I think it's a matter of how much jet-lag affects you.
Me -tons and do the LHR-JFK-LHR trip sometimes, shortest stay was 3 days and a red-eye home, absolute jaw aching jet lag for as many days (I've been know to be called a 'woose' and lightweight sometimes )
I now get the 8.30am BA178 back, I find having a compressed day a lot easier, getting in at 8.30pm to LHR means by the time I'm home I can reasonably go to sleep until the morning -very little and sometimes no jet lag doing this.
I'm sure others will disagree - I can never sleep on board (in Y) so daytime suits me better.
If you are in WT+,J or F you might fare better on the red eye.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by annonymousposter
Was wondering if the Tuesday morning flight from NY arriving in London that evening is any better?
Also, with such a short stay in NY I really don't want my bodyclock to deviate too far from UK time!
This is the biggest single advantage of the morning flights out of New York. If you have short final night in New York, lay off the alcohol on the flight, try not to snooze (or keep it short), then you'll hopefully be whacked out by the time you get home to Britain, and soon off in the land of nod.
I can sleep well in CW (plenty of practice!) but even so I think it's the best way to fly back across the Atlantic and I try to select these services. I would almost, almost, go so far to say that I'd fly AA on day flights back if BA was full up, yet my perception is that these flights are not generally popular with infrequent flyers.
Everyone has their own way of dealing with this. On a trip like that, I'd get up late, stay up late (NY) then sleep normally before the working day or 2. Eat as early as possible in the lounge before departure but get the latest 747flight possible on the upper deck, currently BA114 I believe. Don't forget the alcphol in the JFK lounge so you sleep the whole flight back. Have breakfast in T5 arrivals, forget the crappy on-board offering and off to work by 10:30. Works for me, but as I said, everyone has their own routine.
I will echo the others. I now have to compress my journey into two days. I take the first flight out on Mondays which get me into the office at lunchtime. I then get an afternoon of meetings and take the team out for drinks that evening. Bail out early and in bed by 11. Six hours sleep then back to JFK for the daylight home.
Never get jetlag this way.
The other upside of this is that you get the same crew on the way out as the way back, so it's a nice conversation point.
I think it's a matter of how much jet-lag affects you.
Me -tons and do the LHR-JFK-LHR trip sometimes, shortest stay was 3 days and a red-eye home, absolute jaw aching jet lag for as many days (I've been know to be called a 'woose' and lightweight sometimes )
I now get the 8.30am BA178 back, I find having a compressed day a lot easier, getting in at 8.30pm to LHR means by the time I'm home I can reasonably go to sleep until the morning -very little and sometimes no jet lag doing this.
I'm sure others will disagree - I can never sleep on board (in Y) so daytime suits me better.
If you are in WT+,J or F you might fare better on the red eye.
I'd agree, whatever cabin, I'd prefer to use the BA178 day flight. That said BA have been VERY aggressive in pricing premium cabins on this flight this year (even though, sometimes, the result is they can be empty).
I have found very good alternatives on the AA142 from JFK, or VS26 from JFK (new A330-300 is bonus over a clapped out 747, on that one too). Out of Newark, both United and Virgin also have day flights, where the cost savings vs. BA will more than pay for car service out there.
if you do an overnight, and are in Club, I avoid the 747s. The Upper Deck space is lovely, but cabisn get way too hot. The late BA182 - operated by the 777-300 (at least recently, but check) tends to be a lot cooler (better for sleeping) - and being a new plane, tends to be less filthy inside.
On London to New York, the simple rule is to sleep. That way you'll be able to enjoy a decent (if not full) night out in NY. Try and get a window seat, that way you can shut the window blinds and sleep.
If you have not booked already, be careful which flight you choose. After 4/5pm arrivals can bunch-up and see big queues for INS. BA's terminal can also run out of gate space. The earlier Iberia flight always seems to leave JFK late, meanign inbound BAs often have to wait until the gates become free. The BA177 tends to work quite well for avoiding these issues.
In fact, if you do nothing else, avoid anything that lands near the same time as Iberia.
If you are booking CW, I'd use the BA001 unless you have Global Entry - which renders the INS issue obselete.
Lots of people swear by the day flights. However, I find it very difficult to get to sleep after them, and I then struggle to get up the next day -- and this lasts a while. Like Tafflyer I prefer to take a late-night departure from JFK and arrive back in the UK mid-morning -- but that's no good if you need to be in work early.
I generally do NYC for 2 days as a weekend trip rather than work but I have always taken the BA3 or BA1 outbound on Friday then forced myself to stay awake, wander about a bit in New York, have drinks and perhaps a light dinner. I generally sleep OK on night 1 then spend a full day of leisure with maybe a gym session thrown in.
Stay up late on Saturday night with dinner and drinks, lie in Sunday morning a nice Sunday brunch (lots of drinks) late checkout at bout 16:00 or later then off to get the return flight. I prefer the BA4 rather than the BA2 since by the time it departs I feel more sleepy (especially after a few drinks and perhaps dinner in the lounge at JFK). I then change straight into PJ's and typically sleep 6+ hours on the return. I stop off for a qucik shower and change at home before moving in to work for a full day.
I think a slightly modified version of this itinerary and approach would work well if travelling for work purposes too. The key thing for me about the JFK-LCY service on the way back is that it takes a bit longer so you get a more satisfactory sleep.
I do LON>NYC approx every 6 weeks, and hate the short overnight flights back. If you can spare "losing" a day, then I would suggest the day flight. I take this wherever possible workload permitting as I land, drive home and go to bed.
I don't get the luxury of a premium cabin with my employer (unless BA u/g me!) so they day flight makes it all the more bearable. Sadly, my schedule doesn't often allow this to happen.
The only caveat with the day flight back to London is how early you'll need to get up (local time) to get to the airport. My solution to this (when I was a student) was to stay up late in a bar somewhere, take the subway to JFK in the middle of the night, and get a couple of hours kip on a bench once I'd checked in.
It wasn't much fun. Not sure that I'd recommend it as a way to combat jet lag.
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