How do YOU define a redeye?

Published: March 3, 2011

I always find it funny when friends complain about “jetlag,” despite not having switched timezones. Not too long ago I had a friend that flew from Washington to Tampa, and complained of “jetlag.” Wide eyed, I refrained from commenting.

Along the same lines, some people have a funny definition of what a redeye is. For example, I’ve heard people refer to the 11PM United flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco (arriving around 12:15AM) as a redeye. Not so much, in my opinion.

But that really does raise an interesting question, in my book — how do you define a redeye? Is it based on the length of the flight (at least x hours), the time it departs (late at night), the time it arrives (early in the morning), or what? Is it defined by whether you would reasonably go to bed upon landing or not?

Why do I ask? Well, this weekend I’m taking the late night Washington Dulles to San Francisco flight, departing at 10PM and arriving at 1AM (which is really 4AM in Washington). It’s a six hour flight and departs around the same time as the San Francisco to Washington Dulles redeye (local time), but the only difference is that you gain three hours instead of losing three hours. On one hand I do feel that it’s a redeye, as I’ll likely be conked out for most of it. At the same time, upon landing I’ll go straight to bed (as I should, given that it’s 1AM local time), so is it really a redeye?

I’m actually thinking I won’t get any sleep since this will be my firs flight with my new MacBook Air. The excitement of being able to work (or play Alpine Crawler) for six hours straight probably won’t wear off for a few weeks.

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GoAmtrak Diamond

March 5, 2011, 9:38 pm

The converse to the late IAD-SFO flight is going westbound early AM. If your body is on EST for the late westbound, it is functionally a red-eye. But I recently did SFO-JFK-SFO with an overnight layover. I stayed out all night with friends and took the 6 am JFK-SFO. To my body which is on PST, the flight departed at 3 am, at the end of a long, productive day. I slept four hours before landing at SFO at 915 am. I actually got more sleep than I would have gotten on a traditional transcon red-eye due to the headwind!

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FBKSan Guest

March 5, 2011, 4:39 pm

I have trouble with a minimum duration restriction, too. Take, for example, any west coast ORD flight that leaves around 11pm. These can be as short as 3-3.5 hours, but you arrive around 5:30am, having lost the whole night. I've always deemed these (brutal) redeyes. Since I normally leave out of DC, I tend to think of some short Europe flights (e.g., LHR) as redeyes, too. They're awfully short, especially when you count dinner. And I agree with Mark that DXB-IAD is a great night-to-morning flight timing-wise, one of the best I've done.

AJ Guest

March 3, 2011, 8:59 pm

Hm, I've always thought of this is being rather simple: (1) As an American, I find that the term 'red-eye' only applies to flights within North America. I don't think I've ever heard people say, "I'm taking the red-eye to London" or "to Hong Kong" before, because the entire term exists to distinguish from flights that operates on routes that aren't necessarily stressful very stressful, but in this case are. At least from California, it's implied that a service to London will be overnight, or that one to Hong Kong will screw up your entire system. =] Maybe on the NY-London or NY-Paris route, this term is used, but I would generally just say "overnight" in that case. (2) A think a red-eye implies a departure between 10PM and 1AM, last at least 4 hours, and require at least two time-zone changes (SFO-ORD, for example, would qualify). A flight shorter than that wouldn't necessarily result in an eye that's red enough =]

Carl Guest

March 3, 2011, 7:28 pm

I don't count most westbound TATL or TPAC flights as redeyes. Leave SFO at 1pm, fly 14 hours to HKG, arrive in time for dinner. That's not a redeye. Yes you will nap on the flight. Yes it is the middle of the night in the departure city. But you napped, and you will go to bed in a bed.

karung99 Guest

March 3, 2011, 5:17 pm

My red eyes are leaving west coast at 10 pm arrive in east coast at 5 or 6 a.m.

How do YOU define a redeye?

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