Airplane Footrest Hammock vs Inflatable: Which Works in Economy
An airplane footrest comes in two shapes. A hammock is a padded sling that hangs from the arms of your tray table and holds your feet a few inches off the floor. An inflatable is an air cushion that fills the space in front of your seat so you can rest your legs on it, or, in the biggest sizes, so a small child can lie flat. They solve different problems, and airlines treat them differently. Here's how to choose.
What each one does for your legs
A hammock lifts your feet. Your heels come off the floor and your knees relax. Travel writers who have flown with them say the main relief is in the lower back and knees, and that you can shift position: feet up, feet down, legs to one side. What a hammock can't do is raise your whole lower leg.
An inflatable raises more of you. A cushion the height of the seat lets you stretch your legs out almost straight, and that's what people who want to reduce swelling or sleep are after. Stack two cushions, or use an extra-large one, and the gap in front of the seat becomes a flat space a toddler can sleep on.
Setup: seconds versus minutes
A hammock sets up in a few seconds. Unroll it, loop the straps over the tray table arms, clip them and set the length for your height. When the seatbelt sign comes on you lift it off, because the tray table has to be stowed.
An inflatable is more work. You blow it up by mouth or at an air vent, and that takes minutes in a cramped seat. One tester for The Points Guy found that once it was fully inflated it was too big to fit between the seat and the reclined seat in front, and had to let air out and push it into place. Makers say the same thing in a different way: the Flypal FAQ suggests filling it only to about 80 to 90 percent, and 1st Class Kid says to practice before the flight and not to inflate until cruising. When the seatbelt sign comes on, you deflate it.
Parents who use inflatable beds say the trick is to half-inflate, place it, and then top it up in position.
Who each one fits
A hammock hangs at a fixed range of heights below the tray table. Taller flyers can find it sits too high; shorter flyers may find the opposite. Some makers say who it fits. Sleepy Ride says its pad works best for people 5'4" and under. Everlasting Comfort sizes its hammock for travelers under 6 feet. A hammock with an adjustable base as well as an adjustable strap, like the JALIELL 2 in 1, covers the widest range.
An inflatable fits anyone, because you set the height by how much air you put in. Two-piece designs like the Flypal give three heights by using one cushion or both.
The feet-together problem
The most common complaint about hammocks is that both feet sag into the middle and your knees touch. A hammock with two separate foot spaces, or a divider, fixes it. A plain single sling doesn't.
An inflatable doesn't have this problem. It's a flat top; your feet go wherever you put them.
Packed size and weight
This is where the hammock wins outright. The lightest hammock we compared weighs 5.64 oz and folds into a drawstring bag. Of the two inflatables, the 1st Class Kid XL is listed at 16 oz, and the Flypal listing gives no weight; both pack into a drawstring bag, but neither folds as flat as a foam pad. A hammock is the one you'll always have in your bag.
Which one airlines allow
This can decide it for you. When we read airline pages:
- Delta lists both foot hammocks and inflatable devices as not allowed.
- Southwest lets you use a foot sling in flight (stowed for taxi, takeoff and landing), but allows inflatable footrests only in window seats.
- British Airways doesn't allow anything that attaches to the seat or tray table, and allows only a short list of named kids' devices.
- Qantas allows inflatable cubes for children under strict conditions, and no leg hammocks.
The pattern: a hammock is banned wherever nothing may attach to the seat, and allowed in flight on airlines like Southwest. An inflatable is limited to window seats or named products on the airlines that allow one at all. Our guide to whether footrests are allowed on planes has the detail for each airline we checked.
Bulkhead and exit rows
A hammock needs tray table arms to hang from, so it often won't work at the front of a cabin; Sleepy Ride's listing says its hammock won't work in bulkhead or first-class seats. An inflatable can work in a bulkhead seat if the airline allows it there (Qantas doesn't). Keep both out of exit rows: British Airways and Qantas rule them out there by name.
Which should you buy?
Choose a hammock if you want your feet up on a normal economy flight, you pack light, and your airline allows items that hang from the tray table. Get one with a separate space for each foot.
Choose an inflatable if you want to raise your whole lower leg, you're flying with a toddler who needs to lie flat, or you're in a bulkhead seat, and your airline allows it in your seat. Expect a few minutes of setup and a bulkier bag.
If you're not sure, the hammock is the safer first buy: it's cheaper to carry, quicker to set up, and allowed on more airlines. Our best airplane footrests comparison has three hammocks and two inflatables side by side, and if the goal is sleep, pair either one with the tips in our guide on how to sleep on a plane.