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At what age you decided that an over-night red-eye flight is no longer good for you?
I flew for 30 years before retiring. I NEVER took red eyes. I can't sleep on a plane. (Except flights to Europe)
The worst sight for me is sunrise from a plane, that means I was up all night
On one trip to Switzerland my doc gave me sleeping pills. Apparently, the flight attendants loved me. I was telling dirty jokes all night. I don't remember the flight
Asia/OZ/NZ on business? Lie-flat business class seat-only.
From the East Coast, I don't get to Asia/Australia very often. New Zealand once for a 3 week summer ski trip where I flew to Sydney business class on FT miles and then backtracked to the South Island the next day. Australia once on business for 10 days. South Korea a couple of times. Singapore. Hong Kong. Taiwan. There is no way in the world I'd fly that in an economy seat. On my own dime, I might consider the JAL Vancouver/Tokyo flight in premium economy. 10 hours.
I take the Boston/London-Heathrow morning flight all the time. Depart Boston around 8am. You're in the passport control queue at Heathrow by 7pm. With an aisle seat in economy, I can get up and walk around a few times. My life is too short to do the sleep-deprived zombie in Europe thing ever again.
What age are you to old to fly? I can sleep before I go to the airport, or when I get where I'm going. I can sleep lying down, sitting up, probably even hanging upside down like a bat! Give me 2 Benadryl and some noise cancelling headphones and I'm good to go. I'm going to make myself a bib and night mask that says "Don't wake me up until we get there". I hate when the FA wakes you up to ask if you want a drink. :^(
I'd rather make an 8-13 hour flight at night (flying East or North-South, South-North) than during the day. Add a little turbulence and I sleep like a baby. But I gave up flying from Denmark to Western Samoa and the South Pacific more generally when I was in my early 60s. That's for kids.
When I have to go to Europe I try to get a morning flight to London (there are no more morning flights from Chicago to any other European city), but the next best alternative is the *first* redeye. The 3:50 pm flight to Dublin lands at 11 pm Chicago time, which is 5 am Dublin time. I wouldn't be going to bed before then anyway so I just check into my hotel and go to sleep.
It's necessary to pay for the previous night in the hotel, otherwise I'd have to wait all day to check in, but it saves me a full day of time zone adjustment and it's worth it. The next day (NOT the same day), I fly to my final European destination on a short, cheap flight.
Some routes like US to Tokyo or Singapore require 14 hour flights against the jet stream. I recommend all ages take this over night flight if they go this route.
OP here. Just a little bit challenge. If you take a red-eye flight and arrive in Paris in the morning, can you start your sight-seeing activities immediately? You cannot check into your hotel that early.
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