The 10 Very Best Travel Pillows

Shape: Neck pillow | Fill: No fill | Thickness: Thin | Easy to pack

This travel neck pillow is not the traditional U-shape, it has no fill, and is very thin, but it still takes the top spot on our list. It has the most recommendations from our experts and achieves the main goal of a neck pillow — to prevent lateral bending in the neck — in the most compact way. Its design is unique to anything else on this list. It’s more like a padded scarf, but has a plastic brace inside that supports the head, explains Pack Hacker editor Lauren Maternowski. The brace is only in one part of the pillow, but you can adjust it “so you’ll have to choose which side you prefer nodding off toward,” says Lauren Shwartzberg, who told us about Trtl way back in 2017. Because it’s so thin and there’s no padding around the back of the neck, “you can fully lean against your seat’s headrest,” adds Maternowski. Strategist associate director of e-commerce-audience development Rosie Percy says that, with the adjustable Trtl, she was “able to sleep through a flight for the first time in my adult life, touching down feeling refreshed and without a crick in my neck.” Points Guy travel editor Madison Blancaflor agrees with: “It’s the only way I can survive long-haul flights in economy.”

I tested out the Trtl on a recent 12-hour flight to Seoul. I’ve never had much luck with classic travel pillows; I can’t get over the gap that they wedge between you and the seat or the vague feeling of being choked if you slump down at the wrong angle. With the Trtl, though, I was out like a light. The brace’s angle hits just right: Not sloping so much that your neck bends unnaturally, but supportive enough for you to relax into a decent sleep.

Scott Keyes of Scott’s Cheap Flights echoes my praise. “What I like about it is its versatility,” he says. “It lets you sleep decently even if you’re in the middle seat and prevents you from waking up with a stiff airplane neck. And unlike bulky pillows, this one is small enough to easily tuck into your backpack.” And so the Trtl is our best pick overall because it’s highly rated by people who don’t usually even use travel pillows, as well as those who’ve tested a lot to find their favorite.