There are all kinds of takes out there on the internet, though here’s a travel take I couldn’t possibly disagree more with.
In this post:
“Accept that you’ve aged out of 7AM flights”
A post by a Twitter/X user is going sort of viral, and it caught my attention. It simply says:
at some point you have to accept that you’ve aged out of 7am flights
Presumably the intent behind this is that people book early morning flights either because they’re cheaper, or because it sounds nice to get to a destination early, without consideration for the fact that you might have to get up earlier than usual.
The responses to this post are interesting, with some people agreeing, and some disagreeing. Now, personally I 100% disagree with this take (for reasons I’ll get into below), but what’s interesting is that even the posts disagreeing with the concept have different logic than I do. Like, many people argue that you can simply pull an all nighter and then sleep on the flight, which is… not the right take, in my opinion.
Flying in the morning is the best, period!
Admittedly I’m an “early to bed and early to rise” person, so for me, a 7AM flight doesn’t even require setting in an alarm. But the point of this post isn’t to humbly brag about the glorious rest I get each night at the expense of having a life, but instead, it’s to say that I think morning flights are the move in just about every way, assuming your goal is to get to your destination efficiently:
- Airlines operate much more smoothly in the mornings, since they’re often “resetting” for the day, so you’re less likely to be delayed; the later in the day it gets, the more likely you’ll have issues, due to lack of aircraft, bad weather, crew shortages, air traffic control delays, etc.
- It’s not true everywhere, but airports are often the most pleasant when you’re on the first bank of flights; the terminal isn’t as chaotic, lounges often aren’t as busy, etc.
- It’s almost always easiest to get to the airport early in the morning, given lack of traffic (admittedly in cities with good public transportation, it might be a different story)
Domestically, I’d say that I book the first flight of the morning 90% of the time, since that just usually leads to the smoothest travel experience. And for that 10% of the time where I go against my better judgment (or my schedule just doesn’t allow an early flight), I feel like things go wrong half the time.
Honestly, the one common downside to morning flights is the odor, given how many people seem to have to use the bathroom (and aircraft lavatory etiquette leaves a lot to be desired).
Regarding the above social media post, I’d actually add another slightly different take. Yes, maybe people temporarily age out of booking early morning flights, but I think eventually they age back into them, give that many older people tend to keep an early schedule.
Bottom line
While I know that many people avoid early morning flights, personally, I think traveling in the morning is the way to go. Admittedly I’m biased, since I’m a morning person. However, the logic goes way beyond that — the earlier in the day you fly, the less likely you are to encounter operational issues.
I find that just about every aspect of the travel experience is smoother in the morning, so at least for domestic flights, I’ll almost always seek out the first flight possible.
Where do you stand on morning flights — are they worth seeking out or avoiding?
I like early morning flights, but issue sometimes is when traveling somewhere and staying in a hotel preflight with platinum/diamond status or something like an FHR stay, am forced to give up the breakfast and late checkout perks. Ideal would be if there were a way to receive breakfast even at 4am in such scenario!
"It’s not true everywhere, but airports are often the most pleasant when you’re on the first bank of flights; the terminal isn’t as chaotic, lounges often aren’t as busy, etc."
My experience is that that cheapie airlines cram all their flights into a short window in the early AM - I presume so their staff can work multiple flights - then be sent home.
So if you like standing in long lines, go for it.
I wish there were far more evening flights! I love waking up @ my destination. If I could fly after my workday to the other side of the country to sleep---sign me up for a lifetime of flights.
Ben, not sure if the early morning flights will work when you travel with kids. Everything takes longer with kids just to even get out the door to the airport. LOL (or not LOL).
This is so situational. I love that early AM flights are usually on time and I’m not opposed to them. However, I live so far from the airport that for a flight at 0600 it’s an 0200 wake-up and 0230 departure to drive on deserted Kansas backcountry roads which in the winter is far from appealing. I pretty much will always do an airport hotel the night before if my flight is before 0900 to...
This is so situational. I love that early AM flights are usually on time and I’m not opposed to them. However, I live so far from the airport that for a flight at 0600 it’s an 0200 wake-up and 0230 departure to drive on deserted Kansas backcountry roads which in the winter is far from appealing. I pretty much will always do an airport hotel the night before if my flight is before 0900 to get some decent sleep, but that eats into the potential cost saving of that early flight. I usually wake between 6 and 7 without an alarm so it’s a huge benefit to me to wake up and meander to the airport versus drag myself out of bed at 2.
From other cities when I’m nearer the airport on a work trip, the value proposition is totally different.
"at some point you have to accept that you've aged out of 7am flights"
this is a "misery loves company" statement for people who have limited themselves and must have an age bracket / demographic justification for it. my 19 year old cousin struggles to get up early and has almost no stamina. my grandfather is 75, has constantly woken up early all his life and just climbed ojos del salado with my 49 year old father
Another downside on morning flights is breakfast on planes and lounges are gross. Will take lunch or dinner anytime over it.
Breakfasts in AA Flagship lounges are consistently good, with smoked salmon, crispy thick cut bacon, etc.
- Team ex-US OWS
If you naturally wake up that early, then it's clearly fine. But otherwise the early alarm wipes out all other benefits morning flights may have. Catching the 6 AM bank out of my local airport means waking up at 1:45, which to me means basically not sleeping at all as my normal bedtime is somewhere between midnight and four.
I happen to collect data on the traveling older adult population for my work, and while I can't share details, more older adults over 70 seem to like mid-morning to later flights vs early morning flights.
I'm 37 years old. I've never been a morning person, and I don't think I ever will be. I don't book flights before 9am if another one is available.
Agreed with a lot of other comments. Whatever gets me there that allows me to maximize the amount of daylight when I arrive
some of us travel for work and don't have much of a choice
This is incorrect. The best flight of the day is the latest non-redeye flight to maximize daylight hours in your vacation destination + minimize PTO days.
If you're going from the East Coast to the West Coast, you work a 9-5, go to the airport from your office, and take a westbound 6:30 p.m. flight. Check into your hotel at 10 p.m. and wake up in your destination.
If you're going eastbound, you take...
This is incorrect. The best flight of the day is the latest non-redeye flight to maximize daylight hours in your vacation destination + minimize PTO days.
If you're going from the East Coast to the West Coast, you work a 9-5, go to the airport from your office, and take a westbound 6:30 p.m. flight. Check into your hotel at 10 p.m. and wake up in your destination.
If you're going eastbound, you take the ~4:00 p.m. departure out of SFO/LAX to EWR/IAD to maximize hours in California, then get home around 2:00 a.m. and go to sleep.
If you're leaving Europe, you take the last westbound flight (depart 5:00 p.m., land 8:00 p.m. usually) to get a full day in of being a tourist before going to the airport at 3:30 p.m.
If you're just doing a quick hop up and down the coast, you still want to leave after work and get to your destination so you don't blow the first 4 hours of the day in transit.
this is more an issue in the middle of the country (but also Florida), but early morning (or just morning) flights also often have better weather since the heat and humidity of summer thunderstorms usually develop in the afternoon rather than early morning.
Any frequent ORD, DFW, IAH, or DEN flyer can sympathize with working all day with great weather only to see thunderstorms develop all around you
I agree - I always take the first early flight out of DCA. Only ones I more recently are avoiding are the 5am ones (6am ok). TSA doesn't open until 4am at DCA now, and there is a big line - even for both CLEAR and TSAPre (less of an issue when they opened at 3am - and once was 24h. First AA lounge opens at 4:15am. But even that doesn't work much for a...
I agree - I always take the first early flight out of DCA. Only ones I more recently are avoiding are the 5am ones (6am ok). TSA doesn't open until 4am at DCA now, and there is a big line - even for both CLEAR and TSAPre (less of an issue when they opened at 3am - and once was 24h. First AA lounge opens at 4:15am. But even that doesn't work much for a 5am with boarding at 4:20am.
If you want to use AmEx lounge that doesn't open until 5am and then limited service until 6am.
Normally my time from exiting my front door to walking into the AA club is 20 minute, when CLEAR is not backed up. Have taxi waiting when I walk out of the house.
Yousr front door is in the airport?
It takes almost 20 minutes from Centurion lounge to E gates.
If it's a 6 or 7am flight I would check into an airport hotel the night before so I can get a few hours of sleep and not have to get up at 3AM. Also not entirely confident my rideshare would show up at that early hour and don't want to chance it.
It's really my only use case for hilton and marriott points these days. Don't care about room upgrades or breakfast since I'm...
If it's a 6 or 7am flight I would check into an airport hotel the night before so I can get a few hours of sleep and not have to get up at 3AM. Also not entirely confident my rideshare would show up at that early hour and don't want to chance it.
It's really my only use case for hilton and marriott points these days. Don't care about room upgrades or breakfast since I'm just there for a few hours sleep. The most important thing is a efficient hotel shuttle to the airport. Bonus if the hotel is connected to the terminal but that's rare
@eskimo that I definitely agree with. I tried another red eye earlier this year and it killed me for two days.
It depends on how early. 7am is generally fine with me, you need to be at the airport 5am or 5:30am, which is fine. But 6am flights, or even earlier ones, are brutal because of a 3am or 4am arrival to the airport. Also lounges often only open at 5am or even later, so services for very early flights are often very limited.
I never aged into them. I hate early flights. My wife, an FA, also avoids very early reports.
Truth is, they're the most on-time flights because most of the time, the planes are sitting on the ground till 6am, but I'm absolutely not a morning person.
You are most definitely a morning person :)
My issue with super early flights is that public transit isn't great at the wee hours of the morning. That said, if I get upgraded to a premium cabin, it's worth the trouble.
And at the airport, it's always 5 o'clock somewhere. No qualms about ordering an eye-opener, preferably on the rocks.
Morning people are simply the worst! Just thinking about getting up early makes me physically uncomfortable.
I used to like early morning flights (and still prefer them) but things are changing a but. The first thing that has definitely changed (at least at my home airport) is that early mornings are extremely chaotic now. It is very common now for me to get to the airport by 5:30AM and the TSA line is sometimes out of the terminal. Forget about getting into a Delta lounge that early in the morning as...
I used to like early morning flights (and still prefer them) but things are changing a but. The first thing that has definitely changed (at least at my home airport) is that early mornings are extremely chaotic now. It is very common now for me to get to the airport by 5:30AM and the TSA line is sometimes out of the terminal. Forget about getting into a Delta lounge that early in the morning as lines are huge. Not sure why but more and more mid morning flights are now the less chaotic time to fly. The other thing that I have about very early morning flights is that my sleep habit has changed and I literally can't sleep well the night before if I have to wake up very early. I wake up several times during the night and keep starring at the clock to check if I haven't missed the alarm clock. I hate that.
This is kind of silly. Of course it all depends on the route, whether international, the time zones you are crossing, and even which carrier and service.
I much prefer a noonish flight on EK from DXB-LHR as one example. But, sure, an LAX-JFK 7AM would be preferred for that route. It's all route dependent. UA has two flights now to MNL from SFO. I much prefer the late evening departure over the early afternoon option to be able to go straight to sleep for nine hours.
+1 definitely depends on the routes. A good example are westbound flights from Europe to the US, which mostly depart in the morning or early afternoon hours. If connecting from another city the same-day, you probably need to take a 6AM flight.
I personally avoid redeyes on domestic US flights at all costs.
I am 39 and find it easier to get up earlier for flights. Why would you not want to leave early to almost guarantee an on time arrival
Probably a moot point these days, but the early mornings flights are popular with business traveler road warriors. More competition for upgrades
I personally hate them. Don’t get me wrong, everything said is correct (easy travel to the airport, flights on time, etc) but I hate waking up to catch them. A 06:00 flight means getting up at 3:30. I don’t sleep much on planes. So even if I get to my destination early, I’m still dragging all day. I can’t force myself to sleep early, so I’m usually at best getting four hours of sleep and I can’t recover, no matter how much coffee I have.
Because that laid-back Spanish countryside life has made you WEAK, senor. ;)
6am is better than 6pm, especially when you avoid afternoon rush hour on the roads and then the grumpy business animals in the terminal.
However there’s nothing more civilised than a noon flight: normal night sleep before, cruise to the airport, stroll onto the flight and order a cocktail after the seat-belt signs go out. Styling.
Early flights are useful. If having to make a connection, the likelihood of that working are improved. Same with a doctor's appointment. Nobody wants a late afternoon appointment when your wait will be longer.
I definitely try to avoid redeyes even in first. The issue with early morning flights is that it often messes with my sleep schedule. For a 7AM flight you need to be at the airport by 6AM which means a very early morning. Best flights are early afternoon that get you there even with a delay by evening. But of course other schedule requirements, connections, etc. ultimately decide what time I take a flight.
I personally hate early morning flights, not because I can't get up early if I have to, but because I develop anxiety about missing my alarm to get to the airport. Constantly waking up to check the clock and make sure my alarm is set takes a toll.
If I have a choice though, I'd take the early morning flight over a red-eye.
The problem is not the 7 am flight. It's that, if the airport is a significant distance away, you end up having to get up at 3:00 or 4:00 am, or maybe even earlier, to get there on time. When I was younger, that was no problem. Now, in middle age, if I don't get a solid 6 hours of sleep (at least; 7 is better), I'm groggy all day and it's very unpleasant. On...
The problem is not the 7 am flight. It's that, if the airport is a significant distance away, you end up having to get up at 3:00 or 4:00 am, or maybe even earlier, to get there on time. When I was younger, that was no problem. Now, in middle age, if I don't get a solid 6 hours of sleep (at least; 7 is better), I'm groggy all day and it's very unpleasant. On top of that, there are about a zillion scientific studies indicating that getting enough sleep is extremely important for your health. I can't just go to bed at 8 pm in order to wake up at 3 am; my body won't let me.
For the same reasons, I detest red-eyes even more in economy - although they are fine in lie-flat business if the flight is long enough.
More like you age into them!
I find it easier to fly early than at redeye time as a vintage person.
Ben, wait until your kids are teens and find out if they're enthusiastic about waking up and flying early. Mine weren't!
Some older blighters might be forced out of their beds in the early hours by their bladder, others remain in control …. :-)
Some say that one must “Accept that you’ve aged out of 7AM flights”, while others contend that “You age out of redeye flights”.
Balderdash!
It all boils down to personal preference in the end.
More click-bait Ben, yes?
When will AeroB13a "age out" of OMAAT?
Ridiculous premise. Morning flights have their advantage, and daytime flights as well. You do age out of travel, when your body and possibly mind can no longer perform the needed tasks while moving along. We've witnessed this with both our parents and it's sad and comes way too fast in life.
It sounds as if you might be feeling the pace of modern life Jim, however, some of us crusty old blighters are up for a lot more life yet don’t you know …. :-)
I've never been a morning person, so I've always tried to avoid morning flights. Even a 9am flight sucks lol. I will pay more to fly later.
I hate how most of the delta perks I get (companion ticket or upgrade passes) are only for the 7am flight.
I took the tweet as a real sign of immaturity, quite frankly. "Aging out" implies to me an inability to grow up, nut up, do the travel efficiently, and get back home. Instead she probably needs two neck pillows, a giant Stanley cup and a recovery day after a long mid-day flight from BOS to NYC. I see she is some type of "founder" but I see a serious lack of adulting.
I despise the 6 am flight until I land at 8-9 at my destination, refuel w/ coffee & have a full day ahead of me!
I will say, I try to avoid flights that are so early that the first public transit of the morning won’t get me there in time, I save a lot more money by flying at 7:30 am vs 6 am & the plane would’ve overnighted on the ground unless it’s from one of the fewer redeyes
You age out of redeye flights.
100%.