If I can, I always prefer to fly very first thing in the morning, for several reasons. First of all, I’m very much a morning person, so taking a 6am or 7am flight isn’t a huge deal for me. Second, it maximizes the amount of time I’ll have to unwind for the day whenever I touch down, be it home or at a vacation destination (or, God forbid, traveling for work). Third, my experience has been that early morning flights tend to be a bit less turbulent, and I’m one of those wackos who really doesn’t like turbulence. And lastly, the first flight of the day tends to always be on time.
However, for scheduling and monetary reasons, this Friday I will find myself on my first ever red-eye flight. I have no idea how this will go. As I pointed out, I’m a morning person, so catching a 10:30pm flight after a long day and week at work seems like the perfect opportunity to knock out, right? However, I’m not the best flyer in the world, AND I’ve never, ever manged to fall asleep on a plane for longer than five minutes. Given that I’ll be landing at 5:45am EST (2:45am by my body’s clock), I am really fascinated to see how I end up manging once I de-plane. Should be interesting.
So anyway, that’s my long way of asking all y’all: when do you prefer to fly?
Coincidentally, I was just shopping for airline tickets.
I am not a morning person. I don’t like to do things in general in the morning and catching a flight is especially low on my list because of how the airports want you to show up early and sit around waiting.
So I prefer a departure time around noon with a late afternoon/early evening arrival time.
If I’m going flying, 1000. That gives me time for coffee and a nosh, a shower, and I don’t have to get up too early. On landing, perfect time for lunch.
Flying commercially, I’m on someone else’s schedule. It really doesn’t matter. But I tend to buy a ticket for the soonest flight after work so I don’t have to take a vacation day, or mid-morning on a vacation day or weekend. Coming home would be early afternoon so I don’t have to rush from my destination, but I’ll be home early enough to get to get to sleep before going to work the next day.
I don’t like flying, so I go with first thing to get it over with. Otherwise, my anxiety about it tends to grow during the day.
For domestic flights, I also feel like most people on the 6 AM or whatever flight are other business travelers, so I have hopes that they’re more down with the program.
It’s funny, participating in these polls, I’m thinking about “the best” time, seat, whatever … but really, IMHO, it’s all a miserable experience.
I tend to schedule flights based on whatever timing is most convenient for that particular trip.
For vacations I try and schedule flights that maximize my time in the vacation destination as long as I’m home long enough to sleep before going back to work.
For business travel it depends on the meeting requirements. Last trip I flew out on Sunday so I could get an early start on Monday but left the office Friday at 1pm so I could be home before midnight.
I can only rarely sleep on a plane so I need to ensure I’m planning for sleep time on the ground.
Good point about alcohol. My wife insists on a drink before she boards, so the real early flights are a challenge. Also, I live about 90 minutes from the airport, so a 7:00 a.m. fiight is really, really starting my day early (and I’m not a morning person). I voted for mid morning. But it really depends on whether I’m trying to get some work done before I fly or after I get there, and how long the flight is, etc. Lots of variables, so I suppose I don’t have a preference across the board. A guy at the airport told me last week that there is less turbulence in the morning, but I don’t mind a few bumps. I do believe that the later in the day you fly the more chance you have of a delay.
I fly twice every four weeks, once going away from my family and then again coming back. I like to fly at the time that is most convenient for my wife to be able to pick me up which means mid to late morning when leaving and whatever it takes to arrive mid afternoon when I’m returning. Unfortunately there’s only one option going home and that gets in at 9:30pm, with an hour drive each way to the airport for my wife, it can be a pain.
First flight out–less likely to be delayed. But that’s only when I’m leaving. Coming home, I prefer afternoon departure, so my check-out isn’t rushed and I can enjoy the final morning of my trip.
I do no business travel, so this is regarding vacations only.
My flights are based on schedule convenience, more than the time of day that I would prefer to fly.
For example, I fly every week from Florida to California (yes, just about every week) and back. So I fly out of Tampa on Sunday afternoon so that I reach Los Angeles by Sunday night for work on Monday morning. On the way back, the last afternoon flight is 1 pm, but I can’t leave work in the middle of the day, so I fly very late Thursday/ very early Friday, arriving somewhere early Friday morning, then connect to Tampa by late Friday morning. There are no convenient direct flights so I spend about 9 to 11 hours in transit each direction. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Net, where I’m going and when I need to be there influences my flight choices more than anything. FWIW, I think it’s safer to fly at night, on a long term basis, since you get less exposure to atmospheric radiation. I’m not sure which time of day is generally safest, although during the summer it’s generally easier to fly into Tampa in the morning since our thunderstorms come in the afternoon - this lasts about six months. Flying out isn’t quite as bad since you’re usually through any storms fairly quickly, although you can certainly get delays.
Late afternoon (2-6pm takeoff). The lines are short and when you get to where you are going it is night time so you have time to relax and go to sleep.
I really disdain overnight flights and early morning flights.
For a trip of any length first thing, because then you aren’t delayed by another flight being delayed. On business trips I often come back early evening to avoid another stay, but that often rushes things and means I get in late.
Mid morning. I like to get it over with and spend the bulk of the day wherever it is that I’m going, whether away or at home.
A couple of years ago I boarded a plane late afternoon, then had a long layover in Denver, followed by a plane that couldn’t be refueled so it took off late, then lost two hours to time zones. I think I got home at about 2 or 3 am. I was Mr. Grumpy by then.
Whatever time makes my arrival closest to check-in. Most of the time you can check in early, but for that once in a blue moon when you cannot… well, I guess it’s not so bad. Where there are hotels, there are hotel bars.
Assuming it my usual flight from Phoenix to a West Coast destination, I prefer to leave in the early afternoon so that I’ve already eaten lunch and I’ll arrive around hotel check in time. This way I can have a somewhat normal morning with my AM workout and then go into vacation mode with a couple of drinks at lunch.
I like to return home by 6 PM so I’ve got enough time to try to recover in time for work the next day.