That doesn't always work... I remember one time in late 93/early 94, we were flying in to Sarajevo and we didn't pressurize the cabin. I suddenly found out that I had some blocked earpassages... THAT was painful. The fact that we were descending into and ascending up from Sarajevo about 3 times as fast as normal didn't help matters either... Ended up with pressure-induced damages on the eardrums...

Stig