Once I was on a flight from JFK to LHR scheduled to depart at midnight. But instead we got a replacement aircraft and 2.5 hours delay. Boarding past 2:30 am is not fun. When we finally arrived over London we had to hold for another 30 minutes. When we finally landed our connection flight was already gone and we had to wait another 5 hours for the next connecting flight back home.
That's worse than my BOG-EZE flight (an Aerolineas Argentinas 737-700) being stuck with us onboard at Bogota Airport due to mechanical issues. I went to sleep right after boarding and woke up 3 hours later, with the cabin getting uncomfortably hot, and we still hadn't taken off.
I have taken the LAS - DEN flight. That flight got me home when Southwest cancelled my flight so it was a good flight. The Frontier DEN - MCO redeye is brutal if you plan on doing anything when you land due to the seats not being the most comfortable in the industry.
I used to love flying red-eye flights as an A321/320/319 Captain for American (I retired May 2021). I generally flew SEA, PDX and SAN to CLT primarily. The red-eye segment was generally tacked onto the end of a 4 or 5 day trip. I liked them as their duty day was limited, due to back of the clock flying and Federal regulations. That kept crew scheduling from messing with you at the end of your trip and rescheduling you; which has become common practice. Once you learn how to sleep (not unlike European or South American flying), they are pleasant. American also had LAX, LAS, DEN, SLC to CLT red-eyes too, which I would occasionally fly. Most red-eyes were full and had very heavy loads, even during the height of the pandemic.
I find that, as I get older, I tolerate red eye flights less well than I used to. They are useful for coming east in the US when pressed for time or money. Traveling to the NY metro area on them can be quite pleasant if you’re willing to ignore the lack of sleep the nice thing about arriving at 5 am is that the airport is uncrowded and mellow.
You must be referring to JFK. I’ve taken many a redeye to EWR from either SAN or SFO, and not always at holidays. At 6:00 am, EWR is surprisingly busy.
I've found that it depends on where you arrive at Newark. Terminal C is really busy after 6 am, but terminal A isn't so bad. I've learned from experience to avoid Terminal C until after around 9 am for either departures or arrivals.
@@davidthaler7018 - Even JFK can be busy at 6 AM. JetBlue’s business model is a 24 hour operation with a lot of red-eye flights arriving from Latin America or the West Coast. That’s what makes them unlike a lot of LCCs, and also why their planes are the most heavily utilized narrow bodies in the world. JetBlue will likely be retiring planes with around 100,000 hours.
Starting the departure window from midnight isn’t really fair because several west-east Coast red eye flights depart before 11pm. 6am is fair, although I know Cleveland tends to schedule some flights to land at odd times like 6:09am.
I can handle the tiredness as most of the flights I have ever taken are long haul and left me exhausted upon arrival regardless of the time, but the single biggest problem I found was that just about everything is closed at the terminal. If you arrive at a foreign destination, one you aren't familiar with, and you need assistance - there isn't any to be found, though it can even happen at a destination you fly to regularly if there is a service you need at the time. The only time I don't stress about it is when I arrive home. Don't need anything other than a cab to my house and they're always available.
I once took a red eye from PHX to MSP on Delta back in 2019. The flight departed PHX just before midnight and arrived to MSP at 5AM. Delta had chosen the worst and oldest 767 they had in service at that time. The cabin was really dirty with garbage on the floor and the wall by my seat had a massive coffee stain. Anyway, I wasn’t planning on sleep since I can’t sleep on moving transportation but as soon as we were in the air leaving Phoenix behind, I was basically knocked out until the reverse thrusters were engaged onto landing in MSP. I was so confused for a second as I thought we diverted back to Phoenix but I woke up to a sunrise with green lush surroundings realizing I slept those 3 hours straight.
I agree having gone on a MIA to PHL flight with them I automatically nixed them on our flight to Hawaii, I said I want a mainline carrier due to the seats alone.
I had a pretty uncomfortable flight from LAX to CLE on Spirit. Departed around 22:00 west coast time and arrive at 6:00 east coast time. The thin line seating made it really uncomfortable to get any actual rest. With that being said, I don’t mind Spirit at all in normal daytime travel, especially on shorter routes.
Personal favourite in Australia, dunno if its done anymore after covid VA from PER-MEL, departs 23:50 arrives around 3:45-4:20. The transfer bus doesnt leave til 5:30, and most of the airport is still closed. Youve got literally nothing to do, unless you wanna pay a fairly decent taxi fare to the city. Return trip is like 20:10 with a 22:30 arrival
Living in Alaska, I'm always flying out of ANC, so redeyes are the norm for me due to connecting flights down the list. Usually the overnight ANC-SEA, ANC-PDX, or ANC-MSP depending on the carrier and season.
Just before COVID shut air travel, I took a Cathay Pacific service from HKG to KIX (Osaka). Departed just before 2am and arrived just after 6am Japan time. Flight time was just under 4 hours. As an avgeek, I was excited to be on a plane travelling to my favourite county and I had to finish schoolwork on the flight, so I couldn’t sleep. I did get longer than usual sleep the next night though.
Bro, expand your parameters to flights leaving the west coast after 10pm and arriving on the east coast up til 8 am. You're missing all the killer 6 hour flights that go coast-to-coast.
The biggest factor is not because slots are cheaper/easier to acquire. It’s because of the cost of having the airplanes parked at the gates/airport. If they are in the sky your paying to parking/stand by fees at airports. As soon as the airplane parking/stop blocks are placed on the front wheels, the airline are getting charged to have those planes on the ground
I recently took the Frontier airlines flight from Minneapolis to Orlando, and it worked well because it allowed me to connect on a 10 AM Spirit departure to Medellin. The Frontier flight was full!
Only had one Red Eye from San Francisco to Romulus, Mchigan 6 years ago. never again will I ever take a Red Eye. (Left SFO at 1:48 AM EDT, Landed at 7:28 AM EDT)
I'm a former FA, and although I didn't work them frequently I did my fair share of red eyes. I didn't like them because I just was useless the next day. Many of my co-workers liked them because most passengers slept. At least when I would work one of these flights it was ending back at base so once we landed I was done and did not have to work another flight after that.
Internationally, I'd say would be UA 802 from DEL-EWR. I've taken the flight and it's brutal. Normally, there are lots of delays in Delhi, and you arrive at Newark at 4:30 am. Plus it's a long flight.
I was just looking at a different flight in Fresno and noticed 2 late flights going out to Guadalajara with Volaris. Y4 951 and Y4 953. FAT to GDL. The earlier flight 951 leaves at 2:10am, arriving at 7:35am with a flight time of only 3 hours 25 mins. The other one is at 3:40am arriving at 9:05am. Such a short flight at such an early or late time seems miserable.
I have been on some night flights before. Here are them ( including ones that left mid evening) : 1. South African Airways Flight 061 Lagos to Johannesburg 2. Fastjet Tanzania Flight FN201 or something like that, Dar to Hre via Lusaka. 3. A flight on Rwandair flight Kigali to Johannesburg 5. An Emirates Flight that left at Midnight to 5ish-am from Hong Kong to Dubai. 6. Air China From Beijing to Auckland. 7. Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong to Johannesburg 8. South African Airways Flight 24 from Johannesburg to Harare. 9. Cathay from Cebu to Hong Kong. 10. Emirates EK383 Kuala Lumpur to Dubai. 11. A Really Delayed Air Tanzania Flight TC102 that left around 3 hours late, at 9pm arriving 1030ishpm. Dar to Mwanza.
I've been on the red-eye flight from Lagos to Joburg. Not so bad, although I did fly business lol Damn that was an expensive flight though, I reckon it used to be SAA's most profitable routes.
I think the worst I had was about 15 years ago on US Airways. A 12:30am departure out of LAS with a 5:30am arrival into ORD. It was already hard enough to get sleep in uncomfy seats, but add to that a baby that cried for the whole flight, and that makes it my worst red-eye.
Canada is notorious for red eye flights. A lot of Canadian airlines like to have red eye flights which beat most of these American red eye flights. Flair Airlines: Toronto - Vancouver (turn, 12HR duty day) Ottawa - Vancouver (turn, 12HR & 38 min duty day) Toronto - Abbotsford (12HR & 50min duty day) Air Canada: Montreal - Vancouver (turn, 13HR duty day) Toronto - Vancouver (turn, 12HR duty day) Toronto - Calgary (turn, 11HR 26min duty day) WestJet: Toronto - Vancouver (12HR duty day) Toronto - Calgary (11HR & 20min duty day) Ottawa - Edmonton (11HR & 18min duty day) Just to list a few.
I flew a red eye this month on a 787 with American from LAX to PHL. It got delayed from its destination, so instead of leaving at 11pm we actually left at 1:30am. Got in at about 8am. Luckily, I upgraded my seats, but still couldn't sleep.
Oh the brutal DEN-MCO red-eye on Frontier. F9 678, F9 680, and F9 682. I’ve fallen asleep in class when I’d go to school just mere hours after that flight.
I don’t mind red eye’s. I’ve taken the AA DEN > CLT several times. It gives me more time with family and I get a decent work day in the next day. I can fall asleep in planes, so that helps.
A majority of flights bound for Europe from Asia tend to be red-eyes. For example, CX343 from HKG-LGW which departs at 00:33 and arrives 05:25, or LX139 from HKG-ZRH which departs 00:22 and arrives 06:23
SYD-KUL 2215-0350 is pretty miserable, especially when you’re connecting to a later flight and the airport is closed. I remember seeing people sleeping everywhere in the Kuala Lumpur terminal.
I’ve taken red eye flights many times, the most common is the AA departing at midnight to DFW at 5. Back when I had to do CLT I’d take one that was very late and land at 6-6:30 CLT time. I put on my headphones with white noise and sleep the whole way.
As someone who lives in Denver and flies a lot to the East Coast, these horrible flights are always so cheap, and anything with a reasonable departure time will be at least twice the price. Thank God I can afford not to suffer through these red eyes.
I’ve never given them much thought. . . “It is what it is”. Any west to east flight has led to sleep deprivation, since I cannot fall asleep in an airline seat, unless there is some mild turbulence to rock my cradle.
I did for almost 2 years the Manaus (MAO) - Rio (GIG) every sunday/monday, leaving Manaus at 01:40 and arriving in Rio at 06:40. It was a good compromise on enjoying almost the whole weekend with the family and still making it straight to work in Rio on mondays. But what bothered me was staying awake or half asleep before going to the airport and boarding.
I sought one out. Leaving Seattle at 10pm Pacific time gives me all day to get to SeaTac and deal with any idiocy. Getting off in CDMX at 5:15am, central time, gives me all day to continue onward.
I recently experienced a red eye from SLC that departed at 23:58 and landed at JFK at 06:30. Red Eyes can be unpleasant since you’re really getting two hours of sleep if you can. But, if you’re connecting you pretty much have the rest of the day to do whatever. Life savers for west to east trips so you don’t spend all day flying.
Phoenix to Boston - AA 2701 Leaves Phoenix at 2110-2230 (depending on the season) and gets to Boston at 0510. I've done it and given the price of Boston hotels, I 'aint paying for early check-in or an extra night. That was a brutal day but made up for by a nice walking tour and pizza lunch. There's also a really bad one in Australia from Darwin to Brisbane - it leaves at 0110 and gets there at 0610 Also, that Alaksa redeye would be good for someone connecting to an International Flight out of Seattle that leaves in the morning, since Alaska is an excellent interline carrier.
As an Aussie the only domestic redeye I've taken was PER - OOL with Jetstar. The flight was 4.5 hours, departing Perth late around 00:30 and getting in to the Gold Coast at about 07:00. Fell asleep just after takeoff and woke up on final approach into the GC. The Qantas Club in Perth was closed for renovations so I got to use the domestic business lounge which Qantas uses for the transcontinentals to SYD, MEL and BNE. Very nice and practically empty. No real complaints despite the delay.
I've done the redeye between YVR to YYZ multiple times, but the worst one was YYC to YYZ, left at 1:50am, arrived at 7:40am... Takes sooo much out of you!
Have flown redeyes and really got some sleep depending on passenger load. I remember years ago of taking a redeye from Phoenix to Chicago before deregulation and had 3 seats across to lay down on. Stewardesses (back then) gave me a pillow and blanket. Nice flight. No more redeyes anymore on the sardine flights though.
My family takes red-eye flights when we go on our vacations to Nantucket. They're a pain. It's almost impossible for me to sleep and on our recent trip, I eventually gave up attempting to sleep at some point during a red-eye flight to Boston. I wish we didn't have to take red-eye flights for our Nantucket trips.
American Airlines 737-800 from Reno Nevada to Chicago O’ Hare. 12:00 am PST departure, 5:19 am CST arrival was the worst red-eye I’ve been on most recently (July 18 2021).
I used to do the LAS-CLE on Continental. it departed at like 1:30am. When I got to Cleveland my dad we was just starting his day and excited and I just wanted a place to sleep.
One was a 2pm flight to Tallinn from Gatwick which took off at about 3am due to large amounts of snow en route. That saved me a night in a hotel at Tallinn, though, and since you can usually check in early to hotels in Eastern Europe, I slept the next day after arriving at the hotel at 8am. The other one was Houston to London on the day after New Year's Day 2012. It was choppy but not terrible, but just being several miles up made it feel like a horrible sea crossing and a disaster ready to happen. Our bags were the last off as well. Yuck.
Spirit used to have a redeye from PBG to FLL. Departed around 0200-0300 if memory serves, only about a 3.5 hour flight. Took it once, and that was plenty for me, although that particular flight timeframe served me at the time.
My worst experience was a low cost interjet flight between Bogotá, Colombia and Mexico City. It departed around 12.00 am and arrived at 5:30 am. Strangely turbulent and of course no sleep or food made a personal hell out of that flight.
United, non stop from Denver to Washington Dulles. Leaves at 2345 and arrives at 0500 the next morning. It’s hard to get ‘real sleep’ especially on a 737, but the flight is usually half full at best so you aren’t sitting next to anyone
I flew from Perth WA to Melbourne VIC with a virgin A330 in business class. Departs at 2345 and arrives at 0545+1. This is a very expensive and relatively short 3h30 min flight but can be very fast because tailwinds, so we are usually early and have to circle around to land. You don’t have enough time to fully enjoy business class haha
being on the west coast, the airports here can be quite busy (as are the approach and drop off roads) between 10pm and 1am. Now that I have passed the age of 50, I avoid domestic redeyes like the plague. The worst one I did was SEA-AUS. I don't remember the exact departure and arrival times, but I waited more than an hour for the rental car desks to open.
Why did you even do this video.. red eye flights have preformed a useful service for decades.. from freight to staging aircraft and pilots to giving the airlines a reset for the upcoming days operation.. these movements not only provide profits they also give stranded passengers an opportunity get were they need to be..
Visiting family for the holidays I would always take Sky Harbor to ORD which takes off sometime before 1am which works fine for me. Less traffic, not too full a plane. Upgrade possibly. It’s nice.
Spirit’s SJO-FLL is absolutely brutal. It departs at 12:00am (GMT -6) and arrives at almost 5am ET. Half the night is gone and now you have a full day coming towards you.
On red-eye flights, I would always get a window seat so nobody would be crawling over me, drink a couple of glasses of wine before departure, and sleep through the flight. So they worked fine for me ...
my red eye flight wasn't as bad as any listed on here but i did a flight as a kid from Orlando to Gatwick which was overnight, couldn't sleep and was very jetlagged the next day on landing
The worst of all red eye flights is SpiceJet's route from Pune(MH) to Chennai(IN). It departs PNQ at 0345 IST and arrives in MAA at 05:20 IST. Pune's Lohegaon Airfield is near city but as its a military airfield we reach early as 0100 IST.
The experience of an overnight flight depends on many factors. An advantage is that in a darkened cabin, you're more likely to get some sleep. But if. The seats are uncomfortable and you don't get some decent food, you're likely to be grumpy. I flew CRK to ICN - 0100 to 0600 - several times on an Asiana A321. No problem. Got a little sleep, had a pretty decent meal ...not so bad, But the same route & schedule on Jin Air was miserable. But my worst red eyes have been Emirates flights leaving DBX in the middle of night. You can sleep - sort of - in Emirates' narrow, cramped seats, but you'll be stiff & sore afterward.
The worst I have done was HKG to PUS (Busan) on Korean Air's B737-900. Flight time from gate to gate is about 2:30. That was pre-COVID. The flight departs from HKG at 02:00 and arrive at PUS at around 05:30 local time. The worst part is that Korean Air continues to serve FULL SERVICE on this red eye flight. They actually serve full dinner! So for the first 1:30 of the flight, the lights are all on and people are eating!!! Yes, people actually take the meals and eat it. Although I didn't take the meal, the passengers sitting besides me eating and passing trays with all the lights on in the cabin (and the noise of the utensils) made it difficult to sleep. Catering carts runs back and forth to distribute meals and drinks and collect empty trays. Then they would roll the carts to sell duty free items! The lights are only turned off after all these are done. You end up with just about 1 hr of darkness and quietness in the cabin. The second worst was HKG to ICN (Incheon) on Korean Air again. The problem is the same. They serve full meals and sell duty free. But at least the flight time is about 3:15 so you do get more time after they finally turn off the light. Also the plane used for the red-eye HKG-ICN was B747-8I (later changed to 787-9 in late 2019), so the seats are wider and more comfortable than the cramped 737-900 on HKG-PUS.
When you work at night or a night owl, this means absolutely nothing. It's like when day light savings begins or ends, individuals working at night aren't impacted or at all compared a individual working a day shift. I myself prefer driving and flying at night.
Anything departing Hawaii in the late evening … red eye to the mainland and then continuing the next morning to the East Coast or even the Midwest on bare bones seat cushions, no food and minimum beverages Is torture to me.
I’ve flown LAS-CLT and LAS-ATL both leaving around midnight. Two or three fitful hours of airline half-sleep later it’s morning at your destination, and it absolutely destroys the next two days for you! I will do whatever I need to avoid these types of flights!
There are quite a few redeye flights between Puerto Rico and the US mainland. For example JetBlue operates flights to 3 Puerto Rico airports from JFK that all leave at 11:30-11:59 and arrive at 3:30-4 am
I quite like red-eye flights actually. They make me feel kinda surreal at times, like people go to sleep in their normal lives, while I just travelled across oceans.
Normally redeyes on either departing or arriving are a MO for airlines in the Middle East as it is the way to assure proper flow of traffic at convenient hours at the far flung destinations.
Always have been flying the Cathay Dragon or Hong Kong Airlines Red-eye from PEK to HKG pre-COVID, departs around 0000, arrives around 0500. Perfect connection to the airport express or first buses.
For me, it was back in 2006 from HNL to MSP on the NWA DC-10-30. I remember a small Asian girl in the row in front of me who was crying a good amount throughout the flight.
Most of my red-eye flights have been within Canada, going from west to east. YYJ->YYZ->YHZ was a regular occurrence for me for a time. The worst red-eye flights I have done were YYJ->YVR->YYZ->YHZ->YYT (the YVR->YYZ leg being the longest in that routing) or a YVR->LHR leg which departed approx 19:00 and arrived at LHR at approx 1100 the next morning.
I have flown from Calgary, AB (YYC) to Toronto, ON (YYZ) on Air Canada (AC). The flight left at 00:30 and arrived at 06:30. That flight was full; voluntary bumps were sought, where they volunteers would be given an upgraded flight during the day. I opted to fly as scheduled. The flight was very turbulent; every time I managed to drift into sleep, turbulence woke me.
Last month I took a really terrible red-eye flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Miami, Florida departing at 3:30am and arriving at 5:20am. It was terrible to say the least
MCI-LAS on America West 20-some years ago. If you’re going to land somewhere in the wee hours of the morning, with no intention of sleeping, I guess it might as well be Las Vegas.
Is it feasible to fly a plane slower so it arrives at the destination later and allows more sleeping time? Would this be something that passengers want? Personally if I was holidaying I wouldn't mind sleeping through the early dawn hours when there isn't much to see or do anyway. Talking about those 12am-4am flights mainly
Red-eye flights can be a lifesaver for passengers who have to travel on short notice or those who fine themselves on cancelled flights and simply "need to get there." They also provide an attractive alternative for budget travelers and they generally depress competitor fares on routes they fly, as well. As you note, most US red-eye flights originate in western markets, where time zones make them a practical way to arrive at east coast destinations in the morning (allowing same-day trans-Atlantic connections). As for the many red-eye flights that depart Vegas every night, well come on, its Vegas!
Worst was a United red eye from SNA to EWR. Stuck in the middle seat between two large men and the infotainment screen wouldn’t turn off. To top it off I had to connect to a CRJ-200 (window seat and I’m 6’2”) to get to my final destination. Totally wrecked my productivity for the day.
Other factors with red-eyes is very limited airport services - most have closed long before departure. Also, if you are returning home from vacation, you are in a tough spot w/ checkout and having to store bags which have to be picked up if you go out for the day.
The worst flight I've ever had was deploying to Afghanistan. First leg was McChord AFB to Shannon, Ireland in a chartered DC-10. Got to Shannon around 11am local and slept in the airport for a few hours. Left Shannon that evening aboard another chartered DC-10 and arrived at Ali Al Salem Airbase, Kuwait at 1am and it was 103 degrees. From there, took a C-17 to Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan.
Back in the 70's and 80's I used to fly Lufthansa's Chicago to Frankfurt red-eye, it was always scheduled to depart around 10pm but more often than not it would be delayed because the inbound flight encountered head winds so we wouldn't get off the ground until around midnight; never really had any issue with it as I always slept most of the way across, and several years ago I used to take the last flight out of Newark back to my home state and it was always a quiet and pleasant flight that usually arrived just after midnight.
In Mexico, Volaris Tijuana to Monterrey, departs just before midnight and arrives at like 3 or 4 am Monterrey time. I have flown it too many times. We also call flights between 10:00pm and 5:00am tecolotito , or small tecolotes since you are up late at night.
Once I was on a flight from JFK to LHR scheduled to depart at midnight. But instead we got a replacement aircraft and 2.5 hours delay. Boarding past 2:30 am is not fun. When we finally arrived over London we had to hold for another 30 minutes. When we finally landed our connection flight was already gone and we had to wait another 5 hours for the next connecting flight back home.
So basically a roundtrip for nothing... that's not really nice indeed.
That's worse than my BOG-EZE flight (an Aerolineas Argentinas 737-700) being stuck with us onboard at Bogota Airport due to mechanical issues. I went to sleep right after boarding and woke up 3 hours later, with the cabin getting uncomfortably hot, and we still hadn't taken off.
I don’t really mind red-eye flights, if the price of the ticket is worth it, I would happily take it.
Same
In fact I like them. Nice nighttime landings, and even better in a premium cabin.
Crazy???
Yeah especially if you aren’t working the next day
No price is worth the nightmare of a red eye.
I have taken the LAS - DEN flight. That flight got me home when Southwest cancelled my flight so it was a good flight. The Frontier DEN - MCO redeye is brutal if you plan on doing anything when you land due to the seats not being the most comfortable in the industry.
I used to love flying red-eye flights as an A321/320/319 Captain for American (I retired May 2021). I generally flew SEA, PDX and SAN to CLT primarily. The red-eye segment was generally tacked onto the end of a 4 or 5 day trip. I liked them as their duty day was limited, due to back of the clock flying and Federal regulations. That kept crew scheduling from messing with you at the end of your trip and rescheduling you; which has become common practice. Once you learn how to sleep (not unlike European or South American flying), they are pleasant. American also had LAX, LAS, DEN, SLC to CLT red-eyes too, which I would occasionally fly. Most red-eyes were full and had very heavy loads, even during the height of the pandemic.
I find that, as I get older, I tolerate red eye flights less well than I used to. They are useful for coming east in the US when pressed for time or money. Traveling to the NY metro area on them can be quite pleasant if you’re willing to ignore the lack of sleep the nice thing about arriving at 5 am is that the airport is uncrowded and mellow.
You must be referring to JFK. I’ve taken many a redeye to EWR from either SAN or SFO, and not always at holidays. At 6:00 am, EWR is surprisingly busy.
I've found that it depends on where you arrive at Newark. Terminal C is really busy after 6 am, but terminal A isn't so bad. I've learned from experience to avoid Terminal C until after around 9 am for either departures or arrivals.
@@davidthaler7018 - Even JFK can be busy at 6 AM. JetBlue’s business model is a 24 hour operation with a lot of red-eye flights arriving from Latin America or the West Coast. That’s what makes them unlike a lot of LCCs, and also why their planes are the most heavily utilized narrow bodies in the world. JetBlue will likely be retiring planes with around 100,000 hours.
Starting the departure window from midnight isn’t really fair because several west-east Coast red eye flights depart before 11pm. 6am is fair, although I know Cleveland tends to schedule some flights to land at odd times like 6:09am.
I can handle the tiredness as most of the flights I have ever taken are long haul and left me exhausted upon arrival regardless of the time, but the single biggest problem I found was that just about everything is closed at the terminal. If you arrive at a foreign destination, one you aren't familiar with, and you need assistance - there isn't any to be found, though it can even happen at a destination you fly to regularly if there is a service you need at the time. The only time I don't stress about it is when I arrive home. Don't need anything other than a cab to my house and they're always available.
As an employee of F9 I will say red eyes are tough to work sometimes. I’ve works almost all of these routes and most of the them are turns 🥴.
I once took a red eye from PHX to MSP on Delta back in 2019. The flight departed PHX just before midnight and arrived to MSP at 5AM. Delta had chosen the worst and oldest 767 they had in service at that time. The cabin was really dirty with garbage on the floor and the wall by my seat had a massive coffee stain. Anyway, I wasn’t planning on sleep since I can’t sleep on moving transportation but as soon as we were in the air leaving Phoenix behind, I was basically knocked out until the reverse thrusters were engaged onto landing in MSP. I was so confused for a second as I thought we diverted back to Phoenix but I woke up to a sunrise with green lush surroundings realizing I slept those 3 hours straight.
The problem with Frontier Red Eye flights is that the seats have almost no padding, so they are really not comfortable for more than 2.5 hours.
I agree having gone on a MIA to PHL flight with them I automatically nixed them on our flight to Hawaii, I said I want a mainline carrier due to the seats alone.
Very true. My MSP to DEN flight is the longest I can tolerate with frontier.
I had a pretty uncomfortable flight from LAX to CLE on Spirit. Departed around 22:00 west coast time and arrive at 6:00 east coast time. The thin line seating made it really uncomfortable to get any actual rest. With that being said, I don’t mind Spirit at all in normal daytime travel, especially on shorter routes.
LAX - ATL on a full Delta 767 (center seat) is nightmarishly brutal. About 20 minutes into it, I was already praying to land.
Personal favourite in Australia, dunno if its done anymore after covid
VA from PER-MEL, departs 23:50 arrives around 3:45-4:20. The transfer bus doesnt leave til 5:30, and most of the airport is still closed. Youve got literally nothing to do, unless you wanna pay a fairly decent taxi fare to the city.
Return trip is like 20:10 with a 22:30 arrival
Jetstar leaves Perth at 0100 gets to Melbourne at 0730, ouch!
Living in Alaska, I'm always flying out of ANC, so redeyes are the norm for me due to connecting flights down the list. Usually the overnight ANC-SEA, ANC-PDX, or ANC-MSP depending on the carrier and season.
I've taken that Delta flight from Anchorage to Seattle. It wasn't that bad for me personally, because I had a connection on to Boston.
Just before COVID shut air travel, I took a Cathay Pacific service from HKG to KIX (Osaka). Departed just before 2am and arrived just after 6am Japan time. Flight time was just under 4 hours. As an avgeek, I was excited to be on a plane travelling to my favourite county and I had to finish schoolwork on the flight, so I couldn’t sleep. I did get longer than usual sleep the next night though.
Bro, expand your parameters to flights leaving the west coast after 10pm and arriving on the east coast up til 8 am. You're missing all the killer 6 hour flights that go coast-to-coast.
Or Honolulu to New York or Boston. Those are worse than all of these. Everyone always forgets about those flights.
@@timhershel2940 that's pretty much just long haul, not redeye
The biggest factor is not because slots are cheaper/easier to acquire. It’s because of the cost of having the airplanes parked at the gates/airport. If they are in the sky your paying to parking/stand by fees at airports. As soon as the airplane parking/stop blocks are placed on the front wheels, the airline are getting charged to have those planes on the ground
Spirit LAS-TPA was absolute tourture, 10pm in Vegas and then 4am in Tampa and it being a Spirit flight it was impossible to sleep
Same except I went to CMH
Jetblue, Spirit and United fly horrible red eyes into BQN and PSE in Puerto Rico. The inbounds are 23-0200 and outbound legs 0300-0600.
I recently took the Frontier airlines flight from Minneapolis to Orlando, and it worked well because it allowed me to connect on a 10 AM Spirit departure to Medellin. The Frontier flight was full!
Volaris flight from Sacramento to Guadalajara. Departed at 1am and landed at 5am
Only had one Red Eye from San Francisco to Romulus, Mchigan 6 years ago. never again will I ever take a Red Eye. (Left SFO at 1:48 AM EDT, Landed at 7:28 AM EDT)
I'm a former FA, and although I didn't work them frequently I did my fair share of red eyes. I didn't like them because I just was useless the next day. Many of my co-workers liked them because most passengers slept. At least when I would work one of these flights it was ending back at base so once we landed I was done and did not have to work another flight after that.
Internationally, I'd say would be UA 802 from DEL-EWR. I've taken the flight and it's brutal. Normally, there are lots of delays in Delhi, and you arrive at Newark at 4:30 am. Plus it's a long flight.
I was just looking at a different flight in Fresno and noticed 2 late flights going out to Guadalajara with Volaris. Y4 951 and Y4 953. FAT to GDL. The earlier flight 951 leaves at 2:10am, arriving at 7:35am with a flight time of only 3 hours 25 mins. The other one is at 3:40am arriving at 9:05am. Such a short flight at such an early or late time seems miserable.
I have been on some night flights before. Here are them ( including ones that left mid evening) :
1. South African Airways Flight 061 Lagos to Johannesburg
2. Fastjet Tanzania Flight FN201 or something like that, Dar to Hre via Lusaka.
3. A flight on Rwandair flight Kigali to Johannesburg
5. An Emirates Flight that left at Midnight to 5ish-am from Hong Kong to Dubai.
6. Air China From Beijing to Auckland.
7. Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong to Johannesburg
8. South African Airways Flight 24 from Johannesburg to Harare.
9. Cathay from Cebu to Hong Kong.
10. Emirates EK383 Kuala Lumpur to
Dubai.
11. A Really Delayed Air Tanzania Flight TC102 that left around 3 hours late, at 9pm arriving 1030ishpm. Dar to Mwanza.
I've been on the red-eye flight from Lagos to Joburg. Not so bad, although I did fly business lol Damn that was an expensive flight though, I reckon it used to be SAA's most profitable routes.
as a uk low cost airline cabin crew member we operate a LGW-MLA-LGW turn flight starting at 9pm and finishing at 5am
I think the worst I had was about 15 years ago on US Airways. A 12:30am departure out of LAS with a 5:30am arrival into ORD. It was already hard enough to get sleep in uncomfy seats, but add to that a baby that cried for the whole flight, and that makes it my worst red-eye.
Canada is notorious for red eye flights. A lot of Canadian airlines like to have red eye flights which beat most of these American red eye flights.
Flair Airlines:
Toronto - Vancouver (turn, 12HR duty day)
Ottawa - Vancouver (turn, 12HR & 38 min duty day)
Toronto - Abbotsford (12HR & 50min duty day)
Air Canada:
Montreal - Vancouver (turn, 13HR duty day)
Toronto - Vancouver (turn, 12HR duty day)
Toronto - Calgary (turn, 11HR 26min duty day)
WestJet:
Toronto - Vancouver (12HR duty day)
Toronto - Calgary (11HR & 20min duty day)
Ottawa - Edmonton (11HR & 18min duty day)
Just to list a few.
Pre covid Spirit had out of FLL The following routes that were all redeyes
IAG, PBG, BQN, LAS,LAX, STI, PTY, MGA, SAP, SJO, SAL, LIM, GYE
Pre-pandemic, United operated a seasonal red-eye from SFO to Madison, WI on a regional jet. Never flew that time slot, but did fly that route in 2019.
I flew a red eye this month on a 787 with American from LAX to PHL. It got delayed from its destination, so instead of leaving at 11pm we actually left at 1:30am. Got in at about 8am. Luckily, I upgraded my seats, but still couldn't sleep.
Mid '80s, Garuda 5 stops from Gatwick to Perth (AUS) 35 hour - never again.
Oh the brutal DEN-MCO red-eye on Frontier. F9 678, F9 680, and F9 682. I’ve fallen asleep in class when I’d go to school just mere hours after that flight.
I don’t mind red eye’s. I’ve taken the AA DEN > CLT several times. It gives me more time with family and I get a decent work day in the next day. I can fall asleep in planes, so that helps.
A majority of flights bound for Europe from Asia tend to be red-eyes. For example, CX343 from HKG-LGW which departs at 00:33 and arrives 05:25, or LX139 from HKG-ZRH which departs 00:22 and arrives 06:23
SYD-KUL 2215-0350 is pretty miserable, especially when you’re connecting to a later flight and the airport is closed. I remember seeing people sleeping everywhere in the Kuala Lumpur terminal.
I’ve taken red eye flights many times, the most common is the AA departing at midnight to DFW at 5. Back when I had to do CLT I’d take one that was very late and land at 6-6:30 CLT time. I put on my headphones with white noise and sleep the whole way.
As someone who lives in Denver and flies a lot to the East Coast, these horrible flights are always so cheap, and anything with a reasonable departure time will be at least twice the price. Thank God I can afford not to suffer through these red eyes.
I’ve never given them much thought. . . “It is what it is”. Any west to east flight has led to sleep deprivation, since I cannot fall asleep in an airline seat, unless there is some mild turbulence to rock my cradle.
The 00:01 DEN-MCO flight (F9 678/680/682) is just cruel, especially for a student like me.
I did for almost 2 years the Manaus (MAO) - Rio (GIG) every sunday/monday, leaving Manaus at 01:40 and arriving in Rio at 06:40. It was a good compromise on enjoying almost the whole weekend with the family and still making it straight to work in Rio on mondays. But what bothered me was staying awake or half asleep before going to the airport and boarding.
JetBlue summer route LAX-RIC is definitely a red eye. It takes off from lax close to 11pm and arrives in Richmond around 7am EST
I sought one out.
Leaving Seattle at 10pm Pacific time gives me all day to get to SeaTac and deal with any idiocy.
Getting off in CDMX at 5:15am, central time, gives me all day to continue onward.
I recently experienced a red eye from SLC that departed at 23:58 and landed at JFK at 06:30. Red Eyes can be unpleasant since you’re really getting two hours of sleep if you can. But, if you’re connecting you pretty much have the rest of the day to do whatever. Life savers for west to east trips so you don’t spend all day flying.
Phoenix to Boston - AA 2701
Leaves Phoenix at 2110-2230 (depending on the season) and gets to Boston at 0510. I've done it and given the price of Boston hotels, I 'aint paying for early check-in or an extra night. That was a brutal day but made up for by a nice walking tour and pizza lunch.
There's also a really bad one in Australia from Darwin to Brisbane - it leaves at 0110 and gets there at 0610
Also, that Alaksa redeye would be good for someone connecting to an International Flight out of Seattle that leaves in the morning, since Alaska is an excellent interline carrier.
I've been on an Easyjet flight which left Corfu at 11pm local time and got back to Gatwick at 3:30am, disgusting flight time
As an Aussie the only domestic redeye I've taken was PER - OOL with Jetstar. The flight was 4.5 hours, departing Perth late around 00:30 and getting in to the Gold Coast at about 07:00. Fell asleep just after takeoff and woke up on final approach into the GC. The Qantas Club in Perth was closed for renovations so I got to use the domestic business lounge which Qantas uses for the transcontinentals to SYD, MEL and BNE. Very nice and practically empty. No real complaints despite the delay.
I've done the redeye between YVR to YYZ multiple times, but the worst one was YYC to YYZ, left at 1:50am, arrived at 7:40am... Takes sooo much out of you!
Have flown redeyes and really got some sleep depending on passenger load. I remember years ago of taking a redeye from Phoenix to Chicago before deregulation and had 3 seats across to lay down on. Stewardesses (back then) gave me a pillow and blanket. Nice flight.
No more redeyes anymore on the sardine flights though.
My family takes red-eye flights when we go on our vacations to Nantucket. They're a pain. It's almost impossible for me to sleep and on our recent trip, I eventually gave up attempting to sleep at some point during a red-eye flight to Boston. I wish we didn't have to take red-eye flights for our Nantucket trips.
FBM-DXB via Addis. Very long journey. A stop over at Addis of 13 hours. Both the flights were at late night and early morning
American Airlines 737-800 from Reno Nevada to Chicago O’ Hare. 12:00 am PST departure, 5:19 am CST arrival was the worst red-eye I’ve been on most recently (July 18 2021).
I used to do the LAS-CLE on Continental. it departed at like 1:30am. When I got to Cleveland my dad we was just starting his day and excited and I just wanted a place to sleep.
One was a 2pm flight to Tallinn from Gatwick which took off at about 3am due to large amounts of snow en route. That saved me a night in a hotel at Tallinn, though, and since you can usually check in early to hotels in Eastern Europe, I slept the next day after arriving at the hotel at 8am.
The other one was Houston to London on the day after New Year's Day 2012. It was choppy but not terrible, but just being several miles up made it feel like a horrible sea crossing and a disaster ready to happen. Our bags were the last off as well. Yuck.
Can’t check into your hotel until 3pm. Better have some place to go until check in time.
Spirit used to have a redeye from PBG to FLL. Departed around 0200-0300 if memory serves, only about a 3.5 hour flight. Took it once, and that was plenty for me, although that particular flight timeframe served me at the time.
I always loved the AirTran redeye from Vegas to Milwaukee. Southwest took it over but since dropped the redeye.
My worst experience was a low cost interjet flight between Bogotá, Colombia and Mexico City. It departed around 12.00 am and arrived at 5:30 am. Strangely turbulent and of course no sleep or food made a personal hell out of that flight.
In 2001 had a DEN-LAX-EWR schedule. Colorado Springs Saturday evening to Pocono 8am Sunday.
a majority of flights from Hawaii to the mainland are a red-eyes. I've done HNL-SLC, HNL-DEN, HNL-LAX and totally messed up/worthless after arrival
NEVER AGAIN!!! LAS-ORD UA637 Dep: 23:25 Arr: 04:48 (Did not get sleep and then landed and went to Northwestern Football game.)
United, non stop from Denver to Washington Dulles. Leaves at 2345 and arrives at 0500 the next morning. It’s hard to get ‘real sleep’ especially on a 737, but the flight is usually half full at best so you aren’t sitting next to anyone
I flew from Perth WA to Melbourne VIC with a virgin A330 in business class. Departs at 2345 and arrives at 0545+1. This is a very expensive and relatively short 3h30 min flight but can be very fast because tailwinds, so we are usually early and have to circle around to land. You don’t have enough time to fully enjoy business class haha
being on the west coast, the airports here can be quite busy (as are the approach and drop off roads) between 10pm and 1am. Now that I have passed the age of 50, I avoid domestic redeyes like the plague. The worst one I did was SEA-AUS. I don't remember the exact departure and arrival times, but I waited more than an hour for the rental car desks to open.
Why did you even do this video.. red eye flights have preformed a useful service for decades.. from freight to staging aircraft and pilots to giving the airlines a reset for the upcoming days operation.. these movements not only provide profits they also give stranded passengers an opportunity get were they need to be..
Visiting family for the holidays I would always take Sky Harbor to ORD which takes off sometime before 1am which works fine for me. Less traffic, not too full a plane. Upgrade possibly. It’s nice.
I remember always doing the LATAM Paraguay from EZE TO GRU and the Quatar flight on the same route.
Spirit’s SJO-FLL is absolutely brutal. It departs at 12:00am (GMT -6) and arrives at almost 5am ET. Half the night is gone and now you have a full day coming towards you.
On red-eye flights, I would always get a window seat so nobody would be crawling over me, drink a couple of glasses of wine before departure, and sleep through the flight. So they worked fine for me ...
During the summer of 2021; I endured a 3:38 flight from LAX to ORD. This flight departed at 00:30 and arrived at 05:45.
They were nice and cheap. I used to fly American from Sacramento to DFW leaving at 1am and arriving about 5 :30 am. Loved those MD-80s.
my red eye flight wasn't as bad as any listed on here but i did a flight as a kid from Orlando to Gatwick which was overnight, couldn't sleep and was very jetlagged the next day on landing
You chose the flight so not "endured"
The worst of all red eye flights is SpiceJet's route from Pune(MH) to Chennai(IN). It departs PNQ at 0345 IST and arrives in MAA at 05:20 IST. Pune's Lohegaon Airfield is near city but as its a military airfield we reach early as 0100 IST.
The experience of an overnight flight depends on many factors. An advantage is that in a darkened cabin, you're more likely to get some sleep. But if. The seats are uncomfortable and you don't get some decent food, you're likely to be grumpy. I flew CRK to ICN - 0100 to 0600 - several times on an Asiana A321. No problem. Got a little sleep, had a pretty decent meal ...not so bad, But the same route & schedule on Jin Air was miserable. But my worst red eyes have been Emirates flights leaving DBX in the middle of night. You can sleep - sort of - in Emirates' narrow, cramped seats, but you'll be stiff & sore afterward.
The worst I have done was HKG to PUS (Busan) on Korean Air's B737-900. Flight time from gate to gate is about 2:30. That was pre-COVID. The flight departs from HKG at 02:00 and arrive at PUS at around 05:30 local time. The worst part is that Korean Air continues to serve FULL SERVICE on this red eye flight. They actually serve full dinner! So for the first 1:30 of the flight, the lights are all on and people are eating!!! Yes, people actually take the meals and eat it. Although I didn't take the meal, the passengers sitting besides me eating and passing trays with all the lights on in the cabin (and the noise of the utensils) made it difficult to sleep. Catering carts runs back and forth to distribute meals and drinks and collect empty trays. Then they would roll the carts to sell duty free items! The lights are only turned off after all these are done. You end up with just about 1 hr of darkness and quietness in the cabin. The second worst was HKG to ICN (Incheon) on Korean Air again. The problem is the same. They serve full meals and sell duty free. But at least the flight time is about 3:15 so you do get more time after they finally turn off the light. Also the plane used for the red-eye HKG-ICN was B747-8I (later changed to 787-9 in late 2019), so the seats are wider and more comfortable than the cramped 737-900 on HKG-PUS.
I’ve been on the LAX-IAH redeye with United quite a few times, red-eyes don’t effect next very much and I love being in airports late at night
When you work at night or a night owl, this means absolutely nothing. It's like when day light savings begins or ends, individuals working at night aren't impacted or at all compared a individual working a day shift. I myself prefer driving and flying at night.
Anything departing Hawaii in the late evening … red eye to the mainland and then continuing the next morning to the East Coast or even the Midwest on bare bones seat cushions, no food and minimum beverages Is torture to me.
I’ve flown LAS-CLT and LAS-ATL both leaving around midnight. Two or three fitful hours of airline half-sleep later it’s morning at your destination, and it absolutely destroys the next two days for you! I will do whatever I need to avoid these types of flights!
There are quite a few redeye flights between Puerto Rico and the US mainland. For example JetBlue operates flights to 3 Puerto Rico airports from JFK that all leave at 11:30-11:59 and arrive at 3:30-4 am
I quite like red-eye flights actually. They make me feel kinda surreal at times, like people go to sleep in their normal lives, while I just travelled across oceans.
not exactly a redeye flight, but earlier today I flew EK7. Departed DXB at 0310 and landed at LHR at 0645
Normally redeyes on either departing or arriving are a MO for airlines in the Middle East as it is the way to assure proper flow of traffic at convenient hours at the far flung destinations.
Always have been flying the Cathay Dragon or Hong Kong Airlines Red-eye from PEK to HKG pre-COVID, departs around 0000, arrives around 0500. Perfect connection to the airport express or first buses.
For me, it was back in 2006 from HNL to MSP on the NWA DC-10-30. I remember a small Asian girl in the row in front of me who was crying a good amount throughout the flight.
Most of my red-eye flights have been within Canada, going from west to east. YYJ->YYZ->YHZ was a regular occurrence for me for a time. The worst red-eye flights I have done were YYJ->YVR->YYZ->YHZ->YYT (the YVR->YYZ leg being the longest in that routing) or a YVR->LHR leg which departed approx 19:00 and arrived at LHR at approx 1100 the next morning.
I have flown from Calgary, AB (YYC) to Toronto, ON (YYZ) on Air Canada (AC). The flight left at 00:30 and arrived at 06:30. That flight was full; voluntary bumps were sought, where they volunteers would be given an upgraded flight during the day. I opted to fly as scheduled. The flight was very turbulent; every time I managed to drift into sleep, turbulence woke me.
Last month I took a really terrible red-eye flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Miami, Florida departing at 3:30am and arriving at 5:20am. It was terrible to say the least
MCI-LAS on America West 20-some years ago. If you’re going to land somewhere in the wee hours of the morning, with no intention of sleeping, I guess it might as well be Las Vegas.
Ive taken SFO and LAX to ORD and IAH, those are brutal, at least to NY, I can get at least 4-5 hours of sleep
In the 1980s when I flew a lot, I liked red eyes home as I sleep very well when flying.
Is it feasible to fly a plane slower so it arrives at the destination later and allows more sleeping time? Would this be something that passengers want?
Personally if I was holidaying I wouldn't mind sleeping through the early dawn hours when there isn't much to see or do anyway. Talking about those 12am-4am flights mainly
Red-eye flights can be a lifesaver for passengers who have to travel on short notice or those who fine themselves on cancelled flights and simply "need to get there." They also provide an attractive alternative for budget travelers and they generally depress competitor fares on routes they fly, as well. As you note, most US red-eye flights originate in western markets, where time zones make them a practical way to arrive at east coast destinations in the morning (allowing same-day trans-Atlantic connections). As for the many red-eye flights that depart Vegas every night, well come on, its Vegas!
I love to take the red eye from Lihue, Kaua’i to LAX.. leave at 11, arrive at 6. Perfect for the 3 day weekend.
Madrid- Guayaquil, leaving Madrid at 23:30 and arriving in Guayaquil at 6: 00 am local time, after 12 hours in the air.
Worst was a United red eye from SNA to EWR. Stuck in the middle seat between two large men and the infotainment screen wouldn’t turn off. To top it off I had to connect to a CRJ-200 (window seat and I’m 6’2”) to get to my final destination. Totally wrecked my productivity for the day.
Other factors with red-eyes is very limited airport services - most have closed long before departure.
Also, if you are returning home from vacation, you are in a tough spot w/ checkout and having to store bags which have to be picked up if you go out for the day.
The worst flight I've ever had was deploying to Afghanistan. First leg was McChord AFB to Shannon, Ireland in a chartered DC-10. Got to Shannon around 11am local and slept in the airport for a few hours. Left Shannon that evening aboard another chartered DC-10 and arrived at Ali Al Salem Airbase, Kuwait at 1am and it was 103 degrees. From there, took a C-17 to Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan.
Back in the 70's and 80's I used to fly Lufthansa's Chicago to Frankfurt red-eye, it was always scheduled to depart around 10pm but more often than not it would be delayed because the inbound flight encountered head winds so we wouldn't get off the ground until around midnight; never really had any issue with it as I always slept most of the way across, and several years ago I used to take the last flight out of Newark back to my home state and it was always a quiet and pleasant flight that usually arrived just after midnight.
In Mexico, Volaris Tijuana to Monterrey, departs just before midnight and arrives at like 3 or 4 am Monterrey time. I have flown it too many times. We also call flights between 10:00pm and 5:00am tecolotito , or small tecolotes since you are up late at night.
did that LAX-DFW which was rough, definitely PHX-CLT sucked