After midnight arrival (such as 2AM) transcons -- Why? Who?
 

I thought this was a weird flight, 6 pm pacfic take off from LAX to land at 2 am. There was not the normal redeye option for 10 or 11 pm.

This is a brutal time to land, home around 3 am, and I didn't even realize Dulles was operational with the train system at that time.

Has anyone taken this flight?

There is also a SFO-BOS flight getting in around 2h00-ish.
And AA flies LAX-BOS arriving at a similar time.
I guess some folks jump on it, if the price & schedule fits them.
Agree, it's a bit unusual, though.

I love flights like that. Similar flights include some 730pm flights from LAX and SFO into ORD. I would rather take that flight, land at 2am then land at 5am. At least at 2am, I can sleep in my bed, wake up around 8 and be ready for the day. The older I get, the red eyes landing at 5am are becoming harder on my body, as with that time, I can't sleep.

i've done it before. not fun, but you maximize your time in LA before heading to DC. so there is a need for it.

Not sure I follow. How would a 6pm departure "maximize your time in LA" over a traditional redeye leaving several hours later?

Maximize your time in LA while still getting to sleep in your own bed instead of UA's torture thrones.

IAD is functional at that time but only barely. I was on a very delayed flight LAX-IAD that was supposed to get in at 10pm but wound up arriving at 2 am. Baggage took 45 minutes; taxi line was long and few taxis.

Easy, if you get done at 4pm, you don't need to hang out until midnight. You get home at 2am, sleep in your own bed. Landing at 5am makes me a zombie that day.

I don't see any sense in this flight time. Say your lucky to get into your own bed by 3.30 and have to get up a few hours later? Your still going to be a zombie.

Not really. If you go to sleep at 3 and get 4 hours of sleep, you will be fine. If you come home at 6am, are you going to sleep?

Everyone's body is different. I'll take a west coast flight landing at 2am any day over landing at 5-7am.

I hope UA continues these flights.

If the aircraft has domestic F, I agree 100%. I'd rather stay awake in that seat until 2 or 3 a.m. and sleep for a few hours at home versus spending a miserably sleepless night in a domestic F recliner.

If the aircraft has lie-flats, the red-eye becomes a more reasonable option.

The plane could be one giant bed and it's still a brutal redeye to take. With a decent tail wind that flight provides 4 hours of sleep at best so I know I'm going to be tired no matter what.

I've flown back and forth from LAX and SFO a decent amount and have never noticed this 6 pm flight so was surprised it was actually an option.

With Wifi I now prefer to take the early morning flight and be 'online' all day and then get a full amount of sleep at night. That's not an option for this trip.

because finishing the work day in LA and waiting around until 11pm is not maximizing your time. this way you can still get some sleep in your bed before going into work as opposed to going straight to work after a redeye.

and the trains do run, just not very often.

You may not, but it is typically sold out in paid F (or at least paid First Class) with a lot of business travelers grousing about being GS and sitting in steerage.

The flight lets you work until 4:00 PM in LA, get a few hours at home and have a full day in DC.

If you have a tough schedule on both ends and many do, it is well worth it even if you only get 3 hours or so of sleep.

A couple of suggestions:

1. Do not check luggage (takes forever at IAD at that time)
2. Book a car service (taxis are few and lines can be long)

I have taken this flight twice in the last couple weeks.

The ability to sleep for a couple hours on the flight, land and be home by 3am and sleep another 4-5 hours was an easy one.

I liked it and use it as long at it stays on the schedule.

Plus then UA doesn't have to pay the airport RON fees, which probably isn't cheap in LAX.