The day before I flew from Europe to South America a few weeks ago I had a completely stopped nose. Solid brick. I was terrified of damaging my ears. I took Afr

The day before I flew from Europe to South America a few weeks ago I had a completely stopped nose. Solid brick. I was terrified of damaging my ears. I took Afrin and some real Sudafed, starting about six hours before flying, and was careful to start balancing my ear pressure as soon as the plane started to descend (which was about 25 minutes before landing and 10 minutes before they announced descent). Zero problems. One or both of those two drugs is a miracle. (It probably helped that the second leg of the flight landed in Bogota, where air pressure is less than it is in a commercial jet. But the first leg landed near sea level.)