Seeking advice for first time trans-atlantic flight: east coast to Europe, economy, overnight.
 

Some advice, please, for a person flying trans-atlantic for the first time, departing New York at 6:45 pm on United, and arriving London close to 7 a.m. the next morning. Economy.

Are there tricks to getting bumped up to the front?

Thank you.

No chance of getting business class seats. But United has "Economy Plus" seats in the front economy cabin that have 3-4 inches more legroom. Ask, ask and ask. That's your best chance.

..imovane, eye mask and soft ear plugs.

Drink plenty of water. Try to sleep. And otherwise, grin and bear it.

Despite the mis-spelling in the mmessage header of this thread - - http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34440288 - - there's a broad spectrum of perspectives and Q&A there.

Best wishes,

Rex

Hi horizon,

>Are there tricks to getting bumped up to the front?<

If there are, those who are long-time, experienced travelers aren't likely to share them with a tyro.

I drink a double bourbon washed down with a beer and go to sleep.

Alcohol is the worst thing on long flights, it dehydrates you. I just have a glass of champagne, and sometimes a wine with my meal, but never any spirits throughout. Lots of water is essential.

Here is what I do: Get on board, settle in with a good book or magazine until the dinner arrives and change my watch to europe time. Eat dinner. Immediately after dinner, go to the bathroom, go back to seat and take shoes off, don eyemask, earplugs and neck pillow, take xanax and SLEEP! Ususally I get anywere from 3-4 hours of sleep with this system. Then when I wake up and stretch out a bit they are usually coming around with the breakfast (they do this about 1.5 hours before landing) and I adjust myself to europe time. The land and have a blast!!

Ivy's got it down! My other suggestion is to make sure you have an eisle or window seat pre-assigned (whichever you prefer) but are not stuck in the middle of a row of 5 (or even 3) people.

Typically all planes are flying almost full and the first/business seats are the first to fill up - with either paying flyers or super-platinum FFs. The chance of an economy flyer being uprgraded is essentially nil.

I'm with Ivy too. Xanax makes me groggy when I wake up, so I take Ambien. It knocks me out cold and I wake up refreshed! My first trip to London from SFO...ate dinner, popped the pill and next thing I know...I'm there! I'm giggling to myself as I hear the woman behind me complaining about how long the flight was. I never noticed. Not even my cramped space.

You should be careful with sleeping tablets/solutions.

If in the unfortunate incident an emergency were to occur you would not be able to deal with it as efficiently as if you'd not taken any medication.

m_kingdom2
>Alcohol is the worst thing on long flights, it dehydrates you. I just have a glass of champagne, and sometimes a wine with my meal,.....<

Thereby avoiding alcohol?????

I'm with Ivy and spootiskerry. Perfect routine, and I take the Ambien, but it doesn't knock me out. It does allow me to sleep quite well for 4-5 hours. (On a "short" flight from the east coast to London, I'd take 5 mg of Ambien, and be sure to try it out at home to see how YOU react before you use it on a flight.)

Tricks to getting bumped up? Ha ha ha. Don't we all wish.

Just pity those of us coming from the west coast with all those extra hours on board.

(Glad to see you're still around, horizon!)

My reaction is/was similar to yours, ira...

<<Alcohol is the worst thing on long flights, it dehydrates you. I just have a glass of champagne, and sometimes a wine with my meal,.....>>

This reminds of this old "saying" - - I thought it was attributed to W.C. Fields, but Jack Paar credited it to Jackie Gleason...

Now, nobody minds a man having a morning eye-opener and it's okay to have a bracer around ten A.M. and a couple of drinks before lunch.

Or a few BEERS on a hot afternoon,
to keep a man HEALTHY or at least happy.

And of course, EVERYONE drinks at the cocktail hour, nor can a man be CRITICIZED for having wine with his dinner, a LIQUEUR afterwards and a HIGHBALL or two during the evening...

...but this damn business of sip, sip, sip ALL day long HAS GOT TO STOP."