Originally Posted by
bennos
As various blogs (including
OMAAT, where I saw it posted first) are reporting, DL appears to be adding a new daytime flight from JFK to CDG starting next spring. I'm curious what the forum's thoughts are on this.
As much as I am a huge fan of the LHR daytime flights, I'm skeptical of this one for a few reasons...
- The 10pm arrival is very late, unless you're staying at the airport it's at least 11pm before you get to your destination in Paris.
- There will be a small number of useful regional connections possible on the JFK side (nobody is going to fly LAX-JFK-CDG when they could just go LAX-CDG on a longer redeye), and almost no useful connections on the CDG side (except maybe a few late long haul flights). But NYC-PAR doesn't seem to have the same level of O&D as NYC-LON (which otherwise has the same problem). OTOH, this is just one flight a day with 238 seats to server the entire market, whereas LON has four daytime JFK departures (AA, BA, B6, and VS) and two EWR departures (BA, UA).
- Apparently it has been tried various times in the past (including by TWA) but never stuck. In contrast, I can't remember a time when there hasn't been at least one NYC-LON option. (Indeed, DL had scheduled a later daytime flight to follow VS26 but pulled it when the pandemic hit.)
That's not to say I wouldn't use it myself if it made sense, probably NYC-CDG/overnight/CDG-XXX, but I'm not sure what would convince me to book it over a London routing given the longer flight time and the need to clear exit immigration on a landside overnight in Paris.
There has also been a daytime AC flight from YYZ>LHR which I took monthly for several years in the 90s. I was able to work productively on the plane all day then take the express train from LHR to my hotel near Paddington. I loved it as I fell asleep by 1-2am and got up at 9-10am with no jet lag. The only downside was no connections (my final destination was London) and very few dinner choices. But LHR immigration took 2 seconds and my hotel was always ready with no wait upon arrival.
Similarly a day flight to Paris would allow one to fall asleep by 2-3am and wake up around 10am with no jet lag. For someone who can’t sleep on planes and who prefers to work this is a home run.