Benzos are my flight go-to. I got them for some flight anxiety, since my stupid brain started getting scared of flying, but boy do they just make the time go by and I manage to doze. It's not good quality, but it beats the total lack of sleep I'd customarily get.

Outside of flying, I have no temptation or desire to take them thankfully, so a prescription with ten pills lasts me literally years.

One word of caution there (aside from other dangers of benzos): I had a friend use them on a flight from the US to UK, and apparently was still obviously intoxicated from them when arriving, and got rejected at the border, put in a holding area, and sent back on the next flight. If going through a place where you'll actually have to talk with an immigration officer, not necessarily the smartest thing.

Wow what a nightmare. I try to time it so I'm lucid before landing, but that's a horror I hadn't even considered!

Why something so strong and not melatonin?

Real question, never tried any.

I am sorry, melatonin doesn't really do anything. It might give some the extra "kick" to fall asleep in a relaxed situation at home, but it definitely is not useful for "I need to go asleep while being pretty wound up" which is what people are talking here.

One not-oft-mentioned thing melatonin seems to do (at least in my own experience) is that it cancels out the effects of earlier-consumed caffeine in preventing sleep. So if you're overtired and awake only because of caffeine, melatonin will put you out pretty quickly.

Melatonin isn't a sleep drug. It's something your brain makes naturally at the end of the day when it gets dark etc. As I understand it, it's part of your bio clock and is not much more than your brain telling your body it's time to go to sleep. But if you're on a plane and you're nervous about flying, you won't fall asleep any more than in any other situation where you're nervous and not lying in your bed. You don't necessarily need something stronger, you need something different.

Why benzos over Ambien?

I am lucky to live in a state where marijuana is legal and basically had a THC candy before boarding a 14 hour flight to Sydney.

Slept like a baby with munchies being the only side effect