Flying on Christmas--Yes or No?
 

Planning our next trip to Paris (from U.S.)and I've been thinking about flying out on Christmas evening. But I'm torn:
- Flight more empty or fuller?
- Good crew flying or those who got "stuck" with it?
- Airport empty or full?

Have you done this? Your thoughts, please.

They allow planes to fly on Xmas Eve, when Santa Claus is making his rounds?

((I))

No, Ira, of course they don't allow flights on Christmas eve--don't want anyone getting in Santa's way!

I said Christmas EVENING, as in Christmas night (the 25th).

I have done a couple of domestic flights on Christmas Day and the flights were half full, but the attendants were treating it all like a big party. It was fun. The airports in question were almost deserted!

I once flew from Columbus, Ohio to Zurich on Christmas Day on an Alitalia Charter. It was great fun, but then it was a charter, so doesn't really answer your question.

Frankly I wouldn't hesitate to do it.

Oh, and we did fly to London on Christmas Eve, but we arrived early in the day so we weren't in Santa's way at all.

I am curious - did you find a greatly reduced fare for Christmas Day?

(in my best Robert DeNiro voice)
"Are you talking to me?"

The domestic flights WERE greatly reduced which is much of the reason we did them. And compared to the madness of flying a day or two before Christmas they were a joy.
That charter flight was part of an unbelievably low cost package for Ohio teachers for a week in Switzerland -- but it was eons ago.

This Christmas Day I will be flying back from Basel, Switzerland, leaving early a.m. so am not going to enjoy leaving our river ship cruise about 3 in the a.m. to get to the airport for the before 7 a.m. flight. BUT actually think it might be kind of neat. My husband and I flew on New Years eve to Spain once and midway over the Atlantic the pilot said HAPPY NEW YEAR. So I think a Christmas Day flight is going to be festive? Am planning on enjoying it. Halfpint

I flew Christmas Day a couple of years ago. Cheapest and fewer passengers. It was DTW to AMS. The only problem is that Michigan's blue law prohibits sale of alcohol on Christmas so I was a bit thirsty when I got on board. No alcohol can be sold from 9PM Dec 24 to 7AM Dec 26.

Thanks so much for the quick replies! NeoPatrick, I'll be flying out of Columbus, too.

Regrettably, I can't say I'm finding reduced rates. I'm also looking at late Feb and getting the same. But we're using miles and adding cash to fly Business on BA, so I'm not sure if that makes a difference.

We are traveling on Xmas Day from Seattle to Venice. I booked our flights today on Air France. The flight from Seattle to Paris was almost full except for Business Class.

Air France had the best itinerary:
Seattle to Paris
Paris to Venice
Total travel time: 12 hrs 25 minutes.

We are flying to England on Christmas Eve morning (which will get us there Christmas Eve). We did get a reduced fare, but will have to deal with all sorts of closures (transportation, restaurant, and markets). Traveling the weekend before, or even the day before, the cost was substantially higher, so we will learn to deal, lol.

you see, just when i think I'm beginning to get a handle on all you lovely people there across the pond, you come up with something like this.

>The only problem is that Michigan's blue law prohibits sale of alcohol on Christmas so I was a bit thirsty when I got on board. No alcohol can be sold from 9PM Dec 24 to 7AM Dec 26.<

WHAT? no alcohol over christmas?

what are you supposed to leave for santa - a coke?

regards, ann

I have a friend who lives in NYC, but flies to Detroit every year on Christmas day morning. (We are musicians, so we work on Christmas Eve, but take the holy day off). He says it's cheaper, easier, and less stressful. I know you are looking at evening flights, so it might be a little different. All I can say, is that I know I would do it, if I needed to fly somewhere around that time. Good luck.

You're planning on Paris and you didn't tell me??????????

I have flown many times on Christmas Day, returning home from Boston to Georgia. Both BOS and ATL were always crowded, with families heading for Disney. Yes, it was cheaper to fly that day. The crew seemed to be extra friendly on those flights because of Christmas joy.

This year, we are heading to Lisbon, leaving ATL on Christmas Eve and arriving on Christmas Day. Again, it was cheaper to fly on the 25th than a few days before.

Enjoy your trip.

annhig,

<i>what are you supposed to leave for santa - a coke?</i>
LOL, but I wasn't then.

I remember walking back to my hotel in Rome from Christmas midnight Mass with Pope JPII. Every bar was filled and was filling glasses with all sorts of the devil's potion, and it was good.

Actually Michigan's alcohol laws are not as ridiculously stupid as those in some other states. For example, it is a crime to bring a can of beer over the state line here, but in some states it is a full blown felony. Prosecution discretionary.

I've flown quite a few times on Christmas and my experience was always different from what many of you are reporting. Although Christmas Day is slower than the surrounding days, I found the airport to be very busy flights are not always empty.

The last time I flew Christmas Day I was going from Austin to DFW then on to London. I presumed the airport would be empty so I arrived 1.5 hours early instead of the recommended 2 hours. When I got to the AA desk, the line was HUGE!! I stood in line at the checkin counter for over an hour and by the time I made the front of the line, they told me it was too late and I had missed my flight. :-o (In those days there was no on-line checkin for overseas flights) But not to worry, another flight to DFW was leaving in an hour so I still made my connecting flight to London. The AA rep was very gracious and did not charge me any fees. Whew!!

The point of my story is not to presume it's always going to be slow on Christmas Day. I should have realized it was still the holiday season so the airport would be busy. Get to the airport at the recommended checkin time because it might not be the ghost town one would expect.

And no I did not get a discounted fare. :-(

In my experience, flying on any holiday is far less crowded and less hassle than flying a day or two before or after the holiday.

I've flown on Thanksgiving Day several times with no problems -- but would NEVER again fly the day before.

A few years back my wife and I flew FRA-PHL on Christmas day. (I realize this is going the other direction from you.) I was surprised as the flight was completely full. The airport was also quite busy. We brought a tin of small chocolate bars (think Hershey's minis) for the staff and everyone got a real kick out of it (especially the immigration people). Now the train to the airport was empty. I think there were us and 1 other person in the car (a double-decker German DB RE car for those who know what this means.) If the flights work out, I would say go for it. The only reservation I would have is going to Germany, in which Dec 26th is a holiday with most everything closed.

Paul

Here's our memorable Xmas evening travel:

We flew on BA BOS-LHR on Xmas Day 1998. Yes there was a big drop in fare, and we picked the 8pm flight out of a few flights that evening. 8-)

Boarded the plane and were delighted to see it 1/3 full. It was a 747. We were going to celebrate! ((B)) ((D)) ((G))

But ...

About 10 minutes before the plane was due to pull out, another BA 747 pulled in next to us - I saw it out of my window and found it strange - why pull in just before 8pm? I racked my mind :-? and realized something but hoped it wasn't true. Then the captain made a dreaded announcement that confirmed my fears: that plane that just pulled in was the earlier (6pm) flight to LHR and it developed engine trouble mid-air and had to turn back, and the passengers would be coming over to our flight! :-((

!@#$%^&amp;* out went our Xmas cheer thru the window!!! =;

We just sat there and watched while the passengers trickled in, grabbing any seat they could find. Their bags had to be unloaded from their plane and loaded onto ours. More fuel added. More catering added. When the last of the passengers were boarding the FAs had to search throughtout the plane for empty seats!

Finally, the full and heavy plane took off 2 1/2 hours late at 10:30pm - the plane was so heavy that it took so looonnng to take off the runway. =-O

We were so hungry and not happy (for not being able to have empty seats to scretch across) &gt;:O and our DS (aged 4 yo at the time) was fussy, uncomfortable and complaining - he was feeling a bit unwell (:|. Fortunately the flight was quick as it took just 5 hours and we arrived in LHR just over an hour late.

Unbeknownest to us, it was during that flight that our DS spread his nasty Xmas cheer ((G)) throughout the plane .... two days later spots appeared on his body and face ... chicken pox ~:&gt; ~:&gt; ~:&gt; !!! Ouchies :-&quot;

BlueSea that was hillarious.

I should watch what I laugh at, though.

We're flying ORD-LHR at 9:30am on 12/26. I imagine the airport will be a ZOO!

Blue Sea!!! That was JUST the morning laugh that I needed!!! HA! :-D

I hope we have better Christmas cheer than that!

We have flown Icelandic from BOS to GLA on Christmas Day, arriving Boxing Day morning. The flight was pretty ordinary in all respects, but IIRC, GLA was a lot quieter than ordinary because there was relatively little domestic traffic and some shops were closed.

ackislander: wow! We flew on Icelandair BOS-KEF-GLA this past March/April and it was an ideal route - better than LGW/LHR!!

Glad to have given you a chuckle! Hope your Xmas flight is more memorable than ours, seetheworld!

We fly domestic almost every year on Christmas day so we can celebrate with both sides of our family. It's really just the same as any other day. The airport seems pretty full, the flight is full, they almost always ask for voluntary bumps and the cost is no different than booking it on any other day.

The crew usually greets you with &quot;Merry Christmas&quot; instead of the usual &quot;hello&quot;. Everyone seems to be in a good mood, including the crew.

Hmmmm, BlueSea, I'm actually hoping that our flight will be LESS memorable than YOURS!! You know, wide open plane with no delays, etc. We shall see. :)

this is a little off topic, but you can track santa here:
http://www.noradsanta.org/en/default.php
so you can see if you will avoid him or not.

It's a lie. There's no Santa. I've flown over N. Pole and didn't see his house.

Now, all the kids can go cry now.

;)

he saw you coming from a mile off and hid - he won't let non believers see him ;)

Thanks for the input. I'm booking the tickets tonight CMH to CDG on BA departing 12/25. Merry Christmas to us!!!

And to us a good night!!

&quot;on the day&quot; holiday flying beats the heck out of &quot;near the day&quot; flying. Haven't done Christmas yet, but have flown New Year's eve (great, even landing at about 6PM, the flight and airport were calm, quiet and uncrowded) and FOurth of July (easy.)

As far as the flight crew, I flew with friends to Paris landing the day before Thanksgiving. We had brought a huge picnic to the aiport in NY and hadn't touched half of it, even on the plane. We gave all the unopened pates, cheeses, meat etc to the flight attendants, who were laying over through Thanksgiving. They were like winners on a quiz show, couldn't have been more appreciative. In fact, they gave us two quite nice bottles of French wine from the 1st class hold. so, if you have any doubts, tote along something seasonal to give your crew when you board - they'll surely appreciate it. (probably not fruit cake - I know I'm one of the few left who likes the stuff. But then, where do you get a good one anymore?)

Annhig--cookies and MILK, that's what we leave for Santa!

We had tickets to fly from BWI to SLC on Christmas Day several years ago (maybe 1999) on TWA, and they were having a &quot;sick-in.&quot; We sat in the airport in Baltimore for hours, waiting, hoping a plane would show up. The crowd (yes, there was quite a crowd, but not a full plane, I think) gradually wandered away. I made my husband stay--after all, we had two married sons waiting to &quot;have Christmas&quot; with us in SLC. Finally, we were told to go home and come back the next morning. What a horribly disappointing way to spend Christmas!

This year we are having the entire family travel from the U.S. to Rome on Christmas day. 3 of us leave from Orlando about noon. 1 leaves from Denver. 5 leaving from JFK at night. It should be interesting.

The best part is that my 19 year old son will get the joy of a 16 hour layover in Toronto on the way back. I've been waivering as to whether I should tell him about possibly getting a stand-by on an earlier flight. However, his sister has told me that I can't do that, he needs the punishment for all the things he did to her when they were little. :-)

So, Dave, this will be the last Christmas your son spends with the family? ;)

We flew from LA to Paris on Christmas Eve in 2001. It was with Air France, and one of the crew dressed as Santa Claus, and then we shared champagne, wished each other a Happy Christmas. The flight was full, but somehow it was much warmer flight, as we greeted each other, began conversation and the mood was of a merriment. I am not sure if all the airlines do that, but I thought the crew shared the joy and went the extra mile to make us feel happier. Hope you enjoy your flight as much as we did.