The agony and ecstasy of the 6 a.m. flight

At some point between the brutally early alarm, the rushed dog walk in the dark and the bleary-eyed luggage toss into an Uber, Chris Wilson inevitably starts rethinking his life choices.

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“Why do I do this to myself?” Wilson, a franchise consultant based in central Florida, wonders as he heads out, yet again, to catch the earliest flight of the day.

It’s standard advice from travel experts: To give yourself the best chance of avoiding delays, hop on a plane at the crack of dawn. The early bird gets the most dependable flight — and often the cheapest. Frequent travellers say the lost sleep and pre-sunrise rides to the airport are worth the pain. In hindsight, at least.

“As much as I hate it, it seems like the smart way to go,” said Angie Orth, an author and host of the Traveling with AAA podcast who said she takes the first flight to her destination more often than not.

Why first flights rule

Scott Keyes, founder of the cheap-flight service Going, said travellers can’t predict the weather when they book a flight months in advance. But they can put themselves in a good position to leave on time by booking the day’s first flight.

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Data from the U.S. Department of Transportation backs this up: In November, flights scheduled to leave in the 6 a.m. hour at the country’s 30 largest airports departed on time more than 94% of the time. By the 6 p.m. hour, 79% of flights were leaving on time. The difference was more stark in August, when weather delays are often worse: While nearly 90% of flights in the 6 a.m. hour left on time, that number dropped to just above 60% by the 6 p.m. hour.

United Airlines even has a name for its first flights: STAR, or Start the Airline Right, flights. The name applies to departures before 9 a.m. when the plane has been on the ground for four or more hours; the airline said those that leave on time are 20% more likely to stay on schedule for the rest of the day.

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“By getting our STAR flights out on time, it allows our operations to better plan for morning departures and helps set us and our customers up for success throughout the day,” United said in a statement.

Keyes said the most important thing about early flights is the location of the plane.

“For the first flight of the day, it’s already at the airport, it’s ready to go, it’s been sleeping there overnight,” he said.

Travellers don’t have to worry about an inbound plane delay, or the cascading effects of weather complications elsewhere. Weather also tends to be better in the morning — according to the National Weather Service, summer thunderstorms usually develop in the afternoon when the sun heats air close to the ground.

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Travelling early can be better for your pocketbook as well: Keyes said early-morning flights tend to be cheaper than those operating later in the day. Both Orth and Wilson said they sometimes get upgraded on those flights.

Another perk: Having more time in your destination.

“I’d rather get to the place I’m going and just be there and have that whole day rather than spend what I feel is the whole day traveling,” said Orth, 43, of Jacksonville, Fla.

But oh, the pain

You start paying the price for the morning flight long in advance, like the night before, when you’re doing laundry and packing and counting down the hours until you must be awake again. Then there’s the nervous sleep — “essentially sleeping with one eye open,” Wilson said — as your subconscious tries to make sure you don’t sleep through the alarm.

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“I won’t really have trouble waking up at 3 a.m. because I’ll already have woken up at midnight, 12:30, 1 a.m.,” Keyes said.

There may be a half-awake scramble to double check your packing list and find anything that’s missing. Christane Njatcha, 31, a travel content creator who publishes as Journeys with Kris, said she’ll examine her notes app, confirm she has her passport and make sure all her chargers are ready to go.

Need to get to the airport in basically the middle of the night? That’s your problem. Better wake yourself up enough to drive and park or outsource that task.

“I’d like to think that my wife loves me dearly, but I would not even ask her to take me to the airport at 4 a.m.,” Wilson said.

How to make the flight (slightly) easier

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Keyes said he tries to make sure he’s all packed, with a written list of any last-minute tasks or additions.

“I’m trying to make it as easy as possible for my 3 a.m. self to not be worried and forget stuff,” he said.

Orth, who is also a travel content creator, said she sets several alarms on early-flight days, including one to warn her when the five-minute countdown to leave the house is on.

Njatcha tries to take advantage of airline apps to do everything she can in advance, like checking in and scanning her passport. She’s invested in expedited screening services to get through airport lines more quickly. And she schedules her ride pickups ahead of time so she isn’t scrambling to locate a driver first thing in the morning.

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