I had noise cancelling headphones previously (20-30 years old) and while they did knock out airplane engine and air noise, the problem was they did not knock out conversation. So if someone was talking in the seat behind you, you could actually hear them BETTER, as it knocked out the white noise that masked their talking. The new ones knock out EVERYTHING, so amazingly well. Unreal.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CD2F4B1G?lv=shuf&ascsubtag=11816660%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7Cpc&tag=travelandleisure-paid-20&channelId=1&plpRedirect=mhFallback&th=1