Wouldn't daytime flights to Europe make more sense?

[Anonymous]

There used to be a 9am flight from NY to London, and when I lived in London I used to take that one all the time. Get up, travel all day on little sleep, get to Heathrow at 9:30 at night when all everyone there wanted to do was close up and go home and we never got stopped or checked at customs, and then go to your own house to your own bed. It was great. I learned to run when I got off the plane - everyone in the hall would ask “are you from the NY flight” and when I said yes they’d start closing everything up, and I made it through the non-EU/UK line before it could back up. Bags made it out in record time, too. Those shut down times are another reason for no daytime flights - many airports or terminals shut down overnight and they don’t want to keep staff around for delayed flights in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think I would love an 8 am flight to Paris. 7 hours on the plane, 6 hours ahead. You'd wake up early, be on the plane all day, check in to your hotel around 9 pm, find a late dinner somewhere, and I guarantee I'd fall asleep by midnight Paris time and wake up normally on their time ready for vacation.

The overnight flights have me a total disaster for the first two days. Why don't they offer daytime flights? I can't be the only one who would prefer this.

I 100% agree OP! Not getting a good night sleep before arrival completely messes me up.

m

Same. I think if one airline did it, people would be willing to pay lots more for the convenience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There used to be a 9am flight from NY to London, and when I lived in London I used to take that one all the time. Get up, travel all day on little sleep, get to Heathrow at 9:30 at night when all everyone there wanted to do was close up and go home and we never got stopped or checked at customs, and then go to your own house to your own bed. It was great. I learned to run when I got off the plane - everyone in the hall would ask “are you from the NY flight” and when I said yes they’d start closing everything up, and I made it through the non-EU/UK line before it could back up. Bags made it out in record time, too. Those shut down times are another reason for no daytime flights - many airports or terminals shut down overnight and they don’t want to keep staff around for delayed flights in.

There are still multiple flights from New York to London leaving between 7:30-9:30 AM.

Heathrow doesn't fully shutdown, they have a flight curfew. The terminals stay open with very limited services, and any passengers have to go to specific areas.

https://www.heathrow.com/company/local-community/noise/operations/night-flights

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think I would love an 8 am flight to Paris. 7 hours on the plane, 6 hours ahead. You'd wake up early, be on the plane all day, check in to your hotel around 9 pm, find a late dinner somewhere, and I guarantee I'd fall asleep by midnight Paris time and wake up normally on their time ready for vacation.

The overnight flights have me a total disaster for the first two days. Why don't they offer daytime flights? I can't be the only one who would prefer this.

I 100% agree OP! Not getting a good night sleep before arrival completely messes me up.

m

Same. I think if one airline did it, people would be willing to pay lots more for the convenience.

Nope, most of these flights that have operated in the past have shutdown because they lose money or aren't profitable enough, for the reasons discussed earlier. Just not possible to adequately fill planes with such limited connection options, at high enough fares to justify the added plane downtime.

The reddit thread linked above said the IAD-LHR daytime flight was "one of the worst performing United trans-Atlantic flights".

Example, this Delta flight they tried to Paris, was cut a year ago, couldn't make the numbers work.

https://simpleflying.com/delta-air-lines-cuts-daytime-europe-bound-service/

[Anonymous]

A few years ago, pre-covid there was a daytime Delta flight to London. It made traveling to Europe with my kids much easier.

[Anonymous]

OP, I agree so much. I cannot sleep on a plane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think I would love an 8 am flight to Paris. 7 hours on the plane, 6 hours ahead. You'd wake up early, be on the plane all day, check in to your hotel around 9 pm, find a late dinner somewhere, and I guarantee I'd fall asleep by midnight Paris time and wake up normally on their time ready for vacation.

The overnight flights have me a total disaster for the first two days. Why don't they offer daytime flights? I can't be the only one who would prefer this.

I 100% agree OP! Not getting a good night sleep before arrival completely messes me up.

m

Same. I think if one airline did it, people would be willing to pay lots more for the convenience.

Agree!

[Anonymous]

Netjets.

[Anonymous]

Yeah the United to London flight is great

One thing I’ve contemplated is taking that flight, staying in the airport hotel at Heathrow and then flying on to Europe in the morning

I’m just not sure it’s worth it with passport control and all that

[Anonymous]

Flew recently to Madrid 7pm flight landed in Madrid around 8 am. By the time we got to hotel and checked in it was 10-11 am. We napped for two hours and then went out. Fell asleep ok that night and were on track for the rest of the week. The key was having the hotel room available upon arrival. We paid for the extra night to be sure of that. But I agree. I like to arrive somewhere in time for bed and then start fresh the next day. I always feel like crap after a long flight. Even if I fly first class and get some sleep.

[Anonymous]

We had this from Dulles to Heathrow for awhile and it was perfect. I miss it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had this from Dulles to Heathrow for awhile and it was perfect. I miss it.

Yes, I remember going on that once. It was awesome getting there late at night and actually getting a good nights sleep. I usually dislike traveling to Europe because of the jet lag.

[Anonymous]

Just… yes. I’m sure the economics support the red eyes vs early AM flights but I’d also so much rather get up super early and land at night vs do the red eye. Almost always lose 1-2 days to the red eye while re-calibrating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That makes sense about not being able to make a connecting flight, but I'd like more nonstop daytime options! That's not very many - and none from DC.

+1

[Anonymous]

No, because of required aircraft utilization rates and connecting flight availability on both ends.

I like the daytime flights myself but the system makes them mostly uneconomical.