Poll: Flying daytime J vs Nighttime J

[Kremmen]

I can't sleep sitting up, unless heavily sedated by alcohol. (or possibly other drugs too, but I've not tried that) This makes for a horrible (or no) sleeping experience in Y, unless I can get 3-4 seats to myself. If I can be horizontal, I can sleep. That can work at special times, such as flying to the USA from Asia within a day of Thanksgiving, when each passenger in Y has a whole row. Even the old recliner business class of United's 744 back a decade ago worked for me, so long as I was in a window seat upstairs, as I could put my feet on the storage compartments and still basically be horizontal. (I sometimes managed over 8 hours sleep on those flights.) From my point of view, flat business class is almost as good as a bed on the ground. It may also save a night's accommodation.

There are other advantages to night flights specifically coming from Australia (except for Sydney with its curfew). If I'm flying to Asia, most flights are either early morning or late night. For a late night flight, I can make my way stress-free and cheaply to the airport and spend a few hours having dinner and drinks in the lounge. What if I have, say, a 7:30am CX flight MEL-HKG? (And I actually do have one booked, so it's not just theoretical.) Not only is it most disruptive and unpleasant to have to get up in time for it, but I miss out on extended time in the lounge. Then, there's the added issue of no public transport running early enough (in suburbia, except on a weekend) to get to the airport by, say, 5:30am. So, there's a parking/taxi/uber/hotel cost on top to even be able to get to the flight.

 

[kermatu]

I rarely sleep much on planes, and even more rare that I get a lie-flat bed actually made up so I really just doze. I'm luckily never quite so hard-up on time for longer-haul flights that I have to be 100% on arrival so can usually build in a day for recovery.

So daytime J or F flights of 8-12 hours length for me. Added advantage is that me having shades open or lights on doesn't have a legitimate negative impact on others.

Greater than 12 it doesn't really matter as I would sleep some of the time and for most routes I imagine you'd get some day/night combo.

 

[OZDUCK]

I used to be able to sleep anywhere anytime but then I discovered that I had sleep apnea. Now I am on the CPAP machine, about 11 years, and my sleep patterns regularised that (dis)ability has disappeared. Sleep is definitely not possible in Y, apart from 10 minutes here or there, even on longish flights like Singapore - Paris.

Even in J I can't really get into a proper sleep, with or without using the CPAP machine. But at least I am comfortable while I am awake I usually prefer to travel overnight and arrive early enough in the day so as to get some walking in before the first nights sleep and am usually all set to go the next day.

 

[BorisWood]

Where ever possible my wife and I fly during the day time. Despite flying J neither of us sleeps well on a plane so a real bed after a flight is welcome. Being retired, time is not critical so we usually take an extra day or 2 to get to Europe or USA with JAL via Sydney and Tokyo from Melbourne.

 

[LadyC]

Daytime preference here. Travelling with MasterC during the day is much easier - overnight flights seem to throw routine out and nobody gets any sleep!

 

[clipped_wings]

Daytime preference here. Travelling with MasterC during the day is much easier - overnight flights seem to throw routine out and nobody gets any sleep!

Oh totally know what you mean. Children really dictate how the smooth the flight is going to be. And if they ain't sleeping.....NO-ONE IS.

Thanks goodness for IFE these days. Our first trip abroad as a young family had the single-screen-for-everyone. Dark days, people.

Dark days indeed.

 

[UP4014]

Daytime.

I managed to fluke a daytime QF lax to Syd once and it was great and felt great afterward.

 

[kookaburra75]

Hi everyone

You are flying to a distant (>8 hours) destination and have the choice of flying J on a daytime flight or J on a night time flight. A good example of this is Melbourne to Tokyo.

Which do you choose and why? Choose wisely grasshopper.

cheers Peter

As Tokyo is pretty much the same time zone, and therefore no jet lag, I would go the day flight so when I arrived I could dump the bags at the hotel and get stuck into the night life. If however, I was flying across 4+ hours of time zones, I would probably go the night flight and try and get some rest - particularly if flying east - and then dump the bags and get into the buzz of where I was going to. Unless I had to go to meetings, but that is another thread

 

[kookaburra75]

Oh totally know what you mean. Children really dictate how the smooth the flight is going to be. And if they ain't sleeping.....NO-ONE IS.

Thanks goodness for IFE these days. Our first trip abroad as a young family had the single-screen-for-everyone. Dark days, people.

Dark days indeed.

Being in the third phase of life (after children) I had forgotten what that phase (during children) was like. I remember young MissK on my lap, dragging out everything from the seatback pocket, tearing off the cover from the headrest of the seat in front of us, and we hadn't even taxied out, and thinking, only 8 more hours... but we both survived

 

[Renato1]

Not true - there are some (like me) who can, IN NO WAY, sleep sitting up. In J, at least I get to lie down - even then I have to take a couple of sleeping pills - mild, over-the-counter ones work for me, as I never take them otherwise, so I have no built-up resistance to them.

I do a long-haul (Melbourne to Warsaw, on Emirates via Dubai) twice a year. The Melbourne-Dubai leg is around 13-14 hours which allows me to sleep for around 6 or 7 hours - I arrive in Dubai in pretty good nick. The 6-hours Dubai to Warsaw leg arrives at around 11am in Warsaw. That 6-7 hours sleep allows me to spend the rest of my first day in Warsaw to organise the domestic stuff I need for my usual month-long stay (I stay in an apartment, so I do a bit of supermarket shopping, top-up my local mobile account, top-up my public transport card, catch up with local news and I'm ready to go the next morning).

Thanks, though I think we are all somewhat different. Very oddly, I never have a problem sleeping upright in local trains, but can't do it in the much better seats in Economy on planes.

Also oddly enough, when I do the long trips like you do, despite only getting one or two hours sleep on the plane, I don't have any great difficulty on arrival doing the things like you do (and doing so without the use of stimulants like No-Doz). My wife, on the other hand is incapable of doing that, even though she sleeps longer than me on the plane.

Actually, now that I think about it - I may be better off taking four or five No-Doz tablets on the next trip, to make sure I really enjoy the entertainment in Economy.
Regards,
Renato

 

[Forg]

Thanks, though I think we are all somewhat different. Very oddly, I never have a problem sleeping upright in local trains, but can't do it in the much better seats in Economy on planes.

When train-sleeping, were you wedged in with someone next to you?
I dozed through my (Sydney) stop on the way to work a few times (a bit scary actually - fall asleep with full train, wake up with that post-doze confusion and the train’s empty - aliens took ‘em?!), but I think you’re more jammed-in into an economy ‘plane seat despite the design being more ergonomic. Maybe it’s also the old “worrying about not being able to sleep keeping me awake” thing.

 

[Renato1]

When train-sleeping, were you wedged in with someone next to you?
I dozed through my (Sydney) stop on the way to work a few times (a bit scary actually - fall asleep with full train, wake up with that post-doze confusion and the train’s empty - aliens took ‘em?!), but I think you’re more jammed-in into an economy ‘plane seat despite the design being more ergonomic. Maybe it’s also the old “worrying about not being able to sleep keeping me awake” thing.

Thanks for your thoughts. But no, when I was working I'd always be able to get a seat next to a wall in the train against which I could lean. I could rarely sleep between two people, if I failed to get a good spot..

For some strange reason, except for one occasion, I'd always wake up three stops before I had to get off.
Regards,
Renato