Why You Should Only Ever Book an Early Morning Flight (2024)

FAQs

Why should you only ever book a flight for the early morning? ›

And travel experts tend to agree. “Early morning flights are the best time to fly as they are the least likely to get delayed,” Harrison Woods, CEO of YourParkingSpace, told HuffPost. “The weather is usually calmer and the rest of the air traffic is quiet.”

There are a few reasons why morning flights are less likely to suffer long delays. Late aircraft are one of the main causes of delays, and they're not an issue in the morning. The planes arrived the night before, so they're ready to go.

Is it better to book an early morning flight or a later one? Booking an early morning flight has its advantages. The airport is typically less crowded, security lines are shorter, and flights are more likely to be on time.

The best time to fly in order to avoid flight delays is early in the morning, or the first flight of the day. Domestically, most airlines aren't flying overnight, so it's more likely your jet will be at the gate waiting for you when you arrive.

Not only can traveling off-peak help you score significant savings on airfare and hotels, but Expedia data shows that off-peak travel comes with fewer cancellations and delays overall. Booking early morning flights as opposed to afternoon flights will also make it less likely for you to see delays. Earn airline miles.

When is the safest time to fly? Summertime is the safest season to fly. Earlier in the day is the safest time of day to fly. More accidents occur later in the day when the pilots are tired, especially when the weather is bad and there have been delays.

This is because the daytime usually sees higher wind speeds and more storms. You should fly at night or early in the morning to avoid turbulence.

If you're looking for the best deal on airfare, don't wait until Tuesday. The idea that cheaper seats can be booked when the clock strikes midnight Monday night is just a myth, according to travel app Hopper. That advice is a relic of a former time, says Hayley Berg, Hopper's lead economist.

There's much less demand to fly at 6 a.m. than there is at, say, 9 a.m., and that reality is often reflected in the fares charged for a given route.

Time Zone Advantages: Depending on the direction of your travel, red eye flights can help you adapt to a new time zone more smoothly. Arriving early in the morning allows you to start your day at your destination, matching local time and potentially minimizing jet lag.

Is an early morning flight a red eye? ›

A red-eye flight is a flight that departs at night and arrives at the destination airport in the morning. Red-eye flights are too short to get any meaningful amount of sleep, hence the term—”red-eye” resulting from the fatigue. Generally an overnight flight of seven hours or less is considered a red-eye.

No single day of the week is best to book a flight. You can find deals any day of the week since flight prices fluctuate with demand. Airlines might offer sales, increase the number of seats on a route or even lower prices to match a competitor, so there's no actual pattern in what day of the week has the best deals.

Timing plays an important part. Specifically, plane tickets usually don't get cheaper closer to the departure date or if you book too early—more than five months in advance. Instead, flights tend to be the least expensive when you book between 5.5 and 1.5 months (164 and 46 days) in advance of your departure date.

How far in advance should you book a flight to get the best deal? The best time to book a flight is one to three months before your departure for domestic airline tickets and two to eight months prior for international flights. “We call these the 'Goldilocks windows,'” Scott Keyes, founder of Going.com, tells AFAR.

The idea that cheaper seats can be booked when the clock strikes midnight Monday night is just a myth, according to travel app Hopper. That advice is a relic of a former time, says Hayley Berg, Hopper's lead economist.