Fighting Fatigue

Is the cost of stopping for 'a few days' really cheaper than biz class?

We haven't flown business class. The extra expense seems outrageous even with the upgrade from Premium Economy. Does it really help with sitting/lying down with your seat beat buckle in for over 10 hours except when you need to use the lavatory? We don't sleep well on the plane, just nodding off/on throughout.

I think it's a great idea. You know your own travel needs. Maybe you could go on the TripAdvisor New York and/or New Jersey forums and ask about getting to and from the airports there (or DC if you are considering Dulles). There's JFK and LaGuardia and Newark and I would imagine that they differ in ease of getting to hotels and sightseeing.

Both Reagan National (no European flights) and Dulles are connected to downtown Washington DC by subway, so one advantage of using Washington as a gateway is that (assuming you arrive and depart during Metro's operating hours) you don't have to budget for airport taxis.

There are definitely more non-stop flights from New York (I'm not positive how Boston and Philadelpia compare), but among the destinations with non-stops from Dulles are Dublin, London, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Geneva, Vienna, Milan, Rome and Istanbul. In addition, there are seasonal non-stops to Rejkjavik, Nice and Athens.

My unresearched guess is that fares tend to be lower from New York/Newark.

The time of year and the potential that weather might impact your plans plays a role. Spring favors connecting through the northeast while fall favors the southeast.

Your concept works well for me. I fly to Denver before my trips, to visit family. That knocks a couple of hours off the international leg and makes a big difference.

The east coast would be even better, especially if your choice of city gives you more nonstop options.

We travel from a small airport on the west coast and it’s usually a 24 hour travel day with 3 connections, so I get it. I would look at where the typical connections are for the destination you want to travel to (Chicago, New York, Atlanta, etc). Otherwise you could end up with a 8 hour travel day just to get to the east coast, when you could have spent 2 more hours to get to Europe.

So three ideas spring to my mind for you and I have not done any of these options. How about a stop in Canada, Toronto would by my first guess for that stop.

Second option would be to use Iceland Air and add a stop over in Reykjavik, Iceland. It looks like it is easy to add a stop over to an Iceland Air itinerary. This may not work well just due to the fact that the flight to Iceland is still a long one from your location.

Third option how about a cruise? The Queen Mary 2 sails regularly out of New York. Then there are also repositing cruises that you could choose to use as well. The cruise option would take quite a bit of time, but might work for you.

Good luck, and happy travels.

Business class flights are definitely expensive but how much more is it than the cost of two flights and the cost of a few days accommodation in the middle? You will also still likely get hit by some jet lag when just flying from the east coast.

In my slightly limited experience travelling business class does make a difference when trying to avoid jet lag and travel tiredness. I have flown three times direct from London to Singapore for work, economy, premium economy and business class ( got to love budget cuts! ) For me there was no comparison between economy/premium and business class. I also struggle to sleep on flights but just lying with your legs up on a comfortable bed is just more relaxing and conducive for a good flight. The headphones were noise cancelling and I found that really made a difference. I hadn’t realised how much the drone of the plane noise is exhausting over a long flight. Being able to eat decent food when you want and more space to walk around also helped. The final benefit was being able to use the airport lounge, which meant time in the airport was just more pleasant. I still had some jet lag, which is to be expected with the London/Singapore time difference, but I was no where near as tired.

Unfortunately I can’t afford business class when I am paying to travel but if I could stretch I would, for the difference it makes.

I hear you. We fly out of Bend, spend the night in San Francisco then continue with our international flight. If the 10 1/2 hours to get to say London from San Francisco is too much, I would suggest flying to Dulles or New York, depending on the airline you like, and continue on.

I’ve only flown business class twice, usually fly premium economy, on American Airlines. But those 2 wonderful flights I slept 5 hours or longer. It was SO great! I normally never sleep more than a 20-30 minute doze. I fly out of DFW so I fortunately almost always fly direct to Heathrow or Charles de Gaulle. In your situation I’d seriously do the math on business class vs hotel and possibly another day of travel expenses.

You might want to look at a daytime flight out of New York or Boston to London. Daytime flights are great. You leave in the morning and arrive the same day evening. There is no need to attempt to sleep on the plane. Some of the options are listed here:
https://www.passrider.com/daytime-flights-to-europe-from-the-u-s-you-wished-you-knew-about/

I took a daytime flight to Europe almost every year from Dulles to London for about 20 years. I loved that flight as I cannot sleep on planes. Unfortunately, United has stopped offering that route so I am stuck with overnight flights.

Unless there is something specific you want to do on the east coast, I would choose the east coast departure airport depending on my final destination in Europe and airfares for my preferred class of service.

For example, flying to London from New York City airports the airfares are usually pretty competitive in all fare classes due to the number of carriers flying nonstop.

Keep this in mind......the busiest route across the Atlantic is between New York City and London. Six airlines fly that route. It also has the lowest business class tickets.

From London you can get cheap tickets to almost anywhere in Europe.

This is what I do. I also take the daytime flight. I'll be doing it again in a few days. Daytime. Business class.

Before you decide to do this, I recommend that you check the airline prices AND the length of your flight to Europe.
We live in South Georgia and usually fly into Atlanta then to Europe. Atlanta is a great airport to negotiate a flight change. You stay inside security and the subway in the airport is efficient and fast between terminals.

We have flown to Japan and China from Atlanta. Delta has a direct flight from Atlanta to Tokyo and it was much better than having to change flights in Seattle or LAX. When we went to China, we changed flights in Chicago O'Hare and the transfer was AWFUL. I will NEVER book a flight through O'Hare. Security was a disaster and slow. We almost missed our flight to Bejing since we had to change terminals and go through security again. It took an hour to go through security.

We have flown to and out of Dulles (Washington) and that was painless. Newark was not the greatest airport we have found.
JFK, if you have to change terminals, it is a bit of a pain. We generally try to aviod JFK, unless the fare is really a big savings.

Boston Logan is not too bad.
Miami is not as bad as Newark or JFK, but not as good as Dulles or Logan.

Another thing to consider is trying to adjust your body to the time change before you go. You can read much discussion in this forum about Timeshifter, an app that helps get your mind and body prepared for travel. I used it flying to/from West Coast to Turkey (11 time zones) and it definitely helped me hit the ground running (and on return I had very little jet lag, which is highly unusual for me). Even if you do a layover on the East Coast it could help with travel related tiredness.

I agree with Laura about day flights. I have flown business class and since I don't sleep on the plane, it did nothing to lessen my fatigue. I will say business class is quieter.

We flew from the West Coast to meet up with a friend in Boston, stayed the night and toured the city, then took an evening flight out of Logan to London. It was so much better than flying direct from the West Coast. We got to begin working on our jet lag adjustment, and had hours less sitting time. The extra cost is minimal if you can use miles for the US segment. We liked Comfort Inn/Suites Logan International Airport for reasonable rates and free shuttle, and it's a short Lyft ride into the city. This is now our plan A for future European travel.

I spent a few days in Philadelphia last year and stayed at a B&B. At breakfast on my last day, I met a nice couple from Seattle who were doing what you’re thinking of. They had just spent 10 days in London and were spending a day or so in Philly to see the sights and recharge their batteries before flying home. They said it’s how they plan all their trips to and from Europe now, and they rotate East Coast cities for their overnight stopovers. They had stopped in Boston, New York, and D.C. on previous trips.