Why Morning Is Almost Always the Best Time to Fly
Flying can be stressful due to delays, cancellations, unexpected expenses, poor service and inclement weather. But some of these disappointments can be avoided simply by choosing an earlier flight. It’s never easy to drag yourself to the airport before the sun comes up, but it pays off when you’re there. Here are a few ways an early morning flight can benefit you on your next trip.
Morning flights are cheaper
Think about it from an airline perspective: if your busiest time is usually between 11:00 am and 4:00 pm, how can you encourage people to fly earlier when the airport isn’t as crowded? Cheaper flights. According to Alternative Airlines , since these flights operate at off-peak times, you’ll find them cheaper. At the same time, tickets are not so discounted that people flock to buy them. According to Trip.com , you can expect them to be about 15% cheaper. It also means the airport will be less busy in the first place, so you can expect shorter lines to check in your bags or go through security.
Less delays and cancellations
Flying in the morning has the same benefits as doing work before a deadline: if there is a hiccup, you’re ready to turn around. As we said earlier , an early flight will mean a smoother experience:
Because passenger flights usually don’t depart overnight, airlines have downtime to prepare for future (or deal with existing) schedule chaos. If you catch your morning flight, the chance of getting into the knuckle of delays is minimized. And if your early flight is cancelled, you have more opportunities to depart on the same day than those scheduled in the evening.
Not only will you have a plan B in case your flight is canceled or delayed, you can also expect Plan A to have a better chance of being implemented. “Early morning flights are much less likely to be delayed or canceled than those that take off late in the day,” Phil Dengler, co-founder of Vacationer , told HuffPost . Because later flights depend on morning flights, they are much more susceptible to change due to maintenance or operational issues.
Less turbulence overall
Yes, you can increase your chances of a smoother flight by arriving earlier in the morning. NOAA and the National Weather Service tell us that thunderstorms most often develop in the afternoon in the United States. Much of the turbulence is caused by the convective movement of air that occurs when land temperatures get warmer in the afternoon. Thus, cooler morning flights will also be cooler.
Best Service
This is not such a given as there is no real data to support it, but conventional wisdom tells us that people are in a better mood right after they have breakfast and coffee and before they are yelled at by angry customers. You will also probably get the cleanest plane because the crew has more time to properly sanitize everything rather than rushing to work between flights. You also won’t have to deal with the garbage that previous clients often leave behind.
An early flight isn’t always possible, but if you can manage it, the benefit is worth waking up early.