I often take a midnight flight from LAS -> YYZ. It gives me an extra full day in Vegas without having to pay for an extra night's hotel. I can usually get some sleep on the flight but I wouldn't really want to work the next day.

I still take them a lot. A couple of hours of sleep, even in Y, and a strong coffee upon arrival usually keeps me going strong until about 3 to 4pm. And I feel I've not wasted any time travelling. However, I'm definitely on the younger end of the age spectrum in this forum, so that might have something to do with it. :D

I hate them...

I'd much rather take the 4pm out of SFO, or a 5pm (heck even the 615p) out of YVR and arrive at midnight, get home and sleep in my own bed.

I've done redeye YYC-YYZ on a backbusting 321, it was pretty awful.

i stopped doing NA red-eyes a few yrs back. stay in LA/SFO, have a nice meal and catch a morning flight.

Also... why would AC make AC156 leave so early??

They could really delay it a bit more so the arrival is timed at 6:30 ish

I like the redeyes because it makes short trips more time efficient.


And I don't find A320s to be too bad. Definitely not $300 worse!

Because 162.

Both those transcon flights are hugely heavy with connections at YYZ and AC puts huge priority on them. Delays on these flights will cascade into many misconnects.

+1 ^ Huge USA connection between 8am-9am

I've trained myself early in my career to require only 4 hours of sleep to be fully functional again the next day, so I take those red eyes every two weeks. I love AC156 for connections to the US or YHZ/YYT from the west coast. For connections to Europe, I take the two early morning widebody flights from YVR.

Even AC146 or AC158/1164 work for me, too.

That's typically how things work for me too. If I have a project due in a month that requires 3.5 weeks of work, asking for 2 weeks off right now is not going to go over well.

If I ask for 2 weeks off in January, projects will be planned around that.

Because the aircraft has places to be :p

I've taken YEG-YYZ red eyes a few times, mainly when personal commitments require I be in Edmonton until the evening, but I need to be in YYZ or YUL in the morning. The flight is awful, but its nice to have the option when you need it. I know a lot of people use the red eye to connect to southern destinations in the winter. I tried that once to go to the Caribbean...It was a terrible way to start my holiday, so I've never done it since.

It never ceases to amaze me how many seats AC seems to sell on the red-eyes though. This past summer AC had 2 airbuses (321/320/319 mix) flying YEG-YYZ plus an A321 to YUL as red eyes every day. I think Westjet also had 2 YEG-YYZ red eyes too.

The one that always surprises me is YQR-YYZ seasonal red eye...Its shorter than YEG/YYZ-YYZ, and on an E175. I never understood why there would be demand (albeit E175 demand) for such a route, especially in the summer. Who would use that route, especially considering an early morning (ie. by 6am) flight can get you to YYZ by 10am?

You think 156 is bad, look at the Americans with their 21:00 red eyes from Hawaii - Mainland and
West coast - East Coast.
Some arrivals before 5:00.

The YEG-YYZ/YUL flights are in demand because of the number of people working in the oil patch who are from the East Coast. Yes, the oil slump has dampened the demand a bit, but on shift change days you would still see lots of them flying back (hint: scan the J cabin on these red eyes and you can quickly spot who is legitimately going to a business meeting and who is going home after a 8+ day shift).

I think you mean why 156 arrives so early? Cuz 10:30pm really isn't an "early" departure time. The early arrival at YYZ is good for people continuing eastbound or going to US. Also AC frequently use 156 as the inbound aircraft for 103 or 1173, which departs around 7.

However, I personally do prefer 162's schedule.