Better to depart from US in the morn or eve
 

Going to London in June with one couple leaving from the East coast and one from Springfield MO. Usually when traveling internationally we leave for the transatlantic portion in the PM, sleep, and arrive the next morning. However, cheapest fares are leaving in the morning, flying through the day, and arriving same night around 7 or 8. Any thoughts on best way to go? Day departure does mean one more night's lodging.... Thanks for sharing your opinions.

I think you answered your own question, "day departure does mean one more night's lodging".

Hi SC,

I find that the problem arriving at night is that my body clock still thinks it is only afternoon, so I stay up very late.

If I arrive in the AM, I just stay awake until bedtime, and I awake adjusted the next morning.

((I))

Depends on your flexibility in adjusting to disruption of sleep routine. If you leave in the morning and get there at what feels to you like mid-afternoon but - to the locals - is really night, can you go to bed soon after arriving, at what to you might be 4 or 5 PM, and sleep for 8 hours? Maybe you'll toss and turn and the next day you'll be wretched.

For most people it is better to take the evening departure that robs you of a "real" night's sleep - keep going the next day rather than napping, and when you do crash out after dinner, the day after you will be mostly in sync.

To each his own - do the math with the time difference and consider what suits you best.

The last time we did the day flight to London was from JFK. When we had to get up at 4 AM to get to the airport the appropriate advance time for our 8 AM flight, we realized it was actually 9AM at that time in London, our destination. So by the time we arrived in London and got to our flat and then took a walk for an hour, we were ready to go to bed by midnight London time. We got up the next morning by about 7 AM and didn't have an ounce of jetlag. I've decided I really liked that better as I can't sleep on a plane anyway (even in Business Class). We're booked to do the day flight again next June.
And you certainly won't have the problem of arriving in London too early for your hotel or flat to be ready!

We prefer to fly on evening flights for several reasons. First, my wife is a school teacher and we travel on school holidays. With an evening flight we can leave the last day of school and get another day of europe.

Second we like to get on the plane at 6::30 or 7:00 pm, get up to altitude, have dinner, watch a movie, snooze a little bit and we are there. We don't have as much luck sleeping on daytime flights.

Our home base is Seattle and both SAS and BA have evening flights over the pole. It only takes about 9 hours from this coast that way.

I prefer the day flight if I am in economy because I cannot sleep sitting up.

We recently took the BA flight from Dulles to heathrow and it was great; there were fewer than 30 people in the entire Economy section so everyone had a lot of extra room and the service seemed even better than it normally does.

After we arrived (8:15 PM) we picked up a rental car, found the hotel, checked in and had a bite to eat and then went to bed.

No jet lag then or the next morning.

I'd GLADLY spend that extra night's lodging money (we did it through Priceline) than be miserable the next day.

Having done both, and having had problems w/jet lag in the past (flying from West Coast makes it even worse!), I "cheated" this time. We left here 7am, arrived at our hotel in Como around 3pm the next day (well, Italy's next day anyway!), ate dinner, took a walk, then took an Excedrin PM, slept like a baby, and woke up w/o a hangover, rarin' to go. I can't tolerate sleeping pills (e.g., Ambien), but the ibuprofen PMs don't have that awful underwater effect on me. Just a suggestion.

Do they need to fly out together? Because the couple from Springfield can fly out early morning to Chicago and catch the 9am AA to London. The couple from the East Coast will fly from JFK.

But if they need to fly together, then the couple from Springfield needs to stay over night in NYC - which is expensive, troublesome and time consuming.

Anyways, people who've tried the day flights tend to like them more than the red-eyes.

I agree with neoPatrick. We took our first morning flight to London last summer. It was great. Since we had been up early and been travelling all day, we had enough energy to get to the hotel and then take a swim (or walk) and then out for dinner. We were all in bed at a normal bedtime (London time). We didn't feel like we were going to bed early.

I will always take morning flights if possible. Unless we are pressed for time and want to leave right after work in the evening, to save a day.

The day after a nighttime flight is pretty much of a waste for me, though, so if you can function well with airplane sleep, maybe you won't feel the same.

Everything else being equal, it is probably better to take the morning flight and arrive at Heathrow in early evening...I'll tell you why and then explain why everything isn't alays equa..

Heathrow is a madhouse for the early morning arriving flights in Terminals 3 and 4...I've waited on the immigration queues there for 45 minutes to an hour...one time I flew in from Paris (terminal 2)early evening and the queue was perhaps 10 minutes....

Secondly boday wise you get to your hotel it's evening, have a bite to eat go to bed early and by the next morning, all the jet lag is basically gone and you're ready to go....HOWEVER...

If you're spending a couple of hundred dollars for a hotel room, it almost seems like a waste of that day's money as you would have done nothing that day....so that's the price you pay for comfort.

My only other problem with the day flight is what if it's delayed for a couple of hours for operational reasons and instead of arriving at Heathrow at 9 PM you arrive at midnight...the tube stops running at midnight and since I use the tube to get into London for a pittance, that means some how using a taxi whether from Heathrow or from Paddington with the Paddington Express and its high price to get to my hotel and not all hotels have 24 hour desks yada yada yada.

For those reasons, not necessarily for body comfort, I still go with the evening flight (as a matter of fact I try to take a flight around 2100 as I don't want to get in too early...there's a far better chance my hotel room is ready...the after 0930 tube rates on weekdays are cheaper if not getting a 7 day pass and I avoid the rush hours on the tube.

We took an 8:30am Virgin Atlantic flight to London from Newark; we flew to Newark the day before and stayed overnight at the airport Marriott. It was the best flight to Europe we have ever taken as we had no jet lag at all. I have been searching for other daytime flights to continental Europe, especially Amsterdam, but can only find ones to London. Does anyone know of any other airport options for daytime flights to Europe?

After reading these descriptions, I'm flying morning next time.

My friends I stay with in Europe tell me I am less of a zombie (less jet lag) when I fly over on a daytime flight instead of the red-eye (Seattle thru London to Geneva).

That's a good idea Pausanias, you won't regret it. Read a book, have a glass of wine and daydream about the delightful days to come.

I can second the speed of processing through Immigration with an evening arrival at Heathrow as well and there was little wait at the luggage
carousel (which may not be a function of time of day) and no wait at the hire car counter..and <b>the room was ready</b> when we got to the hotel, too!!!!

The only reason I've not taken the day flight is because I hate the day return flights (Europe to the states). The lights are on in the plane the whole time, people are awake and walking, talking, playing cards,kids walking the aisles, etc. The bathrooms are used constantly and get dirty really quickly. The flight seems interminable long.

On the overnight flights they dim the lights after dinner and all is quiet. Even if I don't sleep, most others do. I find the quiet relaxing enough to let me arrive pretty rested.

This has been very enlightening. Lots to consider. One of my concerns has been that of MelJ--the daytime return flights to the States are always so uncomfortable for me and I have more trouble with jet lag on the return. So, I was worried about creating the same problem going over--noisy, bright plane with more jet lag. I'm going to send all the replies along to my son and his wife--the East coast couple. Don't have to worry about the room being ready as it is a rented flat. Keep talking, guys...

I've only taken a morning flight once to London but it was great. I only did it then because I volunteered to be bumped with a free hotel, taxi, meals &amp; big voucher.

I don't have jetlag returning but it's pretty bad for me if I arrive in London in the AM. Luckily, I get the fast track with my upgraded seat but it takes me a couple days to get in synch &amp; occasionally the flat I rent isn't available until afternoon.

If I could sleep well in coach I would take the overnight flight for its greater time efficiency. Unfortunately I cannot sleep well in coach so I always take the daytimer from Toronto to London. In eight times doing this flight I have never had much trouble getting to sleep once in London.

It's been my goal to get a daytime flight, but I just never see them offered. I have checked on some of the routes mentioned here, and I did find one flight -- JFK - London, I think it was.

Does anyone know what the East Coast gateways with daytime flights to Italy or France are? I just can't seem to find them.

I live in Pittsburgh, so I would have to overnight there, but I wouldn't mind that as I'm thinking of doing that anyhow the next time I go overseas -- day or night.

&quot;Does anyone know what the East Coast gateways with daytime flights to Italy or France are? I just can't seem to find them&quot;

There are none.

I'm surprised by the overwhelming response in favor of flying during the day. What do you do with all that time? I can read for so long, watch mb one movie, and then...?

Pretend to sleep, as if I were on the red eye?

Pausanius: ditto here. Though by the time I get on the plane, I'm usually so exhausted from my pre-trip shtick, I actually DO sleep.

It's no problem. I look out the window. Eat. Read. Watch the movies if they appeal. Talk. Eat again. We are in London already!

Hi SC,

&lt;and then?&gt;

Drink Wine!!!

One of the other advantages of the day flight from US to London is that you have to get up early in the morning US time which helps your body adjust more quickly to the +5 hour time difference.

Similarly the advantage of an afternoon flight from London to the US is that it forces you to adjust to the US time more quickly - wake up late and then have a late night and you feel alright the next day.

However I do accept that you have to pay an additional night's lodging but for comfort it's the way to go from my experience.

<i>...spending a couple of hundred dollars for a hotel room, it almost seems like a waste of that day's money as you would have done nothing that day....
</i>

I think it would be worth it to wake up the next day rested and ready to spend the full day touring. On the red-eye, you'd still be &quot;inbound&quot;.

And regarding getting a full day's worth of work done if taking an evening flight -- well, maybe. But in all my working years, I don't recall actually doing a full day's work before getting to the airport (usually with a connector flight to get to the gateway airport). In fact the day of departure was pretty much a day wasted.

I suppose if you are planning to go to the nightclubs until 6:00 in the morning, it would be better to take a day flight to Europe.

I like the wine suggestion...

xyz123, Thanks. Darn. Guess that explains why I can't find them!

I wish I had the option of a day flight. We flew on FF tix and the only available (free) ticket was a 6:15pm flight from Toronto.

The flight was only 6.5 hours - not enough time nearly to settle in and try to get some sleep (and AirCanada was constantly feeding you - boy we are NOT used to that!)

And, leaving at 6:15pm, none of us were even tired enough to try to get some sleep.