6 hour night flight with jet lag or ?

Trying to save money, time, and energy on a CA- NY flight. Thought a night flight with my teen would be best so we can arrive in the morning and not waste a hotel fee by arriving at night and paying for a night of sleeping but not seeing much in NYC, but night flights are rarely conducive to sleeping. I can hardly afford the trip at all, but want to take her for her graduation for 3-4 nights. If we take a day flight we%26#39;ll arrive rush hour or later, still be tired and just end up in our hotel and feel we wasted our first night. Either way, it%26#39;s a long trip. Add to this mind boggler is choosing Newark, Laguardia, or JFK

after reading all the suggestions. Opinions? Jet lag advice? Thanks in advance.

6 hour night flight with jet lag or ?

I have taken the ';red-eye'; from the west coast to NYC a number of times. You will probably not get much sleep but it will get you to NYC in the early morning, you will have the whole day to do things and you will not have to pay for a hotel room the night before. Since you will probably not be able to check in to your hotel, drop off your luggage and plan to do something that%26#39;s not too glamorous or strenuous since you will not look or feel that well. As far as jet lag goes, when you get on the plane, set your watch for NY time and go to sleep and get up by that time. As far as what airport--LGA is the closest and the easiest to get into Manhattan but use the airport that will give you the least expensive ticket when you want to go.

6 hour night flight with jet lag or ?

I know I%26#39;m rarely worth much the day after a red eye to Europe or Asia and waste a day sleeping as much as I tell myself I wont. Once, I did a weekend red eye to London, took a shower when I arrived and was good for a couple of hours... But, that was an expensive hotel that let me check in as soon as I arrived.

With just a few days, you could be wasting one of them recovering. If you had 10 days, I would be more apt to say red eye.

If it was me, I would pay the extra for the day flight -depending on the difference. I had the most painless ever round-trip to SFO on American a few months ago.

Only you know your and your daughter%26#39;s stamina!

Let%26#39;s start with the easy stuff. It really doesn%26#39;t matter which of the 3 airports you use. (but don%26#39;t use any others on this end) LGA is closest so a taxi is only about $35 into Manhattan but the other 2 airports have good public transport. There are loads of debates on which has fewer delays etc. Bottom line, they%26#39;re all more or less the same. The airlines are not. Jet Blue, despite all that hoopla this winter, has the best/nicest planes and seats. They have flights from San Jose or Oakland that leave around 1-2 pm and get in at ~ 10 PM. I think that%26#39;s ideal and they%26#39;re one of the cheapest options. (I use kayak.com for checking prices) If you%26#39;re worried about high hotel prices, spend the first night, since you%26#39;re getting in late anyway, at the Pan American hotel in Queens. They have a free shuttle to/from JFK or LGA and you can get a room there for $99-140. Move to Manhattan in the morning.

The other idea is to let your daughter chose. Since it%26#39;s her graduation present, explain the options and see what she thinks. Figure out what the savings would be by taking the red eye and figure out what that means in terms of the trip. Does it mean spending an extra night in NYC? A play vs. no play etc.

Good luck and relax! Whatever you decide will be great. Fair warning, late July/early August is getting very expensive for hotels. If you can wait til late August or even around Labor Day, you%26#39;ll find some hotel bargains.

I came from MST and arrived about 6:20 AM in NYC., I slept most of the trip after I made my 12:30 AM connection in Denver. Only woke up once or twice to hear things like - Flight Attendants stop serving drinks and get to your seats immediately, but apparently was too sleepy to stay awake to see if we were going to crash, lol. I slept through most of my 2 hour layover in Denver prior to the flight, also.

I never have really slept on a plane before - but I had never flown a red eye either.

I also didn%26#39;t drink coffee until after I checked into my room, which was about 5:30 pm, because I was concerned about where I would find bathrooms. I did fine as long as I stayed moving - but I had a Broadway Show, Deuce, matinee scheduled. I couldn%26#39;t tell you how it was as I slept through most of it.

Then I got coffee and checked in - and only slept through some of Curtains, that evening.

I found myself waking up at 5:00 AM EST, which was really 3:00 AM my time, throughout my trip. Which is why I believe I slept through much of Moon for the Misbegotten and dropped off just a time or two in Wicked.

I would do the red-eye again - I just wouldn%26#39;t schedule any Broadway shows the first day, and I now know where to find bathrooms so I would drink the large coffee.

Oh, and also when I dropped off my bags at 7:00 AM at the Eastgate Towers, they let me use the bathroom in the gym so I could freshen up.

I would say I had a very active trip and my only problem was when I stopped in a dark place with comfortable enough seating.