mesaflyguy From United States of America, joined Dec 2012, 801 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (5 months 2 weeks 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 12233 times:
I have a friend who flies NK103 which leaves BOS at 520am all the time. He goes to the airport the night before and camps out so he doesn't have to make his wife get up so early! Too bad he isn't an aviation nut like me or he'd enjoy it a lot more!
clrd4t8koff From United States of America, joined Mar 2005, 225 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (5 months 2 weeks 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 12169 times:
Quoting mesaflyguy (Reply 1): I have a friend who flies NK103 which leaves BOS at 520am all the time. He goes to the airport the night before and camps out so he doesn't have to make his wife get up so early! Too bad he isn't an aviation nut like me or he'd enjoy it a lot more!
I get not wanting to wake the wifey, but for someone who takes this flight all the time, doesn't that get a bit tiring? Going the night before (I'm assuming this to mean 9pm-11pm), where would he shower or dress for the flight the next day? I can't imagine a business traveler showering at 8pm to hangout in their work clothes until 5am, only to get to their destination and then work all day??
mesaflyguy From United States of America, joined Dec 2012, 801 posts, RR: 1 Reply 3, posted (5 months 2 weeks 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 12050 times:
He doesn't do the campout all the time when he takes the flight, so it doesn't bother him that much. Plus he isn't traveling for business, so he just showers before he leaves the house and stays im comfortable clothes until he gets to his place in Myrtle Beach.
UA787DEN From United States of America, joined Dec 2012, 291 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (5 months 2 weeks 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 11942 times:
Taking any NK flight is harrowing enough. 5:20 AM from BOS, and taking it a lot, sounds like hell. What are the Load Factors on the B6 middle of the night/early morning flights?
mesaflyguy From United States of America, joined Dec 2012, 801 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (5 months 2 weeks 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 11843 times:
It's not as bad as people think, as long as it's not a ridiculously long flight. I go LGA-MYR a lot and it's really not horrible. It gets a bit uncomfortable when you taxi for 45 before even taking off, but for a 1.5 hour flight it's not too bad. I'd hate the early arrival though, I tend to like late afternoon or evening arrivals, as flying takes a lot out of me and morning arrival wipe me out.
jfklganyc From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 2706 posts, RR: 5 Reply 10, posted (5 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 7514 times:
Quoting plateman (Reply 4): Umm, why is this a post? There are a ton of early flights from leisure destinations.
For example JetBlue has a 2:45am flight SJU-BOS and a 3:20am one SJU-JFK
It's a post because it's a post.
If you follow JetBlue much, you know they have a lot of middle of the night departures from the islands back to JFK and BOS.
Not so out of a place like MCO.
The islands have a VFR crowd that is willing to fill a 3am flight if it is 20 dollars cheaper. Not really the case on a pure leisure route such as MCO-EWR.
What I do notice is that B6 (at least for the holiday period) is giving UA quite the run with 6 flights a day. Usually around 3 or 4 a day on this route. So I think they grabbed some available slots and added some flights where they could
STT757 From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 16316 posts, RR: 52 Reply 11, posted (5 months 2 weeks 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 7379 times:
Quoting jfklganyc (Reply 10): Usually around 3 or 4 a day on this route. So I think they grabbed some available slots and added some flights where they could
B6 usually trims the EWR-BOS flights to boost EWR-Florida during the Winter. That's how they launched EWR-BOS in the first place, they trimmed some of the Florida (and SJU) flights.
I'm curious to see if WN is going to catch, or even surpass, B6's numbers at EWR. The numbers I've seen are from October show B6 with a 180,000 passenger lead for the the twelve months ending October. WN's number have been growing steadily, although they're not flying to high traffic destinations such as Florida and instead are focusing in on business markets.
CXA330300 From South Africa, joined May 2004, 1500 posts, RR: 1 Reply 12, posted (5 months 2 weeks 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 7088 times:
I guess I don't find this exotic, since I've done a lot of obnoxiously early morning flights from TLV. 4am-8am is a big rush time in TLV, and the flights with the most onward connections leave around 6am.
Also, TA's flights to Central America often leave at odd hours of the morning. I've dropped off my significant other for the ORD-SAL flight, which leaves in the middle of the night and is thus rarely blocked by traffic.
Here in the US, a big chunk of flights leaves ORD around 6am - I've done the UA 0600 to LGA several times. UA regularly schedules early-morning transcons as well.
The sky is the limit as long as you can stay there
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 21679 posts, RR: 23 Reply 13, posted (5 months 2 weeks 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 6917 times:
Quoting CXA330300 (Reply 12): I guess I don't find this exotic, since I've done a lot of obnoxiously early morning flights from TLV. 4am-8am is a big rush time in TLV, and the flights with the most onward connections leave around 6am.
Many middle-of-the-night departures from India to Europe also due to the time zones, night restrictions at some major European hubs, and the need to arrive in Europe early for connections. For example, KL/LH/BA/LX have DEL-AMS/FRA/LHR/ZRH departures between 0200 and 0400.
Roseflyer From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 8785 posts, RR: 52 Reply 14, posted (5 months 2 weeks 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 6613 times:
I think this has a lot to do with fleet utilization in addition to slots. JetBlue has some short flights in the early morning hours on their main trunk routes. Yields tend to be lower on these flights but are apparently high enough to earn some money.
If you have never designed an airplane part before, let the real designers do the work!
blueflyer From United States of America, joined Jan 2006, 3157 posts, RR: 1 Reply 15, posted (5 months 2 weeks 4 days 14 hours ago) and read 3468 times:
Quoting catiii (Reply 9): Obviously the loads, and more importantly the yields, warrant the schedule.
Or perhaps the need to get the plane back in EWR for a morning departure... Not every flight needs to make money on its own.
OB1504 From United States of America, joined Jul 2004, 2974 posts, RR: 8 Reply 16, posted (5 months 2 weeks 4 days 3 hours ago) and read 1731 times:
Quoting mesaflyguy (Reply 1): I have a friend who flies NK103 which leaves BOS at 520am all the time. He goes to the airport the night before and camps out so he doesn't have to make his wife get up so early! Too bad he isn't an aviation nut like me or he'd enjoy it a lot more!
I miss NK 808, the 5 AM FLL-LGA departure. It used to be popular with nonrevs because the time meant it was the best shot at getting to LGA, and before NK completely converted to the ULCC model, there were business travelers who appreciated being able to conduct a full day of work in New York and then be home for dinner.
Quoting FWAERJ (Reply 8): IIRC, doesn't NK have 1 and 2 AM departures from ORD to places like MCO just so they can maximize their two or three gatea?
They have departures at those hours from most of their stations, not so much to get more use from the gates, but rather more use from the aircraft.
Quoting Roseflyer (Reply 14): I think this has a lot to do with fleet utilization in addition to slots. JetBlue has some short flights in the early morning hours on their main trunk routes. Yields tend to be lower on these flights but are apparently high enough to earn some money.
It's better to have the airplane in the air earning at least some money rather than just sitting on the ground all night.
airbazar From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 6953 posts, RR: 7 Reply 17, posted (5 months 2 weeks 3 days 20 hours ago) and read 1383 times:
Quoting jfklganyc (Thread starter): Can you imagine how early you have to leave Disney to get on this flight?
I'd be surprised if you found many or any tourists on that flight. There are plenty of early morning departures from many airports. They are important for business traveleres who need to be at their destination for the beginning of the work day. It's no different than my crazy boss getting up at 4am every morning so he can be at the office by 6am because he likes it that way. I'm not sure this is surprising to anyone but then agian, I'm replying to it
Quoting plateman (Reply 4):
Umm, why is this a post? There are a ton of early flights from leisure destinations.
yanksn4 From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 1395 posts, RR: 13 Reply 18, posted (5 months 2 weeks 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 1029 times:
B6 departs DEN for JFK at around 1am. I've done that flight a couple times. The TV service becomes a little useless at those hours as it's just nothing but re-runs of baseball or basketball games / infomercials, but still not that bad i guess. I'm one who generally cannot sleep on planes. I used to get to DEN about 11pm-ish and just hang out.
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It's better to have the airplane in the air earning at least some money rather than just sitting on the ground all night.
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