Do you re-charge them at cruising altitude when the plane engine sound is less ?

For shorter flights I recently bought the Bose QuietComfort Ultra ear buds and they have a fantastic noise cancellation. It works great when vacuuming the house too !

Yes, and actually airpods double as an extra airtag - they are just as traceable and can help you find your luggage / backpack

I use a silicone strap that wraps around the base of each AirPod to tie them together. Then if one falls out, it won't go far. It is a hassle to remove the strap whenever you want to put them back in the case, but worth it for the peace of mind when I'm sleeping. Just search "AirPods silicone strap" on Amazon for options.

I use them occasionally, but I find the noise cancellation to not be as good as I really prefer. My go to headphones are still personally molded Ultimate Ear monitors that are far more expensive, but make it so that I don't hear anything on flights. No announcements, no babies crying, nothing but silence and I can wear them easily for 15+ hours.

I've never actually liked the idea of wireless earphones because I am certain that I would lose them in no time.

After the SIM 'drawer' of my brand new ZenFone got lost inside a LX flat seat back in '22 rendering it useless [until the amazing cabin crew managed to retrieve the missing part], I have lost any interest in even trying these things out.

Soundmagic make some really solid wired earphones, and I stick with them.

I agree, Airpods are more than good enough considering the space savings, definitely for anything <5h, unless it's a transcon or long-haul.

My go to earbuds are N-09A that I have been using for over 3 years. They are fantastic. Only paid about $25 for them.

Hearing Aids: I got my Pro 2 Airpods about a week before a trip to Rome, after boarding the flight i realized i had left the charging case for my hearing aids at home. i remembered that ios 18.1 and above has hearing health and the Airpods Pro 2 can work like hearing aids. did a quick hearing test with my iPhone and the Airpods (<5 minutes) and they immediately functioned almost as well as my hearing aids. saved my vacation. the only downside was the charge was good for 5-6 hours, but a 30 minute nap in the case and they were good to go again.

Noise cancelation is almost as good as over the ear Bose.

My biggest issue with my Samsung Galasy buds is when one dies before the other. I use them both at the same time, but this has been a constant issue with my pair. 3hrs of listening and 30 hour case like the Airpods, but at $60 it's still cheaper to buy a second set and alternate as they charge in the case.

*Galaxy

That's easily an 18 hour day from door to door too. I also have this problem.

When sleeping, I remove the Air Pods and put in foam ear plugs. I sleep like a baby and who cares if they fall out and are lost.

I’m curious, am I the only one who has given up on people who uses Apple AirPods Pro 2 (or something similar), because they’re like mentally challenged person talking to themselves?

I have been a user of Bose Quiet comfort too, but got the AirPods Pro 2 at the $169 price before Christmas. I really do not use them much as I also bought them to travel light on the plane. My concern is that they do not fit that great, and there is no way that I can feel comfort walking or jogging with them as they will fall out. I've used them on short flights, but am concerned about using them on a long flight especially if I fall asleep as I do not want to lose them somewhere in the seat. I used to use wired Shure and Etymotic earbuds and they had tips that fit deep into the ear canal. I liked them a lot other than being wired. I have not been able to find aftermarket tips for the Airpods Pro 2 that fit better, so I am asking anyone reading this if they have found tips that work better?

I miss the perfection of my Bose but just dislike the added weight these days. The AirPod Pro 2 are my go to these days. Just did the Seattle-Singapore flight, found when I got up and walked around or ate, the headphones charged enough for sleep. Noise cancellation plus a white noise app (on the Iphone’s low power mode) was a perfect combo. AirFly Pro. That I didn’t have but have needed. Thx!

I actually just did the opposite. I was using air buds for a while but like some others, I can't seem to get them to securely stay in my ears for long periods of time. So I switched to wireless BOSE NV. Yes, they are bulkier and take up more space but they do a better job of canceling noise and never fall off. I was also losing the buds or leaving them behind.

aquarium tubing works like a charm !

This is going to sound odd, but about a year ago I decided to join the "cool kids" and buy some air pods. Because I wasn't sure I would like them, I bought a REALLY cheap $15.00 or so on Amazon. Guess What ? They are AMAZING ! noise cancelling, dynamic sound, blue tooth pairs with iPhone and Delta... I am not spending hundreds for a more expensive brand.

The fix is simply to being some gaffer/duct tape with you. Just a small piece across your ear is sufficient - no need for an entire wrap around your head (even with breathing holes).

They are the best. My go to. However I clean pools and have lost two going falling into the pool while servicing them. Prob shd get wing tips for my next ones.

Waste of money for me. I buy a much less costly set with over ear loops and a longer battery life. The case can be used to recharge my phone in an emergency. Specs are way worse that Apple in frequency response, I'm sure. But, I have the hearing of a person of my age. I own apple stock (through ETFs), I'll never again waste money on their overpriced line.

I have a friend who just got some mostly for the hearing aid aspect. He doesn't have sufficient hearing loss (yet) to justify regular hearing aids, but it has been an issue at home or about, so now he uses some pro 2 airpods and that solved his problems (for now).

Love my Airpods Pro 2, been using them basically since they came out. On my second set because I had one fall out when I dropped the case and it disappeared. Tried using the "play sound" function on "find my" off my phone but it refused to connect to the airpod so I couldn't hear it, and didn't see it anywhere. This is why I still bring my Bose over ear headphones when I travel - I'm not worried about those falling off my head or the tray table and disappearing somewhere under the seats, maybe where I can't reach them.

I have a pair of the Bose QuietComfort earbuds and I highly recommend them. They're still quite compact (just a little bigger than the airpods case), and they're much more secure in the ear.

The sound quality and noise cancellation is also top notch.

The only downside is it takes ~30 seconds from the time you take them out of the case until they pair to your device, which gets annoying. Also, it doesn't have multi-device bluetooth (ability to connect simultaneously to multiple devices).

But other than that, the actual audio quality is quite good, and I haven't found the need to lug big over-the-ear headphones in a long time.

Earbuds just don't have the battery life for long haul flying, probably not even for a short hop from Tokyo to Bangkok. And too few airlines have facilities for connecting Bluetooth to the IFE. My go to for flying is a pair of Sony WF-1000XM5, battery will last a return trip Tokyo London, and I can connect to IFE and my private devices with equal ease. How many times would I need to charge the earbuds on a 14 hour flight?

Earbuds are fine for many things particularly the gym. But I also notice that being on the receiving end of a call where the other end uses earbuds is often pretty poor sound quality.

We've loved our two pairs of Bose QC20 wired earbuds. The wired version means we never lose one and they still take minimal space and can even charge while in use. Too bad they're not produced anymore...

Although they are excellent for music they are awful when it comes to taking calls. You will hear perfectly fine but the other person will really struggle to hear you if you are in a public or noisy place. They have made some improvements with noise isolation but it still is not good enough if you are trying to take a call from a bus or some other public place.

Dunno how anyone wears in-ear headphones for 4+ hours at a time. I just get sore ears 🙁

Horrible ear buds. How much did Apple Pay you to endorse them. Bose headphones work. Beats work. AirPods are miserable.

The AirPods charge super quickly though. I just pop them back in the case when I’m not using them (even for a few minutes like going to the restroom). Worst case, somewhere in the last quarter of the flight end of the flight, I have to take them off for 10 minutes, and that’s enough for the last couple of hours.

I had QC15s and QC35 IIs, both were great headphones, but are much bulkier. I haven’t taken them on a trip in years.

I have both the AirPods Pro and Max, and while I love the Max and use them daily while at home, I now travel with only the Pro to save some space in my carry on but I learned a lesson recently. Last December, about an hour before landing in Tokyo, just as I was thinking "I need to be very careful not to drop them", I dropped one of the earbuds inside the seat on a Turkish Airlines 787. After we landed, a a flight attendant spoke to a ground technician, who said he would try to recover it for me later, but I had no hope whatsoever. The next day I got an email from [email protected], saying that they had recovered the earbud and would like to return it to me. In the end, they sent it to my hotel using Yamato (which cost ¥870), and I got it back. I was very lucky that this happened on arrival in NRT.

I go for the bests fit pro. The noise cancellation is almost as good as the air pods pro 2 but they have the ear tips built in so they don’t fall out even when sleeping. And they’re slight more bulkier so certainly easier to find if you drop them.

I like them except that I find they cause me to eventually have impacted ear wax, which I then need to get removed from by a doctor. I took a year off from them and didn't have this issue.

I gave up on the Bose over the ear headphones after my last pair died. I snapped up Apple AP Pro 2 when they went on sale after they announced that they would work as hearing aids.

You can scan a pic of the audiogram your audiologist gives you after a hearing test and/or do a hearing test in the settings app.

I love them, and they really help me hear conversations clearly in crowded, noisy places (restaurants) in addition to doing their normal job of being excellent n/c headphones.

Getting a good fit with the included silicone ear tips might be challenging, lots of reddit threads on other third party ear tips. I ended up with Foam Masters.

The other point they really don't solve is IFE. I then need to carry a Bluetooth dongle, that I probably have to charge as well. Until more airlines get on to the Bluetooth IFE connection, and make it work better than it does these days.

And for hours of continued use, I find the over ear far more comfortable. But that is more personal preference.

The new regular AirPods 4 have a built-in speaker in the case that you can make beep when you need to find it. They also have fantastic noise canceling. I’ve stopped taking my Beats Studio Pro with me when I travel now.