1st time red eye flier
 

I am comtemplating a red eye flight home from San Francisco - I only have 6 days and if I travel home on a regular day flight, I will waste one entire day (tuesday). I am hesitant about a red eye as have never done one - in fact have not done a flight over 3 hrs in length in many many years. I'd appreciate any tips as far as is this a good option for flying home from west coast to east coast (NC). Will I be able to function the next day? go to work? The flight leaves at 10:30pm and arrives home 6:30am.

Everyone is different, but I don't sleep well on planes and I could never go to work after a red eye.

Sleep on a plane? In my dreams--I did a HK--Singapore--Narita--LAX--NYC once, and STARTED in the late p.m. Never got a wink. (I never thought I'd beat the trip from hell: Kotzebue--Anchorage--Seattle--Denver--Chicago--ATlanta--Buffalo, but that was way worse. If you can take a pill and sleep, that would be a help. But don't promise anybody that you'll be there for a meeting...

Hi jtdsign, I have taken many redeye flights and while I can function the next day as far a socializing or just sightseeing I don't think I would be able to work (unless I could be in a bit of a daze all day lol) as I don't sleep that well on planes either.

I took a red eye from San Francisco to Philadelphia and did not really sleep but my husband did. I had to take a 2 hour nap when I got home to take the edge off; my husband went to bed early.
It is defintley worht the incovenience because you get another day; I guess it depends what you have to do the next day!

thanks for the tips - I think I'll take the day off just in case. Any other tips for flying all night?

I have a hard time sleeping on planes but if I HAVE to take a red eye and I know I will have a busy day when I land Tylenol PM really works. I only take 2 and do not have any alcohol - just a big glass of water - and before I know it I am relaxed and sleepy enough to catch a few zzzzs

My husband once took a red-eye from SFO to Indianapolis. I got him bumped up to 1st class so that he could sleep (he had to work the next day) - however, he was seated next to a BLIND GUY that LOVED SCOTCH....and didn't want to drink alone!

The guy was interesting enough, he was an author from a town that my husband had an office in, but he couldn't see when my husband was nodding off...instead he just kept yap-yap-yapping!

My husband ended up with a hangover when they reached indy - he had to take a nap in his car still parked at the airport parking lot! He was afraid he'd get a drunk driving ticket if he drove home! He called his office and told his assistant that he forgot about a dentist appt and ended up going to work "after lunch".

I have taken MANY Red-eye flights and truly HATE, HATE, HATE them!
If I have to sit in coach, I try to get bulkhead so I can prop my legs up. I also try for a window seat so I can lean against the wall.
Must have a pillow, blanket, comfy clothes and clean socks too.
The last few red-eye flights I have taken, I flew in 1st. MUCH BETTER!
Tylenol PM is handy to have... for me, sleeping pills are reserved for flights of 8+ hours.

The shortest flight I ever took was from LA to ATL. I fell asleep before take-off and woke up just before landing. I can sleep anywhere.

Having said that, I would not be able to function at work the next day - especially after being gone for a week. I now fly home a day early in order to be rested and ready for work.

I don't mind red-eyes so much if I'm headed on vacation, but definitely not if I have to be in at work the next morning. Unless it was going to be an eeaaasy day at work and I would get "points" for being such a dedicated employee ;)

I hate to say it but some Docs will prescribe something if you ask and explain why you wnat something to make you sleep.

General advice:

- take a nap the afternoon of departure if possible.

- dress warmly as the cabin can be chilly at night.

- try to get an aisle seat so you can go to the john or the galley to get a drink without disturbing others.


- be hydrated and have some food in you stomach before boarding...food service is not common during the flight until a breakfast snack before landing. Cabin lights are dimmed once at a cruising altitude so people can sleep. Take a snack in your carry on.

- grab a pillow and blanket, if available, as soon as you board.

- take something to read or music to listen to.


I define a "red eye" as a flight that departs from about midnight until about 2:30 a.m. Long-haul overnight flights leaving late afternoon into the evening are not what I would call a red-eye. How do others define it?

I take them often because they allow me to work a full day, do last minute errands and then go to the airport. They come in handy at holidays when you just have a long weekend and have to travel a long way. Not being able to sleep soundly on planes, I tend to look upon it as "pulling an all-nighter" and get by fine -- catching a few catnaps during the flight. If I have a window seat and can't sleep, looking out the window as all the lit-up towns and cities drift by below is interesting.

I have also download some relaxing type music on my I-pod to listen to. Things to actually help sleep.

If you can just take the day off the next day, why don't you fly on that day (during the day)? Sleeping on the plane is only an option for me in first class on Qantas's "sky bed" with a sleeping pill. Otherwise, forget it! Jet lag from changing time zones is enough of a problem, without lack of sleep on top of it.
Sally (usually found over on the Australian forum, but "hi" to all here)

I have a lot of trouble sleeping on planes, but I tried using a sleep mask the last time I flew home from Europe and it really helped. I knew there had to be a good reason they always give them out.

My experiences with red eye flights has been that absolutely nothing is gained. The illusion of gaining an extra day is just that - an illusion, particularly going west to east, where your "day" automatically loses three hours due to time zone changes.

I have traveled on similar five-hour flights (from Seattle to Orlando) and am lucky if I can get two hours of sleep. In addition, you are forced to get up, deplane and begin your day at something like 4 A.M. (7 A.M. eastern time. It is a real double whammy that takes at least 1/2 day for recovery, if you are lucky enough to go right to bed. Otherwise, don't plan on being productive the entire day of arrival or particularly cheerful around others.

Flying east to west just means that your day is three hours longer and that you will want to go to bed earlier. The impact on you is much less difficult.

The tips for sleeping that others have given are all good - particularly the Tylenol PM. The active ingredient in the Tylenol PM that promotes sleep is Benedryl (generic: diphenhydramine) and one or two, 25-mg tablets should help. <u>Be careful about drinking alcohol with this as it will potentiate (increase) the effect.</u>

I would never take a red eye just to get back east (i'm in seattle). The only time I suck it up and do one is to go to Europe.

I can't sleep on a plane, there is no medication that can make me, I certainly could never go to work the next day. Basically think of it as &quot;pulling an all-nighter&quot; like in college.

If you are going to take an extra day off from work anyway, to recover, why not just fly during the day?????

For those recommending benedryl or Tylenol PM and the like, please realize that some people have a terrible reaction to that particular drug. It makes me VERY wide awake and WIRED. It would be awful on a plane.

I once took the red-eye, SF to Newark. It's really not all that long--4.5 hours--not really a full night. We had upgraded to first class and had those amazing seats that flatten to beds and offer incredible support to all parts of your body. I can never really sleep on a plane, but I finally managed to sleep on this flight--for about an hour. When I got home to Manhattan at 8AM I went to bed for another four hours. I don't think I would have been very alert at work. I could have gone to work, but it wouldn't have been very productive.

Suze-
You raise a good point about some people having a paradoxical reaction to benedryl or Tylenol PM. My wife is such a person.

However, benedryl is available OTC while Xanax requires a prescription and is not available to all. Also, it can become habit-forming.

suze, I thought I might be the only one that has that reaction to Tylenol PM. If I take one, I wake up around 4AM just absolutely buzzing. It is very uncomfortable so of course I don't take them anymore.

I took a red eye only once, and came home and slept for 4 hours, and I was fine. From the west coast if I were to take a daytime flight I would arrive late in the afternoon or evening so I did feel that I gained some productive time at home.

Simply Sleep is Tylenol PM without the Tylenol. Same company and same reaction, but without the pain killer. The rec. dosage is 2, but I find that just one does the trick, and allows me to sleep fairly soundly. These are OTC and in my experience, not habit forming.

They do allow me to get a few hours sleep on the long west to east night flight to Europe and start off my first day at decent speed.

Hard to tell if you'll be able to sleep, if you've never done a red eye. I can sleep anywhere, so for me a red eye is totally fine.

HOWEVER....you got some good tips here. I have ahd terrible trouble sleeping on flights where there was a screaming baby. Not knocking babies, it's just that that will keep you up unless you take some of the medications suggested.

I've actually gotten accustomed to redeyes as I often have to take them for work and head straight to work once the plane lands, i.e. work a day on the east coast USA, get the 6:30PM redeye to Europe for work in the morning. The thing I like is there are few children and mostly businesspeople, not a bunch of rowdy drunken firemen on their way to Vegas or Myrtle Beach (been there). In order to sleep I make sure I don't nap during the day (if it's a day off) and on the day I land, force myself to stay up the whole day and not crash right after work and sleep 12 hours straight or wake up wide wake at 3AM, basically try and stay on a normal schedule even with the time zone change.

I use red eyes a lot from the West Coat to the East Coast as I prefer them to loosing the whole day to a day flight.

However, I have two factors that really allow this to work well for me:

- I can sleep on planes (for that matter I could sleep standing up in a corner). If you can't sleep on planes you may have a problem with the red eye.

- I don't sleep much in general (5 hours a night). I usually get about 3-4 hours of sleep on a red eye as I'm awake for take off and landing.

Note that most prescription sleep aids are designed for longer periods of sleep than are an option even if you sleep &quot;gate to gate&quot;.

If you don't easily sleep on planes and don't function well on a short nights sleep, a red eye could really wipe you out.

DH and I were bi-coastal for almost six years. I would take the red-eye, SFO to EWR about every six weeks. I brought my own &quot;squishy&quot; pillow, batik sarong (blanket), ear plugs, propped my feet up on my tote bag (after proper stowage for take-off), popped a tylenol PM and zzzzzz out. I did find a short nap (on the train from ewr to New Brunswick) had me ready to go for the day.

Wear eyeshades. They make a big difference, imo.

My advice on a 6:30 am arrival is to take a 90 minute nap from maybe 9:30am to 11. Anything longer than 90 mins and you will not be able to get to sleep later that night, your whole schedule may be off for days. Anything less than 90 min and you'll be groggy all day. 90 min is just enough to keep you coherent for the day yet good and tired enough later that night to fall into a good sleep &amp; get back on track.

So, if you can arrive at work late that day, maybe noon...I'd say try it. Otherwise you're getting an extra day of vacation, yes, but basically losing a day when you get back and also maybe finding it hard to get re-clocked for the next 2 or 3 days.

I once did a red eye flight from Honolulu to Newark. It was the only non-stop available on that route, so we used miles and money to upgrade to First Class.

I slept sporadically (about 3-4 hours total) because the First Class chairs did not recline completely flat. It still is not as good as a good nights sleep in a bed.

Will you be able to function the next day?? That depends on YOU. How much sleep do you need?? With the time difference, you're only going to get about 4-5 hours of sleep. Can you function on that?? Only you can answer that. I know I probably could. But everybody is different. Sometimes you just can't go to sleep on a plane even if it's a red eye. Just hope and pray that you don't end up sitting by some darn noisy kid(s) or some inconsiderate adult that insists on talking during most of the flight!

I have done it for just the reason you are--preserving vacation time. You need to remember that 3 hours of that flight is &quot;non-existent&quot;--time change. So re-set your watch when you get to the airport and realize it is 1AM when you board. Get thee to sleep as best you can. Taking a half a Benadryl might help you to sleep.

Thanks to all the great suggestions! We decided to go for it - and will plan on taking a short nap once we get home. I will hope for a quiet flight and no babies!

I'm sorry, I must repost because I was WRONG. I just did a red eye from ORD to CDG on American Airlines. it was my first flight on American after avoiding them for the last 10 years. Although the service was better, the seats are still crampy. OK, I'm overweight but not huge. This is the only plane whose armrests graze my a$$ as I try to slide into the seat. &quot;Try&quot; because the distance between seats is so close. Forget sleeping on an American Airlines flight, with or without drugs. ugh.

I have done several red eyes and I don't sleep a wink. My husband on the other hand sleeps like baby.
We flew all night from Hawaii and he slept the entire flight just after the little meal.
I watched all the movies. You may want to try a tylenol pm one night before your trip. I never tried them. But I would try it out before I left. Good luck

I've done many red eyes and hate em, but it does give you another day if you don'y have to be too awake.
Eye mask, ear plugs and ambien are a must. The other type of sleep aids give me a sleep hang over that is worse then just being sleepy.
I'll be on a red eye on my way back from HI.

I wouldn't have a problem with the flight and being awake the next day, but I would have a problem with being a &quot;productive employee&quot; because I'm always so excited after my trips. I need a few days to just come down from the high before I can settle into boring work again.

Night flights are my favorite preference because it is not so bright, often quiet and restful. I plan ahead for the time change and begin to adjust my sleeping before I leave. I never worry if I sleep onboard or not, simply relax and rest. Arriving, I try to stay awake to sleep at the best time for my visit and plans. I too take Benadryl or the motion sickness pill, it always puts me to sleep with out waking grogy. I can't remember babies, but there must be.

If you take a red eye flight, the only way severe fatigue does not set in is if you take a nap both before and during your flight.

I have done plenty of red-eye flights, and red-eye-ish flights....some arriving at 9:30am the next day, after starting my journey at 4pm the previous day, some flights at 7pm, and arriving at 10am the next day.

I found the flight that was the hardest, weirdly, was the night flight, and primarilly because I woke up at my normal time during the day and did not take a nap during the day, or sleep much during my flight.

Hi jtdsign, I do this all the time, and let me tell you it's exhausting! I would only recommend this flight if you are working a half day the day of arrival, or have the stamina to stay up for 24+ hours since by the time you arrive home, it's really &quot;only&quot; 3:30 am for your recently adjusted body clock. That is, if I read your post correctly, you mean to go to work right off your flight. Which I have also done quite a few times.

If you can, I would recommend &quot;wasting&quot; a day. Take a 4pm flight so you can get home by midnight or so. That's what I did on my last trip, and what I'll be doing on my next flights home from CA. :)