Originally Posted by
celle
Well, all these answers (and the original question) have me totally confused!
If you want a flight that leaves after midnight - even if you leave your home on the Monday evening - that flight is really going to take place early on Tuesday morning and should therefore be listed as a Tuesday flight.
This is what I mean:
A flight departing at 5 minutes before midnight (11:55 PM) on Monday = a Monday flight.
A flight departing at 5 minutes after midnight (12:05 AM) Monday = a Tuesday flight, because the day starts at midnight.
The OP should have clarified exactly what was wanted - I'm still not sure if he wanted to leave his home airport on Sunday evening or Monday evening. In any case, it seems to me that the travel agent was correct, as the flight just after midnight would have been listed as departing on the following day.
I don't think the OP's question is all that confusing. It's not that the OP or others can't figure it out for themselves. The issue is that there is no industry standard. The OP states that different airlines list post-midnight red-eyes different ways and was inquiring as to whether there should be consistency across airlines/booking sites.
IMO, flights should only be listed on the calendar day they depart. If I'm checking out flights from XXX-YYY and I specifically want a red-eye, I can easily discern for myself whether I need to check departures on two different days. There are relatively few domestic routes where this is an issue.