Flying to Europe from US, which direction is worse?

I'll be flying to Europe this summer and to be honest I'm dreading the fly time! I probably have enough airline miles to upgrade to Biz class one way, but not both. Which direction do you think is most worthy of the upgrade? I was thinking the night flight to Europe would be better to upgrade, but DH says he can sleep anywhere, so he thinks it more important to upgrade coming home when we will be awake and can appreciate the free drinks!!!

So, for those of you more fortunate folk who's done this before, what do you think?

PS... and yes, I know, I might not even be able to upgrade the flight I want, but I'm hoping!!!

Susan if you can only upgrade one way, personally, I'd upgrade for the East bound segment (meaning going to Europe). Almost all European flights from the States are overnight flight, you'll have a much more pleasant experience trying to catch some sleep this way.

That's what I thought too, but Ray was disagreeing! LOL

Murphy wrote:

That's what I thought too, but Ray was disagreeing! LOL

We guys just like to argue, it's our nature

I would upgrade the flight home, the flight is longer and it seemed it took forever, so the upgrade would be nice.

Honestly, both are bad, but I always have a harder time adjusting to the time change coming from Europe to the US.

Flying to Europe, you are going ahead. Generally you don't sleep well on the plane, so you're tired, which means you want to go to bed early the next night. That's just about the right time for the European time zones. It rarely takes me more than a day to adjust.

However, gaining the hours coming to the US always kills me. For a week or more after I return I am waking up way too early and falling asleep. So If you could take a nap coming from Europe to the US (to allow you to stay up later that first night) it may hold you in better stead.

I agree with helen...coming home is always harder to adjust to the time changes. If I was upgrading I would follow Nick's suggestion and try and sleep on the plane and economy seat suck. When I get to europe...I just stay up during the day...get my body use to the time and call it an early night...so it's better if you can sleep on the way to europe

I disagree. Flying east to Europe is much worse. Some number of years ago I had to fly to Brussells about every 3 months for NATO business. I hated the trip "across the pond". I'd leave Saturday afternoon and arrive in Belgium around 8AM on Sunday morning, just totally spent. No way could I stay awake all day. I usually could get into my hotel very early, and take a 4 hour nap. Then I would get up and force myself to stay up until a normal bed time. Then on Monday I was usually fine.

Coming back was no problem.

Flying to the Pacific has never been a problem either direction. I credit that to the fact that it takes so darn long to get there (24+ hours from the east coast with connecting flights) that my body clock is so screwed up that it just adapts to whatever time zone I'm in. crossing the Atlantic is only 5 or 6 time zones and just causes me more problems.

Maybe it's a guy thing! My Dad said east to Europe was much worse too! Ladies???

Maybe going east was easier since I was so excited to be going to europe again and come home is such a let down...takes my body longer to adjust.

mnmomof4 wrote:

Maybe going east was easier since I was so excited to be going to europe again and come home is such a let down...takes my body longer to adjust.

I've always been going there to work, so maybe that's it!
If I was going for pleasure, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. I'll let you know after my August cruise leaving from Copenhagen.

Subject: Re: Flying to Europe from US, which direction is worse? Today at 5:58 pm
Maybe it's a guy thing! My Dad said east to Europe was much worse too! Ladies??? [quote]

I definitely thing going East is worse! Have been on many flights to Europe, and the trip over is always harder than coming home!

Hope that helps!

Lois

Murphy wrote:

I'll be flying to Europe this summer and to be honest I'm dreading the fly time! I probably have enough airline miles to upgrade to Biz class one way, but not both. Which direction do you think is most worthy of the upgrade? I was thinking the night flight to Europe would be better to upgrade, but DH says he can sleep anywhere, so he thinks it more important to upgrade coming home when we will be awake and can appreciate the free drinks!!!

So, for those of you more fortunate folk who's done this before, what do you think?

PS... and yes, I know, I might not even be able to upgrade the flight I want, but I'm hoping!!!

Go with your thoughts and give your DH a $50 bill to buy his drinks on the flight back. Try getting a biz class upgrade for that! And you both get what you want.

Hi Murphy,
I've flown to London regularly for business over the last 20 years, and I think flying over is much worse. I always take the late flight, so I would arrive in London around 7 a.m. at Heathrow. I'd go to the flat, take a shower, change clothes and be at work by 9:30 a.m. It was brutal on the first day. Flying back , you are flying with the sun, much easier to stay up, and go to work the following day. Beg, borrow or spring for the upgrades, because your body will appreciate it. If you only have enough to upgrade one way, I'd use it going over, and try and get some sleep. Have a wonderful cruise in Europe!
kk

Definitely flying TO Europe is the one to upgrade. Once it gets dark, I need to sleep and that's what they suggest is best for adjusting to jet lag - sleep as close to the "new" time schedule as possible. And most flights I have taken to Europe left at or after dark in the US - so I was already worn out from the travel and anxiety of getting there.

On the way back - I have always flown in daylight so it is more "natural" for me to stay awake, watch movies, play games, etc and I can do those in coach class seating. Plus a lot of people are very chatty with sharing trip experiences when you are coming back it seems so it would be hard to sleep in those nice big comfy seats anyway.

AlohaTad wrote:

Definitely flying TO Europe is the one to upgrade. Once it gets dark, I need to sleep and that's what they suggest is best for adjusting to jet lag - sleep as close to the "new" time schedule as possible. And most flights I have taken to Europe left at or after dark in the US - so I was already worn out from the travel and anxiety of getting there.

On the way back - I have always flown in daylight so it is more "natural" for me to stay awake, watch movies, play games, etc and I can do those in coach class seating. Plus a lot of people are very chatty with sharing trip experiences when you are coming back it seems so it would be hard to sleep in those nice big comfy seats anyway.

I agree with everything you said. The problem is that when you land in the US, it is early afternoon. Then you have to force yourself to stay awake for 6-8 hours before you can sleep (if you want to get back to a normal schedule). I can't make it that long. I would have better luck with that if I were able to have a nap on the plane returning.