Connections are one reason. Slot scheduling and fleet availability is another. In my case even if I'm connecting I prefer to stop and rest after crossing an ocean. Flying overnight and arriving in the morning leaves me tired with nowhere to rest when I arrive. I'm dying for a real bed by the time we reach the Heathrow funnel. Morning departures and evening arrivals help mitigate jet lag and knowing you have a hotel ready on arrival makes for a much more relaxing trip.
If you can afford a ticket with arrival lounge access the cost of an extra hotel night is unlikely to be a problem. It's hard to say if most travelers actually prefer a redeye flight since they rarely have much choice in the matter.
Good points...
Exactly right. I believe you can count the number of daytime TATL flights on your fingers - even pre-Covid, as opposed to the hundreds of overnighters. In the current situation there's no easy way to check, but I think only BOS, JFK, EWR, IAD and YYZ ever had regular daytime service to Europe. AA tried one from both MIA and DFW, but they were just too long to guarantee a pre-midnight arrival in London (and Heathrow does have a curfew/quota for late arrivals). Even Delta doesn't have one from its Atlanta hub.
The last westbound red-eye I flew, was Northwest #245, back in around 1969...
In 1969 I was flown from McGuire AFB to Rhein/Main on an all-day Saturday flight. The crew and C-141 were provided by a New Jersey USAF Reserve unit. It was a good flight, other than the ten-abreast seating. The crew would have the night in Frankfurt, then back to New Jersey, then back to work in their civilian jobs. At that time I looked up civilian flights and I only found a single PAA daylight flight, JFK to LHR.Back when I was on the 75/76, my airline operated a day flight to London from the east coast. It was fantastic, as it gave me an entire rested day to sightsee, before flying home.
Egads! 10 abreast in a Starlifter?
Reminds me of the Laker Flights to London from New York back in the "Cattle Car Flight" Days!!Egads! 10 abreast in a Starlifter?
Yes. And I had a "window" seat. I knew what the pilot was doing because the cables next to me would move back and forth. The S.S. United States was also used for military transfers but mainly for senior people. My dream was to finagle my trip home on that ship, but that operation ended during my time in Germany. Instead I came home on a Pan Am 747 that had a humidity problem.Egads! 10 abreast in a Starlifter?
I saw that. It will be interesting to see if they eventually "hide it" in the schedule. They have said they won't in the short term and that it's a test of the public's willingness to book the model, but how long will it be before it's just another 737 in their fleet? They have well over 300 of various types. More importantly, if they need to use one to replace a bad-ordered A320 or other model, do they make an announcement and give people the option to change flights when they have connections or some place they have to be? It's going to be interesting and this is only the first airline to announce. Southwest and both Canadian carriers have a pile of them.
That's why this is such a surprise. AA makes it sound like approval is anticipated shortly.
