Flying To Brazil? You Won’t Find Pillows Onboard And Can’t Bring Your Own

Here’s an odd one. If you’re flying to or from Brazil, pillows are apparently no longer allowed onboard. Not only will airlines no longer provide them, but you cannot even bring your own.

Brazil Bans…Pillows?

A flight attendant at United sent me a memo noting that effective August 6th, pillows are no longer provisioned on flights to/from Brazil. While the pandemic was not blamed directly, the move is attributed to new regulations from Anvisa, the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency.

The ban applies to the standard onboard pillows as well as United’s cooling gel pillows in Polaris business class. The ban applies not just to passenger flights, but cargo flights as well. Furthermore, the restriction also includes personal pillows. Flight attendants are encouraged to leave their own pillows at home to “avoid any issues when entering Brazil.”

To compensate, United will provision two duvets for each business class passengers. The duvet resembles a pillow when rolled up.

Crews will also be provided additional linen and blankets in the crew rest area to compensate for the lack of pillows.

I reached out to United for clarification and will post an update if I hear back.

I also scoured the internet looking for any news on travesseiros (pillows) coming from Brazil. Nothing…

CONCLUSION

We’ve seen all sorts of arbitrary policies intended to respond to the pandemic so I am not surprised by this one. Still, I cannot make sense of it without context…but did want to pass on the warning to bring an extra blanket or sweatshirt if you are traveling to Brazil which you can use as a pillow.

image: American Airlines