Night owls: how do you deal with early morning flights?

By: Ben Schlappig

Published: October 29, 2010

17 comments

Yes, I’m a night owl, unfortunately. Well, it’s not really unfortunate, I kind of don’t mind. I find that I’m most productive late at night, so I guess it all works out in the end. The only unfortunate part of being a night owl is that I only take morning flights out of TPA (my home airport), departing anywhere between 6AM and 9AM. Most often I’m on a 7AM flight, as I am tomorrow morning, meaning I have to get up at 4:30AM. That’s maybe an hour or two before when I typically go to bed.

So what’s one to do? I’ve tried just about everything. I find that I’m the most tired in the morning when I do what’s natural, which is going to bed at 3AM and napping for an hour or two. I don’t usually end up sleeping, since I’m scared I’ll miss my alarm. For a while I was just pulling all nighters, and then trying my best to get some sleep on the morning flight. But I’ve developed a new strategy, which, as crazy as it is, works better than the other two strategies I’ve tried in the past.

I typically get tired at around 8PM or so (I guess it’s my version of the afternoon crash), so I decide to go to bed then. While I’m dead tired, I always wake up at around 11:30PM, wide awake. Still that’s usually 3-4 hours of sleep, better than I’d get otherwise. Then I just work all night till it’s time to prepare for my flight.

Anyway, I’ve found it to be the next best thing to being a rational person and going to bed at a reasonable time.

So, fellow night owls, what’s your strategy?

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GoAmtrak Diamond

October 31, 2010, 5:46 pm

I'm a night owl and love me some melatonin, especially if I'm taking the 6a flight out of OAK and thus have to catch SuperShuttle from the city at 3a (as I'm doing thus Thursday). My routine is to wake up much earlier than usual the day before, have a productive day and get as much physical activity as possible, take a melatonin pill before a light dinner and a very hot shower, and be in bed by 7p at the latest. It takes discipline but it works every time. Sure, I can sleep on the plane if need be. But I mostly only sleep on red-eyes and strongly prefer waking up rested if the night is spent on terra firma and starting the trip with batteries charged. Pre-flight all-nighters are just miserable.

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FriendlySkies Guest

October 31, 2010, 2:27 pm

Depends. Sometimes I will sleep for a couple of hours, and then get up, shower, and then do a few things before heading out. Lately, I've been staying at airport hotels when I have early flights 8am, or earlier. This means that I can cut out the 45 minute drive, and get a few extra minutes of sleep.. I also grab a bit of sleep on the flight, if I am an in F, and the meal has already been served.

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mowogo Member

October 31, 2010, 8:31 am

I will second the melatonin, especially when you pair it with milk, taking it when you want to try to go to sleep. I naturally stay up late, but when working have to leave my apartment shortly after 4am. Generally I force myself to sleep about 11pm at the latest. Also, one thing worth trying is going to bed early, and putting a good eye mask on. I've found even when off-cycle, the eye masks I've gotten at Crowne Plazas help me get to sleep whenever

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oleg Guest

October 31, 2010, 1:21 am

Excellent post - think I've tried of all your approaches (granted not normally tired enough at 8 to get that amount of sleep - though will have to experiment further). While a number of earlier comments about adjusting sleeping schedule or pills could potentially work on individual cases, I'm not sure they're good or desirable for a more regular flying schedule (e.g. 6am weekend flight followed by sleeping in for most of the week, then back 6am) or long term effects of sleeping pills. Myself tend to go with the stay up route and sleep on the first few flights. Typically that means first two flights I'm fully asleep (in a good scenario, they're both at least a couple of hours long each; although more frequently the first is a tiny hop to a hub in which case sleep is shifted to 2nd flight and maybe a nap on the third). Feel fully rested and awake to enjoy the flights back. Slightly annoying for those few hours right before the flight and more importantly right after you wake up (always want to take a shower then, but undoubtedly in some airport without an appropriate lounge). So yes, no good solution.

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Rich Gold

October 30, 2010, 10:50 pm

Well I'm in my 40s and still mostly a night owl. I don't use an alarm clock for work but usually make it in around 9am generally. I'm with you about not getting much sleep because you are worried about oversleeping. I've also tried the stay up all night or adjusting my schedule a week ahead of time (that is seldom practical). Unfortunately I don't have a good solution. I'm especially leery of drugs/alcohol. In case of flight issues or emergencies I'd rather not be on some medication. I wish I was one of those who could just sleep on planes but that rarely happens. Hopefully my upcoming Germany trip in December I will be able to sleep for a few hrs. At least it is on Lufthansa and in 1st.

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