Should you eat on a red-eye flight?

To maximize your sleep time on a short red-eye, forget about dinner and/or breakfast on your flight — you can eat at the airport before departure or upon arrival. Some travelers go as far as attaching a do not disturb note to their shirt or eye mask to let flight attendants know they'd like to skip a meal.



People Also Ask

Pack a few snacks As long as it's a solid food item like crackers, a sandwich, sliced fruits, or nuts, they'll let it through. It's bad enough that you're enduring a red-eye flight – sleeping on an empty will only have you waking up hangry and woozy.

MORE DETAILS

While some might opt for staying awake, taking a short, rejuvenating nap can help you to get through the day feeling on top of things. If you can't take a short nap before the work day, tackling your most challenging tasks in the morning is the best option. Doing some light exercise can also be beneficial.

MORE DETAILS

But in general, overnight domestic red-eye flights have no meals in F. Just the snack basket at the beginning of the flight and they let folks sleep. If you want more snacks, just walk up front and ask.

MORE DETAILS

The cons of red-eye flights are few, but significant for those they affect. Primarily, those who don't sleep well on planes are not likely to have a great flight experience when flying when they would normally be sleeping, and will likely arrive groggy. This can also lead to more severe effects of jet lag.

MORE DETAILS

Early morning or nighttime flights These red-eye flights mean you can worry less and catch up on much-needed sleep due to a smoother flight and less worrying about turbulence.

MORE DETAILS

Many airlines eliminated pillows and blankets in coach a couple of years back. For me, it's tough to sleep on a redeye without a blanket. I can handle no pillow (my hoodie kind of helps with that), but I still find it really helpful to have some sort of a thin blanket in order to sleep.

MORE DETAILS

Certainly. Flights an hour or under seldom get more than a snack and beverage service. Flights over 2 hours often get a box lunch or snack of some kind and beverage. 3 hours and you may still get something warm, but it gets rarer all the time.

MORE DETAILS

Economy class passengers on these flights usually have less legroom and narrower seats than those in business class. While some airlines may offer extra amenities such as blankets, pillows, and eye masks, the overall experience is more basic.

MORE DETAILS

Limit naps in the days following your arrival. If you need it, taking a short nap can help you stay awake during the day. But napping for more than 30 minutes can keep you from falling asleep at night. Try to stay awake until your normal bedtime and get up on time the next day.

MORE DETAILS

While you could use a sleep aid like Zzzquil even that may not be necessary. Instead, we suggest you try melatonin tablets. Melatonin is a natural hormone that your body releases when it's time to sleep. By taking a tablet an hour or two before your flight, you'll find it much easier to relax and fall asleep.

MORE DETAILS

Should you sleep after you take a red-eye flight? If you've been able to sleep during your trip you are likely to feel slightly better than those who were awake overnight, but even those who slept may wake up feeling slightly disoriented.

MORE DETAILS

Eat Light. Contrary to popular belief, flying on an empty stomach doesn't help you combat air sickness. In fact, an empty stomach actually exacerbates symptoms. Eat a light meal such as crackers, fruit, and other light snacks.

MORE DETAILS

Loose fitting clothing is your best bet. Consider bringing an extra blanket or scarf: blankets and pillows are provided on some (but not all) red eye flights, so be sure to check ahead of time. Keep in mind they can be quite flimsy though, so if you like to be snuggled up and warm when you sleep, bring something extra.

MORE DETAILS

Each passenger may carry liquids, gels and aerosols in travel-size containers that are 3.4 ounces or100 milliliters. Each passenger is limited to one quart-size bag of liquids, gels and aerosols.

MORE DETAILS

Solid food items (not liquids or gels) can be transported in either your carry-on or checked bags. Liquid or gel food items larger than 3.4 oz are not allowed in carry-on bags and should be placed in your checked bags if possible.

MORE DETAILS

What is this? You can only bring water through security if it's less than 100ml. This is almost 5 times smaller than the average water bottle! Also, it's worth noting that even if you only have 100ml in a larger bottle, it's the size of the container that counts, and it still won't be allowed through.

MORE DETAILS

Choose the window seat. On a red-eye, the best seat is a window seat. The best thing about this seat is that you don't need to worry about having to stand up each and every time the person sitting next to you has to go to the toilet. So, arrive at the airport early and ask for a window seat.

MORE DETAILS

As far as the experience, red-eye flights are generally less crowded than regular morning or midday flights tend to be, so you might luck out with an empty seat next to you and have more space to spread out (making it easier to sleep).

MORE DETAILS

Seats at the back of the plane tend to be bumpier, and sitting towards the back also means you're one of the last passengers to get off the plane after landing. Similarly, the bulkheads at the front of the cabin are where families with babies and young children sit.

MORE DETAILS

Only medicate if you must. It's common to pop some Benadryl or Ambien to knock you out so that you can sleep through a red-eye flight. But make sure you only resort to this if you absolutely need to.

MORE DETAILS