Jet lag question -- better to arrive early or late?

A question for you experienced international travelers. We're flying from Phoenix to Venice next June (returning from Barcelona). Our best options seem to be flying BA or US Airways. The BA alternative is cheaper (about $1375 pp) but requires us to transfer from Heathrow to Gatwick, and we arrive in Venice at 9:45 pm. The US Airways alternative is more expensive (about $1600 pp) but there's only one stop in Philly and we arrive in Venice at 9 am.

 

We're planning on flying out the day before the cruise. Given that, is it better to arrive at 9am exhausted and jet lagged, or to arrive at 10 pm, exhausted and jet lagged. The cruise spends the first night in Venice, so there is some time for sightseeing after we board the cruise.

 

We are traveling with 2 kids, who will be 7 and 11. Which alternative is better?

 

--Junglejane

Some "simple" math for you to use in your decision:

 

1) What time do the flights leave? The 9pm flight probably has a very long connection at LHR/LGW; so you're wasting the day sitting in London (exhausted, of course).

 

2) The difference is $225 per person, total $900 for your family. There's the key math, is it worth the long layover and late arrival to save $900? For me, it certainly would be - if you're going to be exhausted anyway, what's the difference when you arrive. You can always try to get a dayroom in LGW, which will let you snooze for a few hours.

 

Good luck, and enjoy the cruise!

Having flown from New Zealand to Europe a number of times - I think that I am a little bit of an expert in combating jet lag. A transatlantic flight is nothing compared to a 32 hour one and a 12 hour time difference!

 

My first question would be - what time do these flights leave? Are you flying out late at night and arriving at night (easier if you don't sleep at all) or are you leaving late at night and arriving first thing in the morning - slightly harder.

 

Jet lag wouldn't necessarily be my primary concern though, the logistics of the stop would be. I think that I would rather spend time in one airport, than have to travel between Heathrow and Gatwick.

 

The best way to combat jet lag is to get into a routine as soon as possible. Fresh air is the best cure. But if you do feel like a sleep would be useful, set an alarm clock and have a nap for an hour, then get up, go to an cafe for a nice strong Italian coffee and enjoy Venice!

As billybob123 pointed out, $900 is a chunk of change.

 

The BA flight nonstop to LHR will have better service, better food, and just a better overall experience (I have taken that very flight 3 times-I am surprised it is cheaper-good deal).

 

The only problem is the transfer to Gatwick. But very doable, considering you have 5.5 hours to transfer.

 

8 hour time difference between PHX and London. The BA flight leaves in the evening-7:20PM IIRC and arrives around noon, London time. Collect luggage, get on bus to Gatwick (about 1.5 hour trip) and board plane to Venice. One other really good thing-you KNOW your luggage made it to Europe.

 

You will arrive in Venice TIRED. But you can just go to bed. Wake up refreshed in the morning and you should feel pretty good for the rest of your trip.

 

The US Air flight, not only more expensive, but crappy service. AND you have to transfer in PHL, which is notorious for lost luggage. You would not know whether you have ANY luggage until you get to Venice.

 

The flight leaves early morning. Means you will have to get up at about 3-4AM to get ready for the airport. Then fly all day AND overnight. Get to Venice at 9:00AM. You will want to go to bed. But you wake up at midnight. What are you going to do all night???? You have set yourself up for perpetuating jet lag.

 

All in all, even with the transfer, take the BA flight.

 

http://www.nationalexpress.com/

The two itineraries I'm considering are as follows:

 

US Airways 700 leaves PHX 7:21 am, arrives PHL 3:04 pm, then US Airways 714 leaves PHL 6:30 pm, arrives VCE 8:55 am (next day)

 

British Airways 0288 leaves PHX 7:25 pm, arrives LHR 1:10 pm (next day), then we have to take the shuttle to Gatwick to take BA 2586 which leaves LGW at 6:40 pm and arrives VCE at 9:45 pm.

 

DH wants to fly BA in order to save $900. I'm leaning toward US Airways because it's much simpler, especially with kids, and gets us in much earlier on the day preceding the cruise. Of course, will we be too jetlagged to enjoy that day in Venice? We aren't experienced international travelers, so I'm not sure what to expect on that score.

 

Thanks for any helpful tips!

 

--Junglejane

Greatam, you posted while I was laboriously typing my last post so I just saw it. Thanks for your recommendation. I'm sure that's what DH wants to do, so that's probably what we'll do. I'm going to talk to the TA tomorrow to see if she has anything useful to say. But I find out my best info on the CC boards.:)

--Junglejane

Greatam, you posted while I was laboriously typing my last post so I just saw it. Thanks for your recommendation. I'm sure that's what DH wants to do, so that's probably what we'll do. I'm going to talk to the TA tomorrow to see if she has anything useful to say. But I find out my best info on the CC boards.:)

--Junglejane

 

Don't know what TA you are dealing with, but 1/2 of the TA's in PHX don't even know about the nonstop BA flight to London. BA doesn't fly many flights from the interior of the US (due to all kinds of rules and regulations and their partnership with AA), but PHX is one of the few. I have NEVER had anyone recommend the BA flight-they don't even know it exists (two TA's in Litchfield specifically and one in Scottsdale).

 

On the US flight, you have to pay for any food until you leave the US. You will get food on the BA flight free. And the BA ground agents are super.

One reason BA is cheaper is that they give us a break on the kids' fares, which US Airways and Delta don't. So when I say BA is $1375 pp, that's averaging the adult and kid fares. Bottom line is $900 cheaper.

 

We're using a Scottsdale TA. I have to say that I've consistently gotten more useful info from CC than from the TA.

 

While I'm at it, do you have any opinion on an 11:30 departure from Barcelona? I've read several threads on this issue, and the consensus seems to be that it's okay. The BA departure is 11:30, and the US Airways departure is at 12:10 pm. On the return BA is clearly preferable because total travel time is less, and the connection is in Heathrow so no need to change airports (whew).

 

--Junglejane

Unless Posiden (the god, not the movie) is as upset with you as he was with Odysseus you won't have a problem making an 11:30 flight. Just make sure you get off the ship early. Taxis are readily available in Barcelona and not terribly expensive.

 

I hope you have a reasonable connect time in Heathrow. Security at that airport is very slow at times. Ditto immigration lines. The good news, though, is taht by next year BA should be in their new terminal (#5) which should help things quite a bit.

 

Paul

The 11:30 BCN-LHR flight gets in at 12:45 and the LHR-PHX flight leaves at 14:35, arriving in PHX at 17:10. Excuse my ignorance, but do we go though immigration at Heathrow before connecting, even though we're presumably never leaving the terminal?

 

Also, do you think that's enough time?

 

Thanks again for all your help!:)

 

--Junglejane

A question for you experienced international travelers. We're flying from Phoenix to Venice next June (returning from Barcelona). Our best options seem to be flying BA or US Airways. The BA alternative is cheaper (about $1375 pp) but requires us to transfer from Heathrow to Gatwick, and we arrive in Venice at 9:45 pm. The US Airways alternative is more expensive (about $1600 pp) but there's only one stop in Philly and we arrive in Venice at 9 am.

 

We're planning on flying out the day before the cruise. Given that, is it better to arrive at 9am exhausted and jet lagged, or to arrive at 10 pm, exhausted and jet lagged. The cruise spends the first night in Venice, so there is some time for sightseeing after we board the cruise.

 

We are traveling with 2 kids, who will be 7 and 11. Which alternative is better?

 

--Junglejane

 

I vote for the BA flight. Based on our traveling experience, it is easier to get to the destination late afternoon or evening so we will just expect to rest/sleep after many hours of flight. Unless you sleep very well on flights, getting to Venice early in the am is not going to be too useful. You and/or the kids will likely feel very tired. I recall getting to Hong Kong early am after a 13.5 hours flight with no good sleep. It was killing. All we wanted to do is sleep once we get there. Of course if you fly business or first class, that will be a different story.

Another consideration....if you arrive in VCE at 9AM, when do you think your hotel room will be available? If not until mid-afternoon, you'll be whipped, ready for a shower, and chomping at the bit to get your room. Most hotels in VCE are highly booked, so it's not like they have rooms open for check-in at all hours.

I haven't been on a transatlantic flight in many years, but I've never yet been able to sleep on any plane. Plus I figure the kids will pester me and keep me up no matter what. And unfortunately business class and first class are out of the question.

 

--Junglejane

Another consideration....if you arrive in VCE at 9AM, when do you think your hotel room will be available? If not until mid-afternoon, you'll be whipped, ready for a shower, and chomping at the bit to get your room. Most hotels in VCE are highly booked, so it's not like they have rooms open for check-in at all hours.

 

I figured the best we could hope for would be to drop off our luggage. I guess I was trying to figure out whether we would be better off forcing ourselves to stay awake for 10 more hours, or take the later flight, collapse into bed and sightsee the next day. I guess the universal recommendation is the latter.

 

Is there any problem with late check in at hotels in Venice? If our flight gets in at 9:45 pm, presumably we won't get to a hotel until about 11 pm local time.

 

--Junglejane

 

PS - You guys are a wealth of information! :)

US Airways 700 leaves PHX 7:21 am, arrives PHL 3:04 pm, then US Airways 714 leaves PHL 6:30 pm, arrives VCE 8:55 am (next day)

 

British Airways 0288 leaves PHX 7:25 pm, arrives LHR 1:10 pm (next day), then we have to take the shuttle to Gatwick to take BA 2586 which leaves LGW at 6:40 pm and arrives VCE at 9:45 pm.

Purely in relation to the timings of these flights, I echo greatam's advice about the US Airways flights. A 0721 departure will be a killer: You probably won't get much sleep the night before, because of the very early start from home, so you'll be exhausted before you even start travelling. You'll arrive in Venice when your body clocks think it's midnight or 1 am - so it'll be difficult to get any sleep on board the trans-Atlantic flight. And then you have to deal with a brand new day in Venice when you arrive when your bodies will just be craving sleep during their second "night" of travelling. My guess is that you'd want to do nothing more by then than crawl into bed and sleep, which won't exactly start the process of adjusting to the time change on a good footing.

 

The BA flight is not ideal, either, but at least you will have a natural sleep trigger after about 3 or 4 hours of the flight, allowing you the possibility of a few hours' nap before arriving in London. At that stage, your body clocks will be ready for a new day (they'll be telling you it's 6 am), so you won't be feeling like death warmed up. And if you feel like going straight to bed when you arrive in Venice, it'll be the right time of the day for it, local time - and you'll only have had one disrupted night rather than two.

 

There is no difficulty with late arrivals at hotels. You just need to make sure that your room is guaranteed for a late arrival, usually with a credit card number, and that the hotel knows that you're arriving late. They're well used to this: I often turn up at hotels at midnight or later off late flights.

The 11:30 BCN-LHR flight gets in at 12:45 and the LHR-PHX flight leaves at 14:35, arriving in PHX at 17:10. Excuse my ignorance, but do we go though immigration at Heathrow before connecting, even though we're presumably never leaving the terminal?

 

Also, do you think that's enough time?

You won't clear immigration at Heathrow, although you will have to clear security there. It is not clear at the moment whether you'll have to change terminals for this connection. But even if you do, you should have enough time. If both flights are in T5, then you will have plenty of time.

A question for you experienced international travelers. We're flying from Phoenix to Venice next June (returning from Barcelona). Our best options seem to be flying BA or US Airways. The BA alternative is cheaper (about $1375 pp) but requires us to transfer from Heathrow to Gatwick, and we arrive in Venice at 9:45 pm. The US Airways alternative is more expensive (about $1600 pp) but there's only one stop in Philly and we arrive in Venice at 9 am.

 

We're planning on flying out the day before the cruise. Given that, is it better to arrive at 9am exhausted and jet lagged, or to arrive at 10 pm, exhausted and jet lagged. The cruise spends the first night in Venice, so there is some time for sightseeing after we board the cruise.

 

We are traveling with 2 kids, who will be 7 and 11. Which alternative is better?

 

--Junglejane

 

 

Hi Jane:

I was trying to find info on Heathrow Security and came across your post. We have a CC thread for all us land bound sea lovers here in AZ. Come on over and say "HI!"

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=420611

As billybob123 pointed out, $900 is a chunk of change.

 

The BA flight nonstop to LHR will have better service, better food, and just a better overall experience (I have taken that very flight 3 times-I am surprised it is cheaper-good deal).

 

The only problem is the transfer to Gatwick. But very doable, considering you have 5.5 hours to transfer.

 

8 hour time difference between PHX and London. The BA flight leaves in the evening-7:20PM IIRC and arrives around noon, London time. Collect luggage, get on bus to Gatwick (about 1.5 hour trip) and board plane to Venice. One other really good thing-you KNOW your luggage made it to Europe.

 

You will arrive in Venice TIRED. But you can just go to bed. Wake up refreshed in the morning and you should feel pretty good for the rest of your trip.

 

The US Air flight, not only more expensive, but crappy service. AND you have to transfer in PHL, which is notorious for lost luggage. You would not know whether you have ANY luggage until you get to Venice.

 

The flight leaves early morning. Means you will have to get up at about 3-4AM to get ready for the airport. Then fly all day AND overnight. Get to Venice at 9:00AM. You will want to go to bed. But you wake up at midnight. What are you going to do all night???? You have set yourself up for perpetuating jet lag.

 

All in all, even with the transfer, take the BA flight.

 

http://www.nationalexpress.com/

 

Sorry Greatam - should have sent out the invite to you as well. We accept Snowbirds!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=420611

Sorry Greatam - should have sent out the invite to you as well. We accept Snowbirds!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=420611

 

Thanks for the invite, although I am not a snowbird. Own a company, with offices in Parker, northern Missouri and NYC. So I spend time in all three places. Just can't seem to decide where I would like to be, although after all the 110+ days this summer, I don't think I will stick it out another summer in Arizona.

If you take the cheaper fare and save $900, I have n doubt that you will feel you have made a horrible mistake. Remember, you will be tired from the overnight flight, lose some of your savings and most of your patience transferring from Heathrow to Gatwick, and then it will be after midnight when you get to a hotel in Venice. I don't think I would do that for $900 WITHOUT the kids.