Inflatable pillows, is Sondur more than so-so?

Which is the best inflatable pillow?

It’s a recurring theme in these pages, as regular readers will know.

And it is a subject that is constantly brought up by travellers looking for a little ease, particularly in economy aircraft seats, on buses, and waiting for hours at airports.

And many readers who have looked for inflatable pillows online will have seen the Sondur pillow . . . probably not because they have searched for it but because the algorithms tracking their behaviour pick-up their interest in travel pillows, and then serve it up to them. The internet’s like that.

The Sondur has been heavily marketed by algorithms, especially on TikTok.

It is a black, square pillow with 24 interconnected air cells (or pockets) underneath, each about the size of a largish potato when inflated.

One of the corner air pockets has a small label with the “inflate”, and you squeeze this to blow up the 24 pouches. It takes me 90 squeezes to fully inflate the pillow — and the little push-valve is quite stiff, so I put the pillow’s corner on a hard surface and do it with the palm of my hand. That’s easier.

Once it’s inflated, the pillow is nice and big to sit on, being 44cm square.

Full inflation is a bit of a task, and when I did it for the first time, I thought “this is all a bit of a faff — too much for the beginning of each flight”.

But (on our readers’ behalf), I used the Sondur pillow over and over, in different situations, and got used to using it, and found it easier. In the end I have come to the conclusion that the two minutes’ effort is worth the hours of comfort. And it IS comfortable to sit on. You just float on air above the seat.

The company says it “prevents back and tailbone pain” — and I have come to agree. I also agree with their assessment that the pillow is durable “and built for frequent use”.

It isn’t like smaller pillows which also have foam inside, which you can deflate to make them very thin, so they just give a little lift.

But in another corner, there’s another little label which says “deflate”. This little squeeze valve can be used to lower the air pressure. This air release button can be used to make it softer or firmer, in conjunction with the built-in “inflate” air pump.

To fully deflate the pillow, I found another pull-plug type valve, which lets all the air out quickly. I used this when I was deflating the pillow to pack away, then rolled it width-wise (towards the valve). Then rolled it up like a bratwurst.

Once again, this got easier with practice.

I bought the Sondur travel cushion (to try it on your behalf) from sondurtravel.com.

Its full price is $187, but at the moment it is reduced to $114 (as it was for me). But import taxes of $11.40 are added to that, bringing it to $125.40. Shipping is free, with Australia Post tracking.

It has a travel case — a substantial round bag with a strap and snap-clip.

It also has a one-year warranty.