There are all kinds of takes out there on the internet, though here’s a travel take I couldn’t possibly disagree more with.
“Accept that you’ve aged out of 7AM flights”
A post by a Twitter/X user is going sort of viral, and it caught my attention. It simply says:
at some point you have to accept that you’ve aged out of 7am flights
Presumably the intent behind this is that people book early morning flights either because they’re cheaper, or because it sounds nice to get to a destination early, without consideration for the fact that you might have to get up earlier than usual.
The responses to this post are interesting, with some people agreeing, and some disagreeing. Now, personally I 100% disagree with this take (for reasons I’ll get into below), but what’s interesting is that even the posts disagreeing with the concept have different logic than I do. Like, many people argue that you can simply pull an all nighter and then sleep on the flight, which is… not the right take, in my opinion.
Flying in the morning is the best, period!
Admittedly I’m an “early to bed and early to rise” person, so for me, a 7AM flight doesn’t even require setting in an alarm. But the point of this post isn’t to humbly brag about the glorious rest I get each night at the expense of having a life, but instead, it’s to say that I think morning flights are the move in just about every way, assuming your goal is to get to your destination efficiently:
- Airlines operate much more smoothly in the mornings, since they’re often “resetting” for the day, so you’re less likely to be delayed; the later in the day it gets, the more likely you’ll have issues, due to lack of aircraft, bad weather, crew shortages, air traffic control delays, etc.
- It’s not true everywhere, but airports are often the most pleasant when you’re on the first bank of flights; the terminal isn’t as chaotic, lounges often aren’t as busy, etc.
- It’s almost always easiest to get to the airport early in the morning, given lack of traffic (admittedly in cities with good public transportation, it might be a different story)
Domestically, I’d say that I book the first flight of the morning 90% of the time, since that just usually leads to the smoothest travel experience. And for that 10% of the time where I go against my better judgment (or my schedule just doesn’t allow an early flight), I feel like things go wrong half the time.
Honestly, the one common downside to morning flights is the odor, given how many people seem to have to use the bathroom (and aircraft lavatory etiquette leaves a lot to be desired).
Regarding the above social media post, I’d actually add another slightly different take. Yes, maybe people temporarily age out of booking early morning flights, but I think eventually they age back into them, give that many older people tend to keep an early schedule.
Bottom line
While I know that many people avoid early morning flights, personally, I think traveling in the morning is the way to go. Admittedly I’m biased, since I’m a morning person. However, the logic goes way beyond that — the earlier in the day you fly, the less likely you are to encounter operational issues.
I find that just about every aspect of the travel experience is smoother in the morning, so at least for domestic flights, I’ll almost always seek out the first flight possible.
Where do you stand on morning flights — are they worth seeking out or avoiding?
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