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Usually, ears do not get blocked upon reaching altitude. Rather, ears get blocked during descent. The reason is that the Eustachian tube, which is a membrane lined tube that connects the middle ear to the back of the nose, gets blocked (most likely by congestion from a cold), and is no longer able to equalize the pressure being placed on the ear drum by the increasing air pressure experienced during descent. Most commercial aircraft can only maintain sea level pressure in the cabin up to about 18,000 feet. When they go above that altitude, they have to increase the cabin altitude so as not to over stress the structure of the aircraft. Cabin altitudes can get up to 8,000 feet and higher during flight, depending on the actual aircraft altitude, so when the aircraft descends, the cabin altitude must be brought back down to sea level (or the actual altitude of the landing airport). It is during this "descent" of the cabin altitude that the pressure is increased and most ear blocks are experienced. Hope that helps. ANOTHER POSSIBILITY The tube in your ear is "empty", meaning there is no fluid in it most of the time. As you ascend and descend, the air pressure changes cause the tube to collapse or engorge, and require a little help equaliizing. When you pinch your nose and blow, the pop is the tube opening up because you have increased the pressure inside to match the higher pressure outside as you descend quickly which caused the eardrum to move slightly. With asscent, air gets trapped in the tube, and yawning stretches the muscles of the head and neck, allowing the extra pressure out. The pop is the eardrum moving again. When altitude changes are made slowly, like in a car or hiking, the air pressure gets equalized automatically, and your ears won't pop

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