night or day flight?

Question

im going to be flying to italy next summer and i was wondering is it better to fly during the day or night in your opinion

Answer 1

Hmm - interesting question - and to those who answered with reference to "getting a good night's sleep" - you are not quite correct. Here's the deal: If getting a "good night's sleep" is your reason for taking a night flight then you'll be awake before you know it. Let's say you take off from the east coast at 8PM; you'll normally be flying a northern route before you head east (because of the curvature of the earth). Anyway, 8PM EST means that it's 2AM in Italy, so once you pass Newfoundland you'll be heading east resulting in it being dawn in only a few short hours. In fact, your night flight will turn into a day flight in about 4 hours (at midnight). Therefore, if you want to sleep in the dark you'll need to take a day flight - taking off from the East Coast at around 2PM and it will get dark before you know it. If you want a day flight, then you'll need to depart the East Coast at around 2AM and it will be daylight before you know it - and still daylight when you land. Back to your question; only you can decide which is better and I hope my answer will help you decide.

Answer 2

I'm with the folks that say you should fly at night, especially if you can get a red-eye. Not just for the sleep factor though -- the red-eye flights usually don't have passengers packed in like sardines like the "normal hours" flights do (heck, you might actually have enough room to stretch out and even lay down).

Answer 3

Night or day flight?

Answer 4

To be quite honest it will not matter. You will be on that airplane for sooo long you will inevitably see the day and the night on that flight. Have a great time and make sure to eat a lot of gelato! :)

Answer 5

Flying over the Atlantic this is less of a factor, but if you fly over solid land night flights will often be less bumpy, the air tends to be smoother and more stable at night.

Answer 6

Its best to leave your starting city early as possible so you have more of a chance to make connecting flights if you need to and to have a better chance of getting to your destination the same day incase of delays or canclations.

Answer 7

It's better to fly overnight, get sleep on the plane, and wake up in the morning in Italy. In fact, most flights from the east cost of US to Italy are scheduled in the pm hours.

Answer 8

most flights from the usa to europe leave at night, this allows you to arrive in the morning at your destination and have the whole day ahead of you, Plus you get to rest on the way over so it all works out perfectly!

Answer 9

personally i would fly at night because then you can sleep and you don't really loose anytime. i see the travel time as lost time and this way you can cut it out. plus numbers are generally lower on redeye so chances of you being seated right next to someone are lower

Answer 10

I prefer to fly at night on redeye than lose a day of the trip.