6:30am Flights BAD IDEA!

[Sheribo]

I've recently moved from montreal to ottawa and my dad was warning me not to bother showing up the usual 2-3 hours before the 6 am flight. Thats because in montreal they don't open that early! However we called to find out if thats the case and in ottawa they are open.

We are flying Ottawa-Montreal-Orlando in November. Our flight leaves at *gulp* 5:50am!! I HATE mornings but we had enough points to book business class so hopefully I'll sleep on the way.

 

[chimo2u]

We are flying from Alberta, and this trip I chose to fly all the way through with AC instead of a United affiliate... We are leaving Alberta at 1:05 am and arriving Toronto at 6:55 am for a connection from TO to Orlando at 10:00 am. we will get into Orlando shorly after 12:30 noon. I hope we aren't too tired This day will just be used to relax and get settled into our resort, perhaps a swim and supper. The next day we'll start the touring!
On the way home, our flight leaves Orlando at 1:30 PM and we will be back in Alberta around 8:00pm.....much better than the 12:30 am arrival time of our last trip! We will see how the red eye route goes to see if we ever chose to do it again in the future!
Marie

 

[dis_guy]

Red-eyes can be OK and I've done a bunch of them from YEG to YYZ. Oddly, my most vivid memory of those flights was how gray and dirty Toronto looks at 4 or 5 AM as we came in to land. Made me feel grubby, too.

If you can sleep on a plane, the red-eyes can be great.

 

[mcvixen]

That's funny, we're scheduled for a return flight of 8:45 pm (or 9:10 pm? can't remember), and we have our 5 year old to worry about.

The funny thing is that our TA actually recommended that it was better to fly out late with a child, rather than really early. I think her quote was "if your child is passed out and sleeping on the plane, believe me, the other guests will thank you!"

 

[Disneyof3]

I'm not a expert at flying early or late, but last year we had a flight booked for 5:45am and was suppose to arrive in MCO at around 11:30am. Flight was cancelled due to the weather and we ended up flying out of Rochester later on in the day. If we had a later flight we wouldn't of made the Rochester drive and flight, in return we would of missed a whole day and a 1/2 in WDW. This March we are trying again to fly out of Buffalo at 5:45 am again and hopefully this time the flight isn't cancelled due to weather. When we fly back though I try and get a later flight to spend as much time at WDW as possible. So far the latest flights are 6pm.

 

[Charleyann]

we have done the 6:30am thing from MCO before never again this time it was 11:50am much better we where home by 10:30pm ( 6 hr drive from airport )

I would never again fly home early morning. I was wiped out by the time we got back to Fredericton. Our flight was 6:30 and we were up at 3 am. Couldn't get to sleep until midnight, so was going on 3 hrs of sleep.

This time. Taking the afternoon, direct flight from MCO and staying in Portland with the Reverse park and fly program!!!!

I can relax and drive home leisurely.....

Charleyann

 

[laura001]

DH and I always fly the early flight out of Buffalo. We always spend our first day at the water park, so we fly, arrive at our resort and hit the water park by noonish! We can have a little snooze after a nice swim and frozen drinks. After that we always go for a nice dinner and fireworks (usually Epcot).

The night before we leave, I usually have a couple of glasses of wine just after dinner and hit the pillow by about 9:00, that way if I am getting up around 3:30 I have had 6 1/2 hours of sleep already!

 

[Goofy's apprentice]

We always take the 7 am flight out of Buffalo. Nothing beats being at the pool by 11 am. After years of driving to Orlando, this still feels like a treat. If we are tired we just take a nap in the afternoon. Most of the time we are so excited to be on vacation, tired doesn't enter into it.

On the way home, we take one of the later flights. I can't imagine getting up early to go home. Sometimes we take the mid afternoon flight but lately it has been the flight that gets us to Buffalo after 10. We only have a 45 minute or so drive home from there so it works quite well.

Our early flight out got cancelled last year as well. We benefited from the fact that we were the first plane cancelled and could rebook. The whole day eventually go cancelled and many had to wait a few days for rescheduling, we just headed home again after rescheduling and came back the next morning. Lost a day of vacation but that happens with winter travel.

 

[MECH8T7]

When we book the flights, we always talk ourselves into booking an early, early flight at the start of the vacation. But when travel day arrives, we routinely complain to ourselves about having to wake up so early and vow that will book a later flight next trip but we never do.

On balance, getting on the first flight of the day has worked really well for us as we always enjoy having at least the full afternoon and evening of our first day of vacation to enjoy at WDW.

However, on one trip, the early departure was a life saver. It was March break and we were booked on a 7-day DCL cruise. We were flying down to Orlando early to spend a fews days at WDW beforehand and were booked on a 6:30 am AC flight from Pearson. The night before I had photocopied the picture pages of everyone's passport (in case somebody lost their passport on the trip) and forgot to retrieve my youngest daughter's passport from the photocopier glass after copying.

We arrived at the airport just over 90 minutes before the flight and I only realized at the AC check-in counter that I did not have my daughter's passport, though I did have all the photocopies. Rebooking our family of 5 on a later flight that day was basically a non-starter because the AC flights to MCO were booked solid that day and for the next couple of days; they couldn't even assure us of getting two seats for later that day. Even if we were able to get through U.S. customs at Pearson on the basis of the photocopied passport page, I was concerned that DCL would deny my daughter boarding on the cruise without the passport. I was basically panicking like crazy inside at this point, as was now less than 75 minutes until the flight departure.

I decided to check-in us all in for the flight and send my wife and 3 kids to the U.S. customs line to try to get through with the photocopied passport and catch the flight. Meanwhile, I would try to race home to get the passport and, if I didn't make it back in time, I would go on standby for the next available seat...but who knows when. I raced down to the taxi cab / limo stand at the arrivals level but, of course, there was nobody there since no flights arrived that early. I then ran to the long-term parking lot at Terminal I (thank god we parked there) grabbed our van and drove myself home, usually a 20 minute drive each way when traffic is light. I would be embarassed to say how fast I was driving and, as there were tracts of snow on the 401, the driving conditions were not the best. When I got home, my daughter's passport was exactly where I thought (or hoped) it would be and, miraculously, I made it back to the airport, parked the van and returned to the AC check-in counter with about 15 minutes to spare. The AC agent called ahead to the gate to advise that I had arrived and, as there were no line-ups at U.S. customs yet, I was able to quickly clear customs, sprint down to the gate and get on the plane just as they were getting ready to shut the door. Needless to say, I was only able to get home and back and through the airport in time because of how early the flight was.

I have no idea what we would have done if I did not make it back to the airport on time, as my wife and I hadn't the presence of mind to work out any of the logistics with that scenario.

 

[karters*mom]

Flew out of Pearson on Tuesday morning at 6:30am. I was told I had to be there at least 2 hours before. So I get there and noone is even working at the counters. Air Canada staff opened at around 4:45am and then we had to wait in a line for Customs to open at 5am. And that is nothing compared to how bagged I was by 1pm!! It completely wastes a day IMHO. Fly later in the morning when at all possible.

I love flying at that time...what else are ya gonna do at 6am??? WE got to orlando shopped and then had a nap for an hour and were ready to go!

 

[R&J]

The night before I had photocopied the picture pages of everyone's passport (in case somebody lost their passport on the trip) and forgot to retrieve my youngest daughter's passport from the photocopier glass after copying.

Off topic, but I feel so much better now because I did the EXACT SAME THING with my son's passport. Except we were travelling to Paris from Toronto, and it was rush hour, and there was no way we could get back home in time to pick up the passport & make the original flight. My brother ended up driving to our house, retrieving the passport from the photocopier, and driving the passport out to the airport for us. We booked a new flight - different time, airline & terminal - and managed to arrive in Paris only a few hours later than originally planned.

Sorry, OT like I said, but I do feel better

 

[skiloff]

Having said how much of an ordeal our 0600 flight from MCO was, I think next time we'll try an early departure from home and an afternoon departure from MCO. At least it maxes the time spent there a bit.

That's what we did, and I wouldn't do it any other way. Like one of the others said, we catch up our sleep the first night there, but we still get some time in the parks or pool.