Evening flight, dinner & sleeping
 

It's a dreary day here and I feel like grumping..... ;)

I'm flying from Philadelphia to Glasgow this summer, leaving at 9:30 p.m. and dinner is being served on the plane. The way I look at it, I'll have already had dinner (and probably a lot better than the airline will serve), plus, it bothers me that the noise, lights up, etc. will keep me from sleeping. On one hand, 9:30 is still early for sleeping, but on the other hand, it's essentially 2:30 A.M.! Does this ever bother anyone else?

The airline(s) can't win either way. Serve dinner, you get complaints about noise, lights. Don't serve dinner you get complaints on how cheap the airline is.

Here is a specific suggestion just for you.

1. eye mask
2. ear plugs or noise cancelling headphones
3. take couple of sleeping pills

and finally, NO it does not bother me a bit. If I want to go to sleep I just do what I need to, as described above.

Dear AA,

It must be dreary where you are, too.

btw, it's still 9:30p as far as I'm concerned, unless you were adjusting to the new time zone for few days before the trip, which would mean that you had dinner at ~1p and went to sleep at ~3-4p.

It bothered enough people that some used to take the Concorde. Now, some take day flights (select flights between Chicago/NYC and London), and some take the Queen Mary 2 (or equivalent).

Anyways, I have seen plenty of people put on eye-masks, ear-plugs/headphones; put the blanket on and buckle the seatbelt outside the blanket. Nobody will disturb them, especially if they're in a window seat.

If they did not feed you, there would be more complaints about no food on international flight. And they may even wake you up prior to landing for coffee and a roll anyway.

We took day flight BOS-London to avoid this situation. Lost a day of our trip, but felt great when we arrived.

I would eat a light dinner prior to flight, take the dinner and pick at it for something to do, drink a lot of wine, sleep for a couple of hours and just deal with feeling grumpy for a day when you arrive.

I think AAFF's suggestion is perfectly valid!

Besides, with international flights at 9:30pm, the passengers likely had to be at the airport around 7-7:30, so they likely didn't have time for dinner prior.

This is absolutely lethal advice as far as DVT risks are concerned, but here's my version of AAFF's advice:

- Do everything you can to arrive at the airport as exhausted as possible (try getting up at 0300 for example)
- Eat a very stodgy meal at the airport with a reasonable amount of wine.
- Pee before getting on the plane
- Get a window seat
- Strap yourself in (with the strap over any blanket you might need so no nanny steward's going to wake you to see if your belt's on), put on a mask and go to sleep
- At all costs, avoid Virgin, whose inane blather will keep you awake all night
- Tell the attendants you don't want breakfast
- Don't move till the plane's door opens on the other side

This might kill you, but you'll get a decent night's sleep. If you're a DVT risk, download the airlines' advice and do all the leg juggling you can while in your seat.

It is hard to sleep during the first hour of a flight. That is when they make all of their announcements. Try eating a little food. It will make you a little more tired.

If this is the US Air nonstop (and check your times - it looks like it leaves at 9 PM, not 9:30) then all I can say is you poor dear...

It's such a short flight (7 hours) that I find "sleeping" is something of a waste of time. Plus on that airplane (a 757) the conditions in coach will be pretty cramped anyway. If you're on one of the US planes that offer it, you'll have individual in-flight entertainment - use it. Read a book. Drink lots of water and use the loo a couple of times (get an aisle seat.) In the summer you'll only have a couple hours' worth of darkness outside anyway, and despite the usual totalitarian demands to lower window shades, inevitably somebody doesn't, making for sunrise for everybody in the middle of the "night."

Just plan on arriving in Scotland ready for a short day - get to your accommodations, have a nice fish supper and a couple pints of heavy, and plan on being in bed by 9 that night.

Thanks, Gardyloo, for your nice reply (and by the way, I still think your "Kindness of Strangers" thread is the best I've ever read!).

Yes, it's non-stop, but as of right now the plane shows that it does not have individual in-flight entertainment. I'm lucky in that it's three across and my sister, brother-in-law and I are in that row, so my sister and I usually take turns stretching our legs over each other's laps to get some rest (not something you can do with total strangers....). My brother-in-law is on the aisle so that's where his legs will go!

I'm lucky in that our plans changed recently and I'll only have to drive to Dunblane or Stirling (depending on where I get accommodations), so I'm not too worried about driving while suffering from jet lag (other than the usual precautions, which I thought I'd add before somebody blasts me!). Our previous plans had us driving to Newtonmore, which I gather could have had us on the road for three+ hours.

I actually prefer the late flights. I just eat on the ground, maybe have a drink or two, bring an eyeshade, and plug in headphones. I then try to go to sleep as early as possible, usually skipping dinner on the plane. It sure beats some of the flights that leave the East Coast at 5:30 pm, where sleep is impossible.

And, FWIW, you aren't alone in thinking that dinner service gets in the way of getting to sleep. BA flights leaving the East Coast and Chicago after a certain time (8 pm, I think) serve biz class passengers dinner in the lounge and forgo the on-board service. Definitely a great way to do it.

Later and longer flights across the Atlantic are better than the earlier and shorter flights, in regards to sleeping and getting enough rest before a day in Europe.

<i>BA flights leaving the East Coast and Chicago after a certain time (8 pm, I think) serve biz class passengers dinner in the lounge and forgo the on-board service.</i>

I've been on few and not once was dinner not served on board.

As an F or J passenger you have a choice to have sit down dinner in the lounge but it's also available on board.

I also prefer late flights, and eat before boarding so that I can devote as much time to sleep as possible. I take a sleeping pill (more effective on an empty stomach) and use noise-cancelling ear phones.

I do make a point of getting up earlier and earlier in the days before the flight so that I won't feel that I'm trying to go to sleep too very early.

Flanneruk - DVT's concerned me the last time I went because I had a TIA (mini-stroke) four years ago and didn't want to take any chances, so I bought some knee socks that are supposed to help prevent them. (Now, if I could only remember where they are, because I know they aren't in my sock drawer....)

Travelgourmet - your comment was worth very much to me, as Frequent Flyer had me thinking that I was the only one in the world (or at least this board) who found a problem with dinner being served on late evening flights! ;)

Please <b>twina49</b>, show me where I said that?

AAFF: Regarding the BA service on the late flights. My understanding in biz is that the service on the sleeper service is scaled back, and not overly subscribed, cutting back on the time and total disruption. But, you are right, I should have been more precise, as there is definitely still some service.

To be honest, I don't have much personal experience on the sleeper service in biz, as I have been bumped up to F on the sleeper flights I have taken. But, even in F, I have rarely seen anyone eat a full meal in-flight, even though I think it is offered.

It's a personal choice, but believe me, there is nothing scaled back for anybody that wants full service in F or J.

Many passengers just don't have the time to get to the airport 3-2 hours before just to catch a dinner. Many are businesspeople coming straight from meetings at the last minute and if they did not be offered a full service in F or J after paying thousands of $ then I'm pretty sure we would have heard about it and BA would not be as succesful in the upper class cabins.

AAFF: Like I said, I have been bumped up on my few sleeper flights, and I am sure that an F passenger would get what they wanted, and don't have personal experience in J. But this is what the BA website says about the sleeper service:

<i>&lt;&lt;Pre-flight Supper <b>replaces</b> the main meal service on board. Due to late departure times, there is no Pre-flight Supper available from the Middle East. All special meals on North American services will be catered for through the selection on offer in Pre-flight Supper, with the exception of kosher meals. If you have ordered a kosher meal please mention this to your host upon arrival in Pre-flight Supper.

Once onboard, The NightCap Service offers you a drink from the bar and a light snack to help you wind down after your busy day&gt;&gt;</i>

This is consistent with what I've read on FT and elsewhere.

As to whether this is a reasonable alternative, all I can say is that for every person who might book away from BA because they can't get a full meal on board, I'm sure that there must be another that will book with BA, precisely for the pre-flight dining.