If that works for you, great. I use them in first class on AA all the time and they're great for watching a movie for a couple of hours - then I can't wait to take a break and get them off my head.

I can't remember ambient noise being a big problem in the A320, 757/767 or even the 737, but it's been a while. The last 10 years I've flown the MD-11 and 777 and neither one of those require shelling out $650 just to be able to hear the radios. Maybe the price has come down, I heard guys talking about spending a grand on theirs yikes. I've seen guys wearing those things when I was on the 727. Having two ear-muffs clamped over my melon for hours would drive me bat-sh!t.

I've worked for a legacy, jumpseated on all the rest plus a couple that don't exist anymore as well as SWA, Spirit, JB and Alaska. None of those airlines seem to use the mic for inter-cockpit communication as a general practice. So, clamping ANR headmuffs over your ears makes it difficult to communicate with the other occupants of the flight deck. Therefore, when I do see someone wearing them (or when I use the noise cancelling Telex my a/c is equipped with), the inboard earpiece is always off to the side. That kind of seems like it defeats the whole purpose/design of them in the first place.

Either way, 95% of the guys I see take their headset off at cruise and use the speakers anyway. When I do keep it on (usually as PM anywhere between about Moscow and the end of Chinese airspace), the last thing I would want is one of those things stuck on my head for 4-6 hours at a pop. I guess that's why I don't use them - to each his own.

To the OP - before you drop some serious coin on a headset, maybe focus on indoc, training and IOE. Get out on the line, see what you think and then make an educated decision on what you think might work best for you. The rest of the gouge on luggage, etc. is spot on. I've had several of the LW bags and still use one. They've all been sent in for resurrection and I've gotten many years of use from them. However, they are heavy and have some known weak areas. I wish I had found something with a lifetime warranty like the B&R bag someone else mentioned. I'm currently looking to go that direction, too. If I was just starting out, that's the way I would go.