West then East coast flights

[Bozza]

We're thinking of hitting two coasts with one stone (holiday) next Summer, flying to the West coast for a couple of weeks or so, before taking an internal flight to Florida for 10 days or so before flying directly home from MCO or MIA.

There are broadly two options when flying from California to Florida, which is a c5 hour flight...

1. Fly overnight. With the time difference, this can mean taking off around 11pm on the west coast and landing around 7am on the east coast. It makes for a very short night, so might need a bit of recovery time, but you don't "waste" a day of the holiday travelling, or

2. Fly through the day, taking off in the morning on the west coast and landing early in the evening on the east coast. You don't risk screwing up your sleep pattern in quite the same way, but you lose the best part of a day in the air and with the timezone shift.

Those who have done similar - what did you do and how did it work for you?

[Dazed]

We had exactly this dilemma when we flew from Hawaii to San Francisco. We opted for the night flight (5.5hrs) and booked business. Worked well for my husband who will sleep anywhere and especially on a plane, not so great for me who doesn’t sleep on planes, ever! We did it because we were only away for 12 days and did LA, Hawaii and San Fran in that time. Also, no kids with us.

In your situation where you are away for weeks I would take the day flight and ‘lose’ a day but be rested and not sleep deprived.

[loldis]

Same as above. I've done the day flight when time wasn't an issue but looking at the night flight for my next trip (considering adding DLR) which will only be 10-12 days in total.

Also considering a mid afternoon flight to get into MCO around 11pm and staying at the Hyatt. So don't feel like I am losing a whole day but still getting a decent sleep.

[gjdjud]

We are doing this next August. I thought about flying overnight but thought when we arrive what about checking to a hotel? Good chance a room wouldn’t be ready unless paying from the day before and think it wouldn’t work for my family. I have booked 6.30am flights from LAX to MCO. It will be an early start but we will arrive in Orlando at about 2.30pm. Hoping to be at Universal by 4pm. Couple of hours chill before hitting Citywalk!

[cornishfrogboy]

For me, time is money and I want to eke out every cent of value. I can recover when I get home.

Overnight for me.

[KarenG]

We went for 2 and with a painfully early flight we were on the ground in east coast after lunch, so we had a decent amount of the day left.

I was concerned an overnight flight could leave everyone tired and grumpy (and therefore not getting full enjoyment) which kind of negates the extra time CFB rightly refers to. Guess it depends on how adaptive your travel party is!

[sbuck93]

We did a 7am flight from Vegas to Orlando using Southwest. Times worked well for us as we still had all evening in Orlando and we wasn't too tired.

[duchy]

Daytime , keeps your body clock a little more on schedule , plus if you don’t sleep on an overnight flight it wipes out the whole of the next day especially if you can’t get into you hotel room til after lunch for even a power nap

[jdouds]

Hi have you considered the other way round

[N52939]

When we do short west coast trips (LA, San Fran or Seattle) we usually take the overnight flight home as it gives you pretty much the whole day before heading to the airport. The day flights tend to leave early morning to get into Orlando mid to late evening, so you spend an extra night ($$) in a hotel for no real benefit.