What is the Definition of a 'Red Eye' Flight
 

I always though a red eye flight was a long overnight flight. Like SFO-JFK departing SFO in the evening and arriving JFK in the morning.

On Delta.dumb it list my flight ATL-CHS as a Red Eye. Departs 10:00 PM and arrives at 11:22 PM, a total block time of 1h22m with the usual flight time of 39 min.

I guess more best in class from the IT department. Or is it a red eye because I will have a couple of pos on the way?

Must be something dealing with departure times, likely before/after 1000p. Looking at LAX-JFK, the 930p departure (which arrives at 545a+1) is not listed as a redeye, but the 1130p departure (745a+1 arrival) is listed as a redeye.

Owly Birds
 

When I started flying the Big D in the 1980s, their schedule designated the last flight of the day from a given destination an "Owly Bird", where fares were discounted, and people holding full fare Y were automatically upgraded to F.

A redeye is a flight where, from SFO/LAX to JFK/ATL, there is no food or beverage service prior to landing so your eyes are red and bloodshot. :eek: :( :td:

Any flight that leaves during the night which you cannot sleep on. Upon arrival you are red eyed and bushy tailed to GET OFF THAT PLANE! :D

Per a DL GA, any flight that leave after 10 PM (no matter how long) is considered a Red Eye by DL

By that logic, I've flown a ton of redeye ATL-MIA (11pm to about 12:30 the next morning). :)

Probably bringing too much logic to this... yet... to me, a redeye is a flight that departs toward the end of one daily flight-cycle, and lands after the beginning of another daily flight cycle. At least under NW, daily flight cycles appear to have ended/started around 2-3am CST, and the nightly processing (including FF account updates) would happen around this time. IIRC, there were some LAX/LAS red-eyes that would depart as late as 1:30am CST, and other midwest/east-coast flights that would land as early as 3:30am CST. Flights that crossed that time-window I'd consider redeyes.

On the other hand, if you don't know the technical answer form the airline's ops department, I'd consider it like art... you'll know it when you see it. To me, it's a flight that's last-out on the west-side, and first-in on the east-side.

Flights from the US to Europe that arrive the following morning are also red-eye flights in my book.

Then what about Asia to US flights? They are very long, and if you are in C you will have enough time to sleep, but if you are in Y, you will be exhausted by the time you arrive.

According to Delta's website, red eye flights are between 9:00pm and 5:00am (found this on the section about unaccompanied minors where it says they cannot travel on red eye flights and then clarifies the time)

IT would be nice if DL put up a warning or something along those lines. I know most people on this board now what the last flight is, but it may help people when they buy a ticket and get stuck for the night somewhere.

They already have. It's called the global timetable and it takes about 10 seconds to find on the Delta website.

Why does DL's definition matter?

My personal definition of a red eye flight is one where my sleep pattern will be disrupted. Going SEA-AMS-CPT my sleep isn't normal on the "daytime" departure to CPT after the "daytime" departure to AMS.

When I first spotted the "red eye" alert on DL.com I wondered what the egg with a red spot was doing there. :rolleyes: