Best travel pillow: I’m a travel editor who has tested dozens of pillows for long-haul flights, these are the must-have ones I swear by

By Genie Harrison

This came out as the most expensive of the bunch we tested – but for good reason. As well as being comfortable sitting around one’s neck, the Ostrich pillow also provided great support – even for those of a more giraffe-like persuasion.

The 360-degree design means the wearer can adjust as necessary, with the lightweight memory foam tying the whole experience together. You can also remove and machine wash the pillow cover after a flight’s use.

Tested over the course of an 11-hour flight from London to Cape Town (and back again!), the Ostrich pillow was a welcome companion to what could have been an arduous overnight flight.

By Genie Harrison

Coming in two sizes based on the wearer’s height, SNUGL’s award-winning travel pillow is shaped like a car seat for your neck. What makes the pillow particularly great, though, is the variety of ways that the user can successfully fashion it, based on their preferences.

Whether your neck tends to loll forwards, backwards, or to one side, the pillow can be suitably arranged to provide the necessary neck support.

Our only slight disagreement with this pillow was arguably how supportive it is: it snuggles up very tight, especially when clipped together.

By Genie Harrison

As someone who prefers to sleep on my side, Travelrest’s Ultimate Inflatable Pillow gets a big tick from me.

You simply blow the pillow up with a few short puffs and then sling the detachable strap around your body like a messenger bag. I slept alternately with the pillow sandwiched between mine and my neighbour’s seat as a head rest, and in a more upright position.

Nestled against, rather than around my neck, I also found it to be less constricting than some of the tighter, more form-fitting varieties tried.

Being inflatable, the pillow was also very easy to pack away and store in my hand luggage – ready to whip out as soon as I started to feel dozy.

By Genie Harrison

This pillow definitely wins the award for the most unusual design of any that we tried: the TRTL includes an internal support that you wrap around your neck like a scarf and then arrange in whatever position you find most comfortable.

While the idea is certainly novel, I found that I needed the additional support of my hand to keep my neck fully supported. While the material was also soft and cosy, the internal support did dig in when not angled correctly.

That said, the pillow still provided reasonable comfort on a long-haul flight to Colombia and wraps up neatly into any hand luggage.

By Genie Harrison

While at the cheaper end of the pillows we reviewed, Roamwild’s offering is of a more unusual design. In addition to firm neck support, users are able to inflate a portion of the pillow so the wearer can lean one’s head, even when saddled with the dreaded middle seat of a plane.

The idea probably works better in theory than in principle; the inflatable portion of the pillow doesn’t blow up a particularly large amount – meaning additional support is also needed. That said, the pillow is comfortable to keep round one’s neck and provides better support than the average.

By Genie Harrison

Similarly designed to the Ostrich travel pillow, the BCozzy snakes around the neck in an effort to provide all-round support.

The pillow is comfortable to wear and lightweight, but suffers from the support itself being less heavy duty than other options offered. Those of longer necks and heavier heads may find it is not quite as supportive as other offerings.

That said, the pillow is lightweight and clips easily to one’s hand luggage, and sits at the lower end of the price range.

By Genie Harrison

Fashioned after a Mobius strip, the USP of the Infinity Pillow is that it can be wrapped and twisted in whichever way will suit the wear.

It is lightweight and soft, and thus comfortable to drape around one’s neck.

However, personally, when using the pillow I found that even if I wrapped it around my neck twice, I wasn’t able to quite get the support I needed. I almost wanted it to be longer, so I could have got a third wrap in.

This memory foam offering from Boots is lightweight and comfortable, with a handy clip to keep in place.

It could do with slightly taller neck support, but for the price it does a great job. Plus – you should be able to collect from the Boots at whatever airport you’re flying from.