1.1 Early Morning: “To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, to be late is to be forgotten.” Accurately quoted. Early morning is the best time to expect a flight without crowds. Likewise, reaching the airport early is to be on time.
Early morning flights have less runway traffic, planes ready to take off from the night before, and fewer planes already in the air. Days of the week can impact the ticket price, along with delays. Weekdays as opposed to weekends may have more business travelers in relation to leisure travelers.
Schedule your flights for early morning when the terminal is often the least busy. According to a study conducted by Forbes, fewer planes are in the air at that time, which translates to a higher likelihood of your flight taking off as scheduled.
Just like us after a night of good sleep, airline circulation is freshest in the morning. If your flight departs in the morning, you are less likely to be affected by delays that stack up during the day and push back or cancel departure times.
We took a look at recent airline data in the U.S. and Europe to identify the best times to fly in order to avoid cancellations. Specifically, very early morning or mid-morning, as well as a small window in the early afternoon, seem to be the timeframes with the fewest hiccups.
The good news doesn't stop there: Airlines often sell their first flight of the morning cheaper than those later in the day, simply because most people would rather sleep, according to FareCompare. So there you have it: Wake up early. You can sleep soundly on the plane knowing you avoided travel misery.
Early morning flights are the least crowded and best on-time stats.
Early morning or nighttime flights
In addition, if flying over large areas of land, day-time temperatures can rapidly increase, creating convection air movement and thus turbulence, so travelling in the early morning before temperatures get high can avoid this turbulence.
Church goes on to suggest choosing flights with arrivals between 6 a.m. and 6:59 a.m., then again between 1 p.m. and 1:59 p.m. Weather often musses the schedules of afternoon flights, packing displaced passengers into fewer seats to make up for the shortfall.
Fewer delays and cancelations
“Early morning flights are much less likely to get delayed or canceled than those taking place later in the day,” Phil Dengler, co-founder of the Vacationer, told HuffPost.
Most weeks of the year, Fridays are the busiest days to fly, and Tuesdays are the least busy.
When will my airport be busy? Different airports load their departures at different times, so lines will ebb and flow throughout the day. According to Hopper, 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. is busiest at some airports, while 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. is the peak at others.
The shortest flight in the world is a long-established air route between two of the Orkney Islands (Westray and Papa Westray) in Scotland. The distance is a mere 1.7 miles and with favorable winds, the actual flight often lasts less than a minute!
Morning flights are also cheaper, faster, and less likely to be delayed so they are often your best choice but that doesn't make them any easier to handle when you haven't had your morning cup of coffee.
The early bird may be known for catching the worm, but it also catches the best flights. In fact, people who get the first flight in the morning can usually expect a smoother trip, friendlier staff, a cleaner plane and, often, a cheaper ticket.
Yes, many airlines make available real-time information on their websites about the availability of seats on specific flights. Alternatively, you can check third-party websites like SeatGuru, FlightStats, or ExpertFlyer to get up-to-date information on how full any given flight is.
It might be surprising to learn that turbulence is actually worse in the daytime. In the early morning and night time, wind speeds typically reduce, and thunderstorms clear up. Avoid turbulence and catch up on some sleep by choosing flights with an early morning or red-eye departure!
Many agree that the best time for nervous travelers to fly is in the morning as the conditions are generally calmer and there is less turbulence.
What is the safest seat on an airplane? According to a TIME investigation from 2015 that examined 35 years of aircraft accident data, the middle seats at the back of the plane had the lowest fatality rate at 28%.
Morning flights–those arriving between 6 a.m. and 12:59 p.m.–had a higher percentage of timely arrivals, at 82.6%, than late afternoon, evening and overnight flights. On-time performance steadily dwindled as the day progressed and bottomed out by the evening.
Generally speaking, most airlines advise that you arrive at the airport at least 2 hours prior to a domestic flight, and at least 3 hours prior to an international flight.
Airports are generally less busy as well, making it easier to get around. Reason #4 Lower Risk Of Delays – Early morning flights are known for being on time much more often because they aren't delayed by late flights coming in. That means more connections made on time.
“Roughly, you've got a 30% less chance of getting a long delay or cancellation if you go out in the morning,” said Kathleen Bangs, a former commercial airline pilot and current spokesperson for the flight-tracking site FlightAware.