Red Eye Flights??

[ChickenCarlos]

How do i find and book red eye flights, i read that a typical red eye flight starts at 3 a.m., but when i look to book flights 6 a.m. is the earliest flights most airlines offer, is there a site or a way to look up all Red Eye flights with out going to every single airlines website??

 

[disfan07]

All red eye flights that I have been on from Claifornia to the East Coast leave Cali between 9 and 10 PM and arrive between 6 and 7 EST.

 

[DOOM1001]

I think they usually leave around 10pm to 1am.I've taken several of them from California and Vegas to Miami and with them leaving around 11pm to Midnight and it being a 5-6 hour flight means you arrive at 8-9am,hence the term red eye,as you barely get enough sleep if any.In one of those flights I actually had to be at work at 11am after landing at 9am with about an hour of sleep,I just can't seem to get sleep on a plane.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Very few flights leave at 3 AM, at least intentionally - noise ordinances and all that - especially where airports are in or near residential areas. Think about it - would you want planes taking off over your house in the middle of the night?

The above posters are pretty accurate, especially if you put together their time ranges. Any overnight flight would be a red-eye. If you're looking for flights like this, just go to a travel website like Orbitz or Travelocity and, where you have a choice of departure times, pick "11 PM" or "late evening".

 

[ChickenCarlos]

regardless of when they leave, besides expedia and stuff, is there another way to find red eye flights, i have looked on expedia, orbiz, etc, but they all seem to have long stop overs or very few options.

 

[ChickenCarlos]

Actually expedia had quit a bit to offer on this search, thanks for the info.

 

[skiingfast]

A few that come to mind are cross country flights that are flown by non domestic carriers. They then depart a coastal city the next morning to go home to places Like Japan and South Africa.

 

[ChickenCarlos]

im looking to take a red eye from cali to florida so basically we have a whole "extra" day at WDW when we arrive.

 

[Huff]

Use Kayak.com or Bing.com. Both have easy methods for specifying departure or arrival times for both ways of a round trip. They show almost all airlines. Southwest would not be shown on most any website other than their own.

 

[disfan07]

Where in california are you leaving from? When we fly red eyes we fly out of LAX and normally have a lot of options.

The only two airlines that I have flown from Cali on a red eye are American and Virgin (but I don't think Virgin has red eyes to orlando) but my dad has flown red eyes on Delta, and United as well.

 

[ChickenCarlos]

we are most likely flying out of Sacramento, but if we got a killer deal we would fly out of SF. i also have flown red eyes on United, Hawaiian and Continental. the only option that expedia and orbitz is giving me is for Continental, i will check kayak and bing. thanks for the info.

 

[PixieDustandEeyore]

Hi ChickenCarlos im flying out from Sacramento as well Im in your neck of the woods.
We are using the 10:40pm out of Sacramento with Delta connecting through Atlanta and we had a choice of 3 connectors and we chose the 1 hr and 50 layover arriving in Orlando at 9:20 am but there was one for 820am and 1020am for arrivals.
We also found a good overnight with continental but it was 50 dollars more at the time.
If you have any questions let me know as I was in your situation before we purchased as well!

 

[bumbershoot]

Once you put your info into kayak and get to the results page, look on the left hand side, down a bit...there's a red eye area.

I see continental and delta first off...

I'm sure if you left from San Francisco or San Jose you'd have more red eyes...

But I see a Delta flight that leaves at 10:40pm and gets in at 8:17am. Quick change in Atlanta, though. I remember taking a red eye from Seattle to Miami, had a change at O'Hare...walking through O'Hare at 2am or so...very weird experience.


Just remember that IF you don't sleep on the flight, your full day of arrival could be a bit hazy. And, of course, 8:17 = 5:17 to your body... And you might not get a room assigned until 4pm.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Red eye flights are usually cheaper than flights leaving earlier in the day (and I never heard of a flight leaving at 3 am - red eyes leave in the late evening), because they basically stink. You may have an extra day, but you will be exhausted due to lack of sleep.

 

[Brian Noble]

im looking to take a red eye from cali to florida so basically we have a whole "extra" day at WDW when we arrive

If you have kids old enough to know what is going on, this is a dangerous idea. Kids will often be too hyped-up to sleep on the plane, and then they are a complete wreck for at least the first day---*and* you don't have a hotel room until late that afternoon to retreat to.

Even adults can be hit-or-miss on sleeping on the plane. Unless you know you can do it, don't assume you can. And, if you don't sleep, the next *several* days will be unpleasant.

That said, I do take the infrequent red-eye back home from the left coast on business. Unfortunately, the direct flights to DTW are only about four hours, which just isn't long enough. So, I often intentionally route through ATL to get an extra few hours' sleep. Nap on the way to ATL, grab a small bite for breakfast, and another power nap to DTW.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Red eye flights are usually cheaper than flights leaving earlier in the day (and I never heard of a flight leaving at 3 am - red eyes leave in the late evening), because they basically stink. You may have an extra day, but you will be exhausted due to lack of sleep.

The OP isn't accounting for the time change. A 3 AM departure from Sacramento would, sure, get them to Orlando about 8:30 AM... Sacramento time. It'd be 11:30 AM Orlando time, and they're also not accounting for getting from the plane to their hotel (an hour or two) and checking in/getting settled, and then getting to a park.

All that, if the departure time the OP wants existed, I wouldn't expect to get to a park until mid-afternoon at the earliest.

 

[ChickenCarlos]

ya, you get to MCO about 10:30 check your bags at hotel because check-in is not till 4 then head to the park by noon at the latest, pretty much a extra day at the park.

 

[kaytieeldr]

We understand that's what you think, we really do. We just don't feel you comprehend the realities of overnight air travel. Odds are, you're NOT going to arrive alert and raring to go. More likely, you're going to walk around in a sleep-deprived daze. Later, you may not even remember what you did all day.

 

[goofyfordisney]

How do i find and book red eye flights, i read that a typical red eye flight starts at 3 a.m., but when i look to book flights 6 a.m. is the earliest flights most airlines offer, is there a site or a way to look up all Red Eye flights with out going to every single airlines website??

Hi,

We booked a Delta red-eye flight out of SFO that departs at around 6:00 pm - connecting flight in LAX. (I think we have a 1.5 hour layover in LAX). Our flight arrives in MCO at around 6:30 am

Taking the red-eye will give us a little more time in WDW...we don't plan on doing much the first day, just in case we are tired. We got a great fare of $180 pp RT!

BTW...I'm the proud mom of a son who attends Chico State! He graduates in December! Go Wildcats!

Hope you have a great trip!

 

[PixieDustandEeyore]

OP as we are doing the exact same thing as you from SMF to MCO 10:40pm leaving arriving 9:45 am... and we do red eyes as our preference I was to reccommend something.
Have your packing done the day before you leave
then at 10 or 11pm PST we take a benadryl or tylenol pm (we are too hyped to sleep) and attempt a minimum 8 hr sleep (We're fortunate we can sleep that long)
and we sleep in the next day but not too late and we take it easy that day and by the time we board the plane we're tired and sleep on the plane it works well for us.