I Bought This Seat Cushion After Seeing a Pregnant Person Use It on a Flight, and It Changed My Life

I’m a frequent traveler who flies about once a month, usually in economy, so I’m used to sitting for hours in seats with little padding. As a result, I had resigned myself to dealing with a sore tailbone and hips for any flight lasting more than a couple of hours. But a while ago on a flight between Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, I met another passenger, who was pregnant, who showed me a solution that transformed the way I travel and made my flights much more comfortable: the Hest Foamy Seat Cushion. 

I watched the pregnant passenger unroll a cushion and place it on that hard, uncomfortable economy seat before sitting down. I was intrigued, so I leaned over to ask them about the cushion. They explained that they traveled a lot for work and that they grew more uncomfortable on every flight as their belly got bigger. A Hest Foamy Seat Cushion was their saving grace, they told me. 

Designed for flights, camping, car rides, or even office chairs, this cushion is stuffed with memory foam and measures 18 inches long, 16 inches wide, and 3 inches tall. Despite the cushion’s substantial padding, it can be rolled up to a compact size when not in use (it has straps and clips), which makes it ideal for travel. It also has a washable removable cover so it’s easy to clean. Before we landed, I snapped a photo of the cushion; I was determined to get one for myself. 

Once I tried the Hest Foamy Seat Cushion, I knew I would never go back. The first time I tried the cushion was on connecting flights that took me from Washington, D.C., to Houston, Texas, then from Houston to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Altogether, I traveled for more than 12 hours, and I slept like a baby for several of the flights. Usually I have a hard time sleeping on planes, so I was stunned and pleasantly surprised by the results. 

The cushion was so effective that on the first day of my family’s trip to Argentina I was energetic and eager to explore, while the rest of my family was sluggish and wanted to head back to the hotel early. I wondered if my long, deep sleep on the airplane was a fluke; however, I had the same results on the way back. I was officially hooked. 

Since my first successful flights with my foamy seat cushion, I have used it on many trips — long and short. Even if I don’t necessarily want to sleep on the plane, such as on a short flight to Florida, I still bring it along because it helps prevent aches and pains. Although my husband thought I looked a little ridiculous the first few times I unrolled my seat cushion on a plane, he, too, was impressed with the results and got one for himself. 

Although I originally got my seat cushion for flights, I’ve found other uses for it as well. I have used it on long road trips, on top of metal benches at my daughter’s track meets, and to cushion the hard ground at my son’s soccer matches. Once, I pulled a muscle in my lower back and put the cushion on my desk chair for a little extra padding, which seems to have helped. I’m still discovering new uses for my foamy seat cushion, so who knows how I will use it next!

Buy: Hest Foamy Seat Cushion, $89