While they have their downsides, some swear by the redeye flight. Let’s explore the ups and downs of traveling through the night.
Everyone who’s booked a flight has spent time scrolling through their options, trying to find the best price for the least amount of time in the air.
If this sounds familiar, you may also know the feeling of discovering an unbeatable deal, a hidden gem, only to see the time of departure and realise you’ve found yourself a redeye flight.
Basically, a redeye flight is one which leaves late at night and arrives at the destination early in the morning. This could mean jumping on a flight when you’d usually be tucking yourself into bed, and arriving around daybreak.
Redeye flights get their name from the red, bleary eyes sported by disheveled travelers stumbling out of the airport, neck pillows askew, who’ve spent the previous night attempting the unenviable task of getting some decent sleep on a plane, usually with various degrees of success.
Let’s get into the upsides of booking a redeye flight.
The first reason you may be compelled to book a redeye flight is price. Budgeting is a big part of travel, and a few hundred dollars saved on flights can be put towards any number of fun and exciting activities at your destination.
So why are redeye flights cheaper? Not everyone is clamoring for a late-night window seat next to a snoring neighbor or crying baby. Reduced demand means reduced cost, so if you’re willing to roll the dice on your sleep quality, a redeye flight might be for you.
Plus, instead of booking yet another night in a hotel, you can put that money towards a redeye flight and spend your evening on the way to your destination instead.
The second reason—and it’s a big one—is efficiency. Vacations are rare for many of us, and making the most of our time away is crucial. Imagine you’ve got yourself some time off and you’re planning to fly out for a big week away to meet friends and family. If you’re not on a redeye flight, you could lose half a day or more of precious vacation hours in transit.
This is where the beauty of redeye flight time comes in. Instead of boarding your plane on the morning of your first day off and watching the hours tick by in the air, you could jump on a plane the night before and stroll out of the airport with a full day of fun ahead of you.
What is the redeye flight good for other than these things? The third big factor is convenience. A peak-hour flight comes with peak-hour traffic, congestion at the airport, and a packed-out flight.
But if you’ve booked a redeye flight, you might get a smooth run to the airport and through security, and—if you’re lucky—you could hit the redeye flight lottery and find yourself with a few empty seats on either side of you, just waiting to be sprawled out on like a makeshift bed at 30,000 feet.
If you’re flying long-haul, like Sydney to London, the fact is you’re unlikely to be able to avoid a redeye flight at some stage in your journey, unless you plan for an extended layover midway through your journey. However, the upside is that when crossing time zones, the redeye flight can help with jet lag as you’ll get more chance of sleeping in line with your body’s natural rhythm, allowing for a smoother transition to a new time zone.
We’ve gone in-depth on the upsides of redeye flights, but there are definitely a few downsides.
If you don’t depart until late at night, you might find you’re just killing time leading up to the flight anyway, and feel completely exhausted by the time you have to go through the usual process at the airport.
Despite this, some people simply cannot sleep on an airplane, no matter how tired they are. If this is you, instead of experiencing that first-day-of-holiday joy upon arrival, or feeling on-point for a business trip, you may find yourself wanting to crawl out of the airport and into the nearest bed immediately after a redeye flight.
If you arrive at 6 in the morning, this could be an issue. Hotels generally won’t allow you to check in anytime before midday, and most shops will be closed, so you could be carting your luggage around town in a stupor for a few hours after landing.
Much like searching for and booking other flights, getting the right redeye flight for you will depend on your itinerary. Search around and find one that will suit your travel dates and won’t be too much of a struggle for your body clock.
How to book a redeye flight? Some travel sites will let you set preferences for departure and arrival time and lock in your flight prices. As redeye flights generally depart between 21:00 and 01:00, and arrive between 04:00 and 08:00, look for late-leaving and early-arriving flights for good deals cross-country or international.
Aside from this, you can usually sort by price and browse through your options going from lowest to highest.
You don’t need to prepare yourself for battle, but redeye flights can be a bit of a challenge and it’s worth getting yourself in the zone before you board.
Here’s a few tips to make your redeye flight time a bit easier:
Ultimately, it’s up to you as the traveler and your preference for cost, comfort and convenience. If you’re worried about your sleep quality and have a big event to attend the next day, you might be better off shelling out for a hotel and taking the easier option.
But if you’re confident you can handle a night in the sky and feel ready to go the morning after, you can discover great redeye flight deals with PayLater Travel.
Search flights easily and when you’ve found the one you want, with PayLater Travel you can lock in your flight prices. Then instead of stressing about paying upfront, spread the cost of your flight over a number of weeks in line with your holiday budget.
You can save some real cash and maximize your holiday time by booking a redeye flight on your next trip with PayLater Travel.
