Guide to Sleeping in Airports and Airports in General

Avoiding sleeping in airports is why I always travel with available credit, travel insurance, and mobile phone data.

Never gonna happen, never. I don’t care what that airport hotel costs, I’m in!

I will never sleep at an airport (unless you are talking about an airport hotel). I think it's self-defeating to deprive yourself of a good night's sleep just to save a few dollars. I honestly don't see why anyone would want to do this.

The site was created by a Canadian woman!

I've only once slept in an airport, in Glasgow, many years ago.
I couldn't get to the airport early enough from Edinburgh for my 07:00 flight, so my friend dropped me at the airport at midnight after we had been to dinner with family in Glasgow.

It was very cold and the lights were on full blast.
The cleaners were polishing the floors all night, so I didn't get much sleep.
I made my flight on time though. ;)

I will never sleep at an airport (unless you are talking about an airport hotel). I think it's self-defeating to deprive yourself of a good night's sleep just to save a few dollars. I honestly don't see why anyone would want to do this.

Sometimes it's necessary. I slept in Dublin Airport on Paddys Day in 2007 - a nor'easter in the US caused a big problem for transatlantic flights and people were sleeping all over the place. No more room at the inn

Hi Alan.

Never say Never because you Never know what is right around the corner.

Not every airport has. a hotel. or if there is a hotel, it might be full.

Sometimes things happen where you are forced to stay in the airport. Sometimes it is weather. Sometimes it is a glitch. Sometimes there is an accident or a terror situation.

Passengers sometime have to sleep in airports for other reasons besides trying to save money.

Things go wrong like just recently in London. There may be some passengers who were forced to spend the night in the airport.

Weather and glitches are probably some of the biggest reasons why persons have to spend a very long tiime in the airport. Sometimes people are there for days. You see them being interviewed on TV about how long they have been in the airport and what they have been told,about when they might finally out.

Myself I do it because I am afraid of missing my plane.

Amusing. If you haven't been backed into sleeping at an airport, you haven't travelled much.
There are places that you can end up at odd hours where getting to an accommodation and back are simply not worth the effort. I'm thinking of Dubias, Kuala Lumpur airports as I write. How about Tokyo??? It will take you half the night to leave and arrive in a room.
There are times when the effort to get from the airport to a room and back simply are not worth the effort. I have spent quite a few nights in the Dulles airport. I've spent a few in Detroit (remember Northwestern?). What about Pittsburg back in the 80's? How about Frankfurt in that no man's land between arrivals and departures? Certainly, anyone who is a regular in Europe of North Africa has done at least that....
If your home airport is serviced by a commuter airline from a major airport, you've certainly had it happen...they call Raleigh, Greenville, Harrisburg, Akron, where the heck is Binghamton....no plane. Sleep in the terminal.
Since I am no longer in road warrior mode, I will share the best advice I ever got in an airport. I was in Dulles at 2:00 am and stuck. An employee told me on the downlow, sleep in the chapel.....sure enough. That is the golden ticket. I've done it often since then.

Hong Kong and Singapore were on my regular routes for several years. Airside hotel, lounges paid by the hour, 24 or almost 24 hour airline lounges, free sleep lounges, lots of sleepers camping out on the floor or seats in gate areas, showers are not unusual at all in Asian travel. I used to plan for an airside overnight on some jaunts.

Thanks for the review, bostonphil. Useful reference.

Many international airports have hotels inside the airport. Also, many have airports near the airport but outside the terminal.

Some years ago, we were taking a train from Frankfurt to Berlin, which had a layover in Hannover from 10 PM midnight to 2:30 AM. The train station had an all-night bakery with continual coffee. Wife and I were really enjoying this, until we found that all the bathrooms were locked. Except the one at the all-night McD. I hate McD, but formed a new appreciation for this American intrusion.

I will never sleep at an airport (unless you are talking about an airport hotel). I think it's self-defeating to deprive yourself of a good night's sleep just to save a few dollars. I honestly don't see why anyone would want to do this.

Sometimes it's necessary. I slept in Dublin Airport on Paddys Day in 2007 - a nor'easter in the US caused a big problem for transatlantic flights and people were sleeping all over the place. No more room at the inn

The key word in my post was "want" to do it. Obviously there are times when it might be necessary, like in your situation. But I don't understand why anyone would choose to do this.

The only time we slept in an airport was a weird connection coming from Europe.. we arrived at JFK late at night. Our connecting flight took off around 7am. I knew if we went to an airport hotel I wouldn’t sleep anyway worrying I would oversleep and not get to the airport in time. ( figure shuttle bus time plus arrive 1 and 1/2 hours before the flight.) …

Sometimes there is a very early flight and the passenger fears missing it.

Other times perhaps money is tight and the airport hotels are expensive. I do not think anyone really wants to sleep in the airport but sometimes one needs to.

I live in Austin but I stay at the airport the night before I fly out because I am so afraid of missing the plane. I have said that before but I have not explained that for whatever reason, there is sometimes such problems trying to get to the airport that you can allow. a lot of time and still miss your plane. I do not drive but I think we only have one road going to our very beautiful airport. We do not have a lot of roads going to the airport. Weather causes terrible problems. And I hate to bring this up but we have a lot of a bad accidents going to and from the airport. And then we have a lot of super activities like the F1 races and SXSW and other music and film festivals.

At my last job, a client wanted to know how long it took from the airport to hotel and we told the client "it depends on how many accidents there are"

It sounds maybe funny but it is accurate. We have.a great airport but not enough roads going and coming.

Last year when I flew to Alaska, I got there the night before like I always do. About 3 or 4 am, the entire airport went black. You could see nothing. The doors had to be locked. No one could leave . No one could enter.

It turned out o be an electrical problem but hundreds of persons could not make their planes. Even pilots and other crew could not get to the airport or get in because their was such a pile up of human beings.

My plane left one hour late half full when it had been sold out but I was on it.

I have told some of this story before on this site so this was the Reader's Digest version.

ORDtraveler and any others. I think the The Guide would welcome your input and reviews.

I do not believe thaI have ever reviewed the Austin airport. I am going to do that.

Thanks for posting the link. I was interested to see that ORD still provides cots if there is huge weather event or major flight cancellation. We got stuck there in 2014 when our flight was cancelled and there was a huge convention in town so AA had nowhere to send us. They brought out the cots and security watched over us.

Mardee - For several years, I had a regular route in which I'd arrive at 12:30 AM with an 8:00 AM departing connection. It would have made no sense at all to go through immigration and customs, shuttle to the closest airport hotel, and then reverse the process entering through security.

There were a few instances in which I had more time to make a connection, but leaving the airport meant going through security a second time. Lugging the specialized equipment I had to carry brought an inevitable argument with this particular carrier's guards at the security gate. After several arguments over "you must check" vs "I know it fits in the Business Class overhead!!!!", I simply couldn't take any more. I much preferred staying airside and finding a lounge or even having a lie down in a gate area to that hassle.

So, there are definitely times when this flyer definitely "wanted" not to leave a secure airside area, even at the expense of a good night's sleep.

It's interesting to hear some people say they cannot imagine why anyone would sleep in an airport and deprive themselves of good sleep. There are so many possible reasons why, including cost, distance to airport, inconvenience of getting to an airport early in the morning, etc. There are so many combinations of both external circumstances and internal conditions.

I've slept in many airports over the years, though not recently. I regularly slept at airports like Chicago O'Hare, SeaTac, Narita (Japan), somewhere in Texas, and JFK. Most were weather related resulting in cancelled flights. Instead of shelling out money for a hotel, money that I couldn't really afford, I just slept at the airport. For the one in Narita, I think it was a flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco and because of the flight schedule (or something related to that), I had an overnight stay in Narita airport, then took a shower at the airport in the morning, then hopped on the next flight. It wasn't so bad. Some airports are easier to sleep in than others.

I never travel without the following (and in fact, they're always in my purse when I'm not travelling): ear plugs, and eye mask. Both will help many people go to sleep in unexpected places such as the airport! You might be able to forgo eye mask if you use clothing to cover your eyes. But finding a good substitute for ear plugs is hard (and noise cancelling headphones do not work as well).

Boston has rocking chairs and I think a 24/7 Dunkin' as well as some excellent art work.

Because I am a severe insomniac, I have trouble sleeping in a bed but I can sleep in odd places like at the airport. I forgot that most persons reading this are normal sleepers.

Hate to tell you Nick but sleeping in the airport before flying out is how I begin my holiday. I am so excited about travel that I can only sleep a few hours each evening before leaving.

Finally, I get to the airport and I can relax and let go. I sit down at the airport and realize how exhausted I am and the stress begins to leave my body and I just super relax. And sleep.

sleeping in the airport before flying out is how I begin my holiday. I
am so excited about travel that I can only sleep a few hours each
evening before leaving.

I travel with a young man who cannot sleep the night before we travel. Maybe we should try this!

Nick, not all travel is "holiday" travel. Most of my airport sleeping experiences were business routes that I planned for expediency or situations that came about because of the location of my expat home in Asia.

I've slept at the Lisbon airport on purpose. It made for an interesting memory. My daughter and I were past the security line, found a great S shaped couch and slept for a few hours. And the airport at night is so different from the day. Lots of folks there from all over the world and all ages. Children to elderly. We all passed each other while walking around and would exchange a few words or smiles. It's not like I'm going to get any sleep the night before an early flight, so why not save a bit and meet people.

This was a situation where we were connecting in Lisbon, an evening flight in and didn't see a reason to leave the airport before a morning flight.

bostonphil - When you stay overnight at AUS - where exactly do you sleep? Do you have to stay outside of the "secured" area where the gates are?