Any of you hate early AM flights as much as I do?

[Guest]

A friend of mine recently told me he's leaving on a 6 AM flight on Monday. My brother recently told me he picked a 6:30 AM flight from SFO to JFK because he says that at that time, he usually gets upgraded to first class, and then can sleep on the plane. Personally, I will do almost anything to avoid a flight leaving at 8 AM or sooner. I will pay hundreds more, fly coach instead of first class, or take an extra day off and spend the night en route to break the travel time into two days (for example, when flying to the Caribbean, I will fly into Miami, spend the night, then complete my trip to the island the next day). Any of you hate early AM flights as much as I do?

[+ WilliamM]

Any of you hate early AM flights as much as I do?

 

Yes, like you I will do almost anything to avoid getting up that early. I am totally not a morning person.

 

However, the few times, I have taken a early morning flights, they have turned out to be fine once I get out of bed. :)

[Rudynate]

The only kind of flight I like is one that's half empty.

[bigvalboy]

I love AM flights, and yes on Virgin, upgrading to first is often very easy on earlier flights, plus the airports are less crowded, security lines are often non-existent, and if I'm traveling domestically..ie. east to west, then gaining the 3 hours puts me on the west coast at a reasonable hour, essentially the day is not wasted... Coming back the other way, leaving early at first light of day still gets me into the east coast late, but the hour is not ungodly.

 

I naturally wake up most mornings around 5 AM anyway, so getting up early to travel just seems normal for me.

[Epigonos]

I am a total morning person. If you expect me to be coherent you had better contact me before 9:00 p.m. With that said I ALWAYS seek out early morning flights if possible. I fly United to Puerto Vallarta, twice a year, because they have an early flight leaving LAX at 7:55 a.m. With a flight out of LAX at that time I have to get up at 5:00 a.m. to get to the airport. I love this flight because even with the time difference, two hours, I arrive by 1:00 p.m. That allows me time to get to the condo and then go to the grocery store and liquor store and stock the place. I hate arriving at my destination in the late afternoon or evening as I feel I have wasted a day.

[bobchitown]

Yep. Hate them. To make a 6:00 am flight I need to set the alarm for 3:30, and only that late as I have everything ready up to the point where my cloths are laid out it out. I shower and shave the night before, so all I have to do is pee and I'm out the door. Sucks.

[+ purplekow]

I am a night person and love early morning flights. I stay up all night. Hit the airport without any traffic. Short lines at security, pop a sleeping pill while boarding and wake up wherever i need to be. I do not otherwise take sleeping pills and i can get away with the lowest dose since i am already tired. This only backfired on me once, kind of anyway. I was heading out, took my pill got my seat and my pillow. Woke up with a bit of drool on my chin and the plane is on the ground. Perfect. Well perfect except that the plane had been sitting at the gate and on the runway for nearly 5 hours and we had not left the ground. The woman next to me informed me when I opened my eyes: We are still in NY. We have been stuck here for hours and you have snored the entire time. Went back to sleep and woke up almost in LA.

[nate_sf]

I will pay hundreds more, fly coach instead of first class, or take an extra day off and spend the night en route to break the travel time into two days...

 

Likewise... I don't care how good the fare is at 6 am, I can't bring myself to do it. I'd much rather arrive the night before and have some download time and a good night's sleep before whatever I'm flying there for the next day.

 

Years ago when I was consulting I had to take several 6 am flights only because it was the only way to get where I needed to be when there were obligations on each end. What surprised me was how packed the airport was at that hour (this being SFO) - I'd look at the clock on the wall reading 5:15 or whatever the time and think it was so bizarre to have so many people up and going about business at that hour. Along those lines, I've been amazed when I've gone to the gym at that hour and also found it packed, as though it were 5 pm rather than 5 AM. There are morning people out there but I'm not one of them!

[trav05]

I am a morning person so have no problem with early flights. I only live 10 minutes from the airport, so that helps. I have a flight in Dec, from LA to Dallas that leaves at 5am. That's a bit more challenging .

[+ quoththeraven]

The woman next to me informed me when I opened my eyes: We are still in NY. We have been stuck here for hours and you have snored the entire time.

 

You are lucky she didn't clock you or at least nudge you to try to get you to stop snoring. Otherwise, though, I congratulate you on a creative solution to this dilemma.

 

I have a hard time with early morning anything anymore but I am also usually tired by mid-afternoon. Since my brain is freshest mid-morning, I'm probably better off traveling as early as I can stand it.

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

Early flights are not my favorite. Eight years ago, I slept through my alarm and completely missed the business trip. Since then, I'm concerned about it happening again and end up having a very restless sleep when I have an early flight.

[AdamSmith]

One surprising advantage I notice about getting older (56 now) is that sleep gets more fungible. That is, I can take it when it's available, and do without when it's not. No trouble dropping right off to sleep, for the night or for a nap; nor trouble waking up to do whatever, at whenever time I programmed myself for, before going to sleep. So getting up at 3:30 am last month to get a 6am flight worked fine. Hope this does not ever progress to old-age perpetual insomnia.

[Lookin]

The only kind of flight I like is one that's half empty.

 

I heard that. http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif

 

http://d30wzlxgiwic4.cloudfront.net/thumb/restaurant/photos/114/123/000/000123114_land_l.jpg

[+ Gar1eth]

I'm a night person too. I've always said I preferred being up all night to see the sunrise as opposed to getting up to see the sunrise. Now that I'm in my dotage however I find it isn't as true as it used to be. Now I only have a few good hours in the afternoon.

 

 

But as pertains to plane flights, Lord, yes I hate early morning ones. It's especially bad living near Seattle and having to get to the East Coast. I've sometimes stopped in Chicago for an overnight to keep from having to get up at an ung-dly hour or from arriving in the middle of the night. In fact I had my first overnight with Andrew Justice on just such a pit stop. And what a pit stop it was.

 

Vive La Pit Stop!!!

 

Gman

[mike carey]

In fact I had my first overnight with Andrew Justice on just such a pit stop. And what a pit stop it was.

Did you actually manage to catch your onward flight?

 

I agree with you on east-bound transcontinental flights (your continent or mine), you either leave at o-dark-thirty, or arrive in the middle of the night. Unless I know a city very well I don't like arriving late in the evening. So although I'm not impressed by early departures sometimes it's the way to go. And sometimes the red-eye is preferable. Conversely, Sydney to LA is far easier on that front, mid-morning departures arriving early morning, or late afternoon departures arriving early afternoon.

[+ Gar1eth]

Did you actually manage to catch your onward flight?

 

Thank you for asking. Yes, I did. I can't quite remember what time the plane left. It was probably 10 AM or later. Andrew even drove me to the airport on his way back home.

 

Gman

[bigvalboy]

If you're going east to west trans-continental, I will sometimes just take a red-eye out of LA, sleep all night, and that puts me on the east coast early in the AM, and then you have the whole day ahead of you.

[+ SundayZip]

One advantage of an early morning flight, for me, is that I spend more of the day at my destination and less time at the place that I'm leaving. My focus on the day of departure tends to be on getting ready and catching my flight, so getting that out of the way early lets me enjoy more of the day.

[AdamSmith]

If you're going east to west trans-continental, I will sometimes just take a red-eye out of LA, sleep all night, and that puts me on the east coast early in the AM, and then you have the whole day ahead of you.

 

Ditto. Unless I'm staying over to see a favorite hooker I always hot-foot it back East on the red-eye after business on the west coast. For exactly why you say.

 

I do miss the old days when coast-to-coast flights were wide-body and inevitably had 5 empty center seats in coach where you could stretch out and sleep fairly comfortably.

[mike carey]

I do miss the old days when coast-to-coast flights were wide-body and inevitably had 5 empty center seats in coach where you could stretch out and sleep fairly comfortably.

My last trans-con flight here was in a QF A330. I spread across my economy window seat and the vacant aisle seat next to me and had four solid hours' sleep. That was unusual though!!

[+ poolboy48220]

I had an early morning flight, 6:00AM Sunday or so, returning back to Detroit from a trip (work with a few days of pleasure time). I debated on getting early to bed Saturday so I could make the flight, or just stay out all night & get to the airport a mess. I opted for the mess, spent some time playing at a bathhouse in San Jose, slept a few hours there, and took off about 4:00AM for the airport straight from the bathhouse. No regrets.

[mike carey]

Years ago I had a 3am flight from Papeete to Sydney, and checked out of the hotel the previous morning. It was incredibly tiresome working out what to do for the interminable hours between checkout and departure. I don't know what I would do in a similar situation now.

[+ Funguy]

I'm a morning person and, screw the flight, I LOVE morning sex!

[Nebost]

Early flights are not my favorite. Eight years ago, I slept through my alarm and completely missed the business trip. Since then, I'm concerned about it happening again and end up having a very restless sleep when I have an early flight.

 

This is my issue with early morning flights too, I cannot sleep well the night before knowing I have to catch a flight, even though I am an early morning person anyway. I travel often for work, and I often opt for a Sun night flight instead of early Mon morning. It cuts into my weekend unfortunately, but overall I find I have more peace of mind.

[tanman4u]

While I'm not a fan of early morning flights I'll take that over a red-eye anytime.