Red Eyes: Love em, hate em, or just necessary?
#61
Suspended
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 789
By and large I hat them as I do not sleep and get off the plane exhausted, jet lagged and edgy. The only red eyes that I have taken were nit too bad were flights to South America where they were sleeper seats and I was fortunate to be in first, the flight was long enough to sleep and there was only 1-2 hours time difference and alstly they leave at a time you are ready to sleep. I always take daylight flight from JFK to LHR as it has all the wrong cobditions for sleep.
#62
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA
Programs: Southwest Rapid Rewards, COPA Connectmiles, numerous others
Posts: 6
Just looked at fares from ATL to MNL.. thought that would save me money.. wrong.. was surprised to learn that there's a nonstop from Atlanta to Tokyo though.,

#63
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Join Date: Jul 2008
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My recent examples:
SEA-IAH: the 10 pm departure on AS was like $110. Wound up with a full 3 seats to myself in Y to stretch out and sleep. Went home and showered and then to the office.
a flight in a couple weeks, I could spend like ~18k SW points for the flight from LGA-HOU on a Sunday at 5pm. Or... 8k for the 6 am flight the next day. I'll do that and Airbnb it for Sunday night and will still be at the office by probably 10.
#65
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: New York, New York
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Posts: 4,680
I avoid them on transcons. Can't avoid them when flying NYC-Europe, so have to suck it up. Even in J, these flights leave me groggy the following day.
#66
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Location: SEA (the REAL Washington); occasionally in the other Washington (DCA area)
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I'm doing JFK-LAX tonight: 2100EDT departure, 0015PDT (0315 body time) arrival, and I have to be reasonably functional ~0830PDT for a meeting ... hoping to get a minimum of 3 hrs sleep on the jet (4 would of course be better, and the flat-bed will certainly help too), so limited food and no more than two Woodfords ...
UPDATE
the jet on our gate -- that was scheduled to push 5 min before our arrival -- actually left ~15 min late ... of course this was after we touched down 40 min ahead of our scheduled arrival
it is now 0345EDT and we are just turning from the taxiway into the alley
I did get a solid 4 hours of sleep though
UPDATE UPDATE
it's a tow-in gate
UPDATE

it is now 0345EDT and we are just turning from the taxiway into the alley
I did get a solid 4 hours of sleep though
UPDATE UPDATE

Last edited by jrl767; May 5, 17 at 1:50 am
#67
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Other departments are a lot less generous and force their employees to take all sorts of strange routings and shenanigans, just to save a few bucks.
Guess which department has the lowest turnover and most productivity?
#68
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: SJC/SFO
Programs: WN A+ CP, UA 1MM/*A Gold, Mar LT Tit, IHG Plat, HH Dia
Posts: 6,050
Even within a company, I have seen the extremes. My department SVP is adamant that no employeee should be forced to take a connection, no employee should be forced to take a Redeye, no employee shall be forced to fly a 6am flight, no employee shall be forced to travel more nights than necessary to save on airfare, and while we have to book our class of service authorized, we are welcome to pay the difference to premium cabins if we choose to. And of course, all miles are ours to keep.
Other departments are a lot less generous and force their employees to take all sorts of strange routings and shenanigans, just to save a few bucks.
Guess which department has the lowest turnover and most productivity?
Other departments are a lot less generous and force their employees to take all sorts of strange routings and shenanigans, just to save a few bucks.
Guess which department has the lowest turnover and most productivity?
#69
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Some hole
Posts: 2,783
I usually do CX's red-eye flights from JFK-YVR-HKG.
CX 889 Westbound JFK-HKG-YVR - I love it. Leave around 2200, arrive in YVR 0030, leave YVR 0200, arrive into HKG 0615. Little jetlag which is great so I get to sleep at a almost a regular time. Sucks if terminating in YVR from JFK. I don't mind the landing in YVR for an hour either.
CX 888 Eastbound HKG-YVR-JFK - I hate it. Leave around 0030, arrive in YVR 2120, leave YVR 2250, arrive into JFK 0700. My body is a mess when landing in JFK.
I dunno, my body prefers westbound red-eyes compared to eastbound ones.
CX 889 Westbound JFK-HKG-YVR - I love it. Leave around 2200, arrive in YVR 0030, leave YVR 0200, arrive into HKG 0615. Little jetlag which is great so I get to sleep at a almost a regular time. Sucks if terminating in YVR from JFK. I don't mind the landing in YVR for an hour either.
CX 888 Eastbound HKG-YVR-JFK - I hate it. Leave around 0030, arrive in YVR 2120, leave YVR 2250, arrive into JFK 0700. My body is a mess when landing in JFK.
I dunno, my body prefers westbound red-eyes compared to eastbound ones.
#70
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: ATL
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 49
Love 'em - whether in F or Y, though obviously F helps. Gives you more time at your destination or gets you home to loved ones quicker.
Key always for me is to find the longest overnight leg, e.g. LAX-ATL go via SFO not ORD to get an extra hour sleep.
Worst red-eye - DEN-ORD arriving 0200 - and then a 0600 ORD-ATL.
Key always for me is to find the longest overnight leg, e.g. LAX-ATL go via SFO not ORD to get an extra hour sleep.
Worst red-eye - DEN-ORD arriving 0200 - and then a 0600 ORD-ATL.
#71
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They're a necessary evil for me. I'll end up on at least one or two a year mainly when I want to spend extra time in California or Arizona. If I take one on a Sunday then Monday is rough but by Tuesday I don't care any more and I'm glad I had my trip.
#73
#74
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Auckland NZ
Programs: NZ Gold, AS, AC, QF
Posts: 696
For me to sleep on a flight it needs to be at least 9 hours long. So I will not do a North American transcontinental red-eye ever again. Horrible. In fact, I found a lot of the overnights NYC-Europe (especially Ireland and the UK) equally poor for sleeping.