FlyerTalk Forums - Flight length & sleep

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Disagree. I can't really sleep on flights; I may be able to doze off for an hour or so, but that's if I'm lucky. The more time I spend in the dry, cramped environment the more of a toll this takes on my body. 7 hours is better than 10 hours.

I"m a very light sleeper, so I rarely catch more than bits and pieces of very light sleep. That said, the shorter the flight, the better. I'll sleep in the hotel when I arrive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 747WanSui (Post 20816580)

I've recently been thinking about flight length in relation to sleep and fatigue/exhaustion. Here are a couple of example flights:

A flight from New York to London takes about 7 hours. If it departs at 11 pm New York time, it arrives at 11 am London time.

A flight from Rio de Janeiro to London takes about 11 hours. If it departs at 11 pm Rio time, it arrives at 2 pm London time.

Now, my mom and I have a disagreement as to which flight would leave one more exhausted. My mom thinks that since the quality of sleep in-flight is inferior to that in a regular residence, the shorter flight would allow her to get better quality sleep in a regular bed quicker than the longer flight. On the other hand, I tend to think that the shorter flight allows for less time to sleep, thereby making one more exhausted/fatigued upon arrival compared to the longer flight.

Who do you think has a stronger argument here?

So...the answer is it depends on the unique person and situation: what class of cabin the person is traveling in, and how well he or she sleeps in that cabin and on planes in general. Also depends on the particular airline and aircraft, as first and business cabins are not created equal.

TATLs from BOS/JFK are the worst, IMHO. I'd much rather fly through DFW and have time to get some decent sleep after a meal. I sleep just fine on longer TATLs, even in Y.

I never fly international F and I have only been in J once, but I think that this would especially be the case in those cabins. After all, wouldn't you want to get the most out of your F/J seat and service?

The early afternoon departures from the West Coast to Europe are also pretty bad. The earliest departure to Europe from LAX leaves at 2PM (KLM), which is too early to sleep. By the time you start to get tired it is only an hour or two to your destination which gets you in at around 9AM.

The most brutal ones are from East Coast Australia to the US. I leave and arrive on the same day, seeing the sun rise twice and then have to make a connection, so add at least 4-6 hours onto that. By the time I arrive at the final destination, I am totally wasted. Circa 24hrs of travel. Wow.