Are there no nonstop day flights from eastern US to Paris?

There are direct morning flights to London from JFK and Newark offered by multiple airlines, but I'm not aware of any similar service to any other city.

No there are not; if you want that try Chicago to London. there is a 9:05 am arriving in London at 10pm

Like Michael, I only know of daytime flights to/from London/NY.

Thanks guys!

Dang. Guess I better get used to sleeping on a plane, lol.

I flew non-stop to Paris last May on Air France, left SFO at 2 pm, arrived at around 9 am and remained upright and busy til about 7 pm. Why waste a day arriving in late afternoon or evening?

I also take the non-stop from SFO to Paris. Sometimes Air France send I used to fly United but don't see that flight any more. I can usually get 4-5 hours of sleep. Benedryl is my friend. However since I know I can function on that much sleep, I am good. If you are looking at Air France, try premium economy. It is a little more expensive, but has a nicer seat with more room.

Yes, trying to sleep on a plane is a common problem of travel toward Europe. But staying overnight in DC or NYC may not really help your timing or budget. Major west coast cities have nonstop flights to Paris.

My tactic is always taking Boston's day flight to London. I think sitting on a plane overnight is torture and I don't care to do it. I didn't do it when I worked and had less time, so now that I'm retired there's absolutely no reason to torture myself. If you have time, I urge you to consider a day flight from the east coast to London, stay overnight at the airport and fly out the next morning to Paris, or take the Chunnel (yes, I call it that). Personally, I see no reason to drag myself around for a day painfully tired, feeling miserable, reducing the quality of my immune system, etc. which just exposes one to illness while abroad, IMO. I arrive in the evening in London after an easy flight, have a lovely meal, a lovely sleep, and in a relaxed mood walk back to the terminal for my interEuropean flight. This could be done just as easily from the west coast, but just adding another relaxed evening and dinner at a hotel on the east coast. Why not make the entire trip fun, rather than just when you arrive at your destination?

If you truly want to avoid flying overnight then the London option is a good one. I would go into the city and spend the night there, hopefully with time to walk around a bit before bedtime. Then take the Eurostar train from St. Pancras to Paris the next day. It is easier and faster than returning to the airport, and you end up right in Paris instead of the dreaded CDG airport.

BA has a flight from JFK at 7:55 am that arrives in London at 19:45.

Or AA has one that leaves at 10:15 am and arrives in London at 22:10. You will still be on west coast time so that would be mid-afternoon for you. But you may have trouble finding a decent dinner at that late hour.

We fly BOS to LHR daytime, 6.5 hours, leaves 7:40am, easy. If continuing on to continental European destinations, we stay at LHR Sofitel, have dinner at their excellent restaurant and continue flying on destination in the morning.
There used to be a daytime flight to ANS from east coast.
From the west coast you might as well fly straight through from LAX, SFO or SEA.

For the cost of booking separate flights from the West Coast and spending a night in NYC, you could get a biz class ticket from West coast and find sleeping on the overnight flight much less "detestable"

Thanks guys! We could do nonstop to Paris from SEA or SFO, except I feel like I'll wig out sitting that long on a plane, even in business or first class, ugh.

So, things to think about though-- will look into a London overnight stay coupled with an east coast overnight stay. Of course...if I add those extra hotels/dinners into the budget, we may as well just fly first class right from SEA or SFO, lol.

Somehow I thought it would be easily possible to find a flight leaving the east coast in the morning to Paris. How odd...

Here is why I think the flights are at the times they are.

The airlines need to have their planes in the right place at the right time. To get to Europe late afternoon , a flight from the West coast would be leaving at 2 or 3 AM. The plane would then be in Europe leaving there at 9-10PM and getting back to US at midnight or so.

Not my idea of good scheduling.

sgsmith-- for now you are stuck with multi stage travel, or just learning to 'let go' and doze off in biz class. I doubt the airlines are going to reverse their scheduling.

Thanks Joe

I understand the West Coast schedule scenario, but my original question was that I am trying to figure out why I can't leave in the morning from the east coast of the US and get to Paris that day. Doesn't really matter, we will probably go from Seattle straight over and try to sleep on the plane. But thank you anyway!

I used to feel the same way as you do about sleeping on an airplane, but after trying Rick's suggestion about taking a night train to save sightseeing time in Europe I decided to take the same attitude toward flying. Living near New Orleans I have the same issues with the east coast, leaving early afternoon for either Newark or Dulles on United and then taking a flight to Paris that leaves around 9 or 10 PM. I try to get up early that morning so that I'm pretty tired when I board the flight to Paris. After a meal I'm ready to go to sleep and when we arrive it is morning there and with 4-5 hours of sleep my body is at least partially on their time. Staying up all day and getting plenty of exercise gets my trip off to a good start and after another good nights sleep the rest goes pretty well. If you spend a night in a hotel on the east coast I look at that as a waste of both time and money. You will still spend the same eight hours in the same airline seat the next day and will probably be stiff and tired from all that sitting awake. Instead of having a full day to work it off you will arrive at bed time and probably not sleep well. After my first time doing this I wouldn't trade it for a day flight again. Same with coming home from Hawaii where leaving late at night gets me home late morning/early afternoon. Just the opposite for flying east to west. Good luck.

If you want to minimize time in the air, then a direct flight from Seattle to London or Paris is way the best.

If you flew SEA to JFK and then JFK to LHR (daytime flight), that is 5.5 hours in a plane one day and 7 hours the next, for a total of almost 13 hours. Plus lots of airport time for the separate flights--add another 4 at least.

If you fly SEA non-stop to London that is a nine-hour overnight flight. Maybe 9.5 to Paris? No sure about that as we always just fly to London first.

Take a piece of string and a Globe and measure the distances. You will see that flying to New York is a major detour from the direct (northern) route from Seattle to London.

"I think sitting on a plane overnight is torture and I don't care to do it." Agree, but torture it is for us in a state with more cattle than people, or even a decently populated 'burb.

My numbers may be completely off but I don't think a business class ticket can be bought for less than about $3500.

So assuming US coast to coast $500, hotel room $400 and east coast to Europe $1000 that's $1900. Add in a London hotel and Eurostar ticket and call it $2400ish. Add in a couple of hundred for local transportation and meals and it's still less the BC. Premium economy might be an option.

Here is an electronic ' string and globe'

http://gc.kls2.com/

To Initial
Heading Distance

SFO (37°37'08"N 122°22'31"W) LHR (51°28'39"N 00°27'41"W) 33° (NE) 5367 mi
LHR (51°28'39"N 00°27'41"W) CDG (49°00'35"N 02°32'52"E) 141° (SE) 216 mi
SEA (47°27'00"N 122°18'42"W) JFK (40°38'24"N 73°46'43"W) 83° (E) 2421 mi
JFK (40°38'24"N 73°46'43"W) LHR (51°28'39"N 00°27'41"W) 51° (NE) 3451 mi
LHR (51°28'39"N 00°27'41"W) CDG (49°00'35"N 02°32'52"E) 141° (SE) 216 mi

Going through JFK adds about 500 miles That is 1.5 -2 hrs more airtime, plus plane changing time

Just some info for you to consider

Thanks everyone. Love all the different input.

We'll figure it out.😄

Here is the strategy we used on our last trip (May 2017):

• Fly Aerlingus non-stop from the US to Dublin
• Stay in Dun Laoghaire (right outside of Dublin) for a couple of days
• Fly from Dublin to our main European destination (in this case, London Gatwick)

On the return trip, we also stayed a night outside Dublin before continuing home on a non-stop Aer Lingus flight.

Advantages: Staying near Dublin on the way over was relaxing in that English was being used, and we didn't feel that we had to hit the ground running when we arrived. On the way home, it was nice to be able to go through US customs and immigration in Dublin. Finally, the fare on Aer Lingus was so low that it paid for the extra nights in the Dublin area. Also, we did not have to catch an early flight going home.

I find it easier , if taking an overnight flight, to leave from west coast or Chicago as there is enough time after dinner to sleep. When flying ovwenight from east coast it seems they are making the breakfast coffe while I'm still teying to fall asleep.
Isn't it only a little over a ten hr flight to Paris from SFO or SEA? That seems reasonable enough.

"Isn't it only a little over a ten hr flight to Paris from SFO or SEA? That seems reasonable enough." Add more time for us to get to a gateway city as some of us don't live near SFO or SEA airports. :(

Bruce, I hear ya-

We'd actually have to book a flight going west for 40 minutes to even get to SEA (from Spokane), before taking a SEA to CDG leg. Ugh. Joys of living far from main cities...

Right now, I'm probably just going to book us to an eastern city from Spokane, spend a night there (we have friends in DC, NY and NJ), then catch an east coast evening flight to Paris the next day.

Still. My original point is that we should have east coast US flights that leave in the morning, to Paris. Seriously...that doesn't seem like an odd itinerary to hope for.

anyhoo-I'll get back to everyone once we go and let you know what we end up doing and how it worked out.

goes off to find sleep mask and travel pillow

:D

Since you are resigned to the overnight flight to Paris, consider flying Delta Spokane to Salt Lake and then direct to Paris. The long flight is 10.5 hours but you could get Economy Plus for more comfort.

The return flight is in the daytime, FWIW.

That is just the way it works for airline schedules---overnight flight going to Europe, daytime flight coming back.

Wray, I think one needs to be on the Eurostar train or in a car to take the Chunnel... 😂 😂

Good idea, Tom! I did not know about Minneapolis flights. We have friends in SLC who use the Delta flight to Paris on a regular basis.

But staying north, like Minneapolis, shortens the distance to Europe.

I understand your frustration about lack of daytime flights from east coast. I expect it has to do with the hub concept employed by the airline industry. By the time they have gather travelers from other sections of the country, a night flight is their option.

Look at the logistics. Take Delta for instance. They have one non-stop flight daily between Philly and Paris.

Currently PHL 6:12 pm to CDG 7:55 am

Make that a daytime flight, and you get,

PHL 6:12 am to CDG 7:55 pm.

Do ;you really want to get to the airport for a flight at 6:12 in the morning? Give yourself two hours and you have to be at the airport at 4 in the morning. But that gets you to Paris at 8 pm at night, probably too late to go very far. To get to Paris earlier, you have to get to the airport even earlier, or to get to the airport later, you'll have to get to Paris later. Either way, it's a pretty awkward connection.

Take the return flight,

Currently, CDG 1:30p to PHL 4:12 pm

Change the return by 12 hours to accommodate a day flight over, you get,

CDG 1.30a to PHL 4:12a.

Do you really want to get back to Philly at 4 in the morning? If Delta could turn the plane around at CDG in 2½ hours, they could leave at 10:30 pm and get to Philly at 1:45am. Might not be too bad if you live in Philly, but for French coming to the US, it means checking into a hotel in the US after 2 am.

These morning flights to London from New York also pair up with a late afternoon flight back to New York which arrives around 11 PM. Whenever I'm visiting London I always use his flight to return back to the New York area as it gives me almost extra day of things to do in London. But the flight is only useful for people who live in the New York City since there are no connecting flights that late at night.