I fly between Europe and East Asia quite often, and over the years, I’ve tried different flights over multiple different flight times. While people generally develop a preference on shorter domestic or transatlantic flights, these are long 11-14 hour flights, and involve timezone changes of up to eight hours. At the same time, there’s an increasing amount of choice for flight times on these routes – e.g. Cathay Pacific operates five daily flights between Hong Kong and London alone.
In this post, I’ll share some of my personal favourite flight times between Asia and Europe, some flight times I’ve been pleasantly surprised by, and flight times I’ve fallen out of love with. I’d be keen to hear your thoughts on your favourite flight times between Asia and Europe as well.
My favourite flight times from Asia to Europe
I love flying from Asia to Europe, as I get to Europe being an early morning person while feeling well rested (due to Europe being a few hours behind). However, as I get older, my preferences of flight times between Asia and London are getting stronger:
- On a daytime flight, I basically have a very long day onboard, and need to stay awake when I land in Europe (especially with flight times being longer given the Russian airspace closure); I prefer to have as late of a departure as possible out of Asia, so I can be productive on the flight and maybe only take very occasional naps during the first half of the flight (if at all)
- On a nighttime flight, I would like the flight time to be as late as possible, so I can wake up at a sensible early morning time instead of dead in the middle of the night (e.g. waking up at 5 AM for a 7 AM arrival sounds fine, whereas waking up at 2 AM for a 4 AM arrival doesn’t)
For example, I was very excited to get some sleep onboard my Shanghai to Helsinki flight last week, which left Shanghai at 9 PM and was scheduled to arrive Helsinki at 5:15 AM. Not only was the flight time almost an hour shorter, but breakfast was also served 2h 20m before arrival, so we ended up having breakfast at around 2 AM Finland time (or 12 AM London time, where I was heading to next!). Even with a nap in the morning at home in London (which you wouldn’t even get if your hotel only allowed check-in at 2 PM), the day was a slog to get through.
Morning Finnair, please let me sleep!
My favourite flight time from Europe to Asia
I’m far less fond of flying from Europe to Asia, as you basically have to force yourself to sleep and wake up early once you get to your destination. Most of the time, you land in Asia a few hours before your departure time on the following day after a long flight – you’re either super well rested and can’t fall asleep that evening (especially if in first or business class), or have to wrestle through the rest of the day (especially if in economy). I occasionally use countertop medication to help with the time change, given how rough time in Asia can feel otherwise.
I’ve got a much simpler preference when it comes to the Europe-Asia time – I prefer to pick the flight that leaves as late as possible, which gets into East Asia the next day (likely in the late afternoon). This way, there’s not a huge amount of pressure to be well-rested from the flight, and I’d likely stay up a bit after the first meal service just to keep myself from being too well-rested to have a proper night at my destination.
Late-night flights out of Europe get you into East Asia in the late afternoon, so you don’t have too much of a day to struggle through if you can’t get much rest
Morning flights from Europe to Asia are some of my least favourite flight times – you get on the plane not particularly well-rested, still struggle to sleep due to the amount of daylight, and end up arriving Asia even earlier in the morning, where there’s a full day to get through.
What if I’m connecting through the Middle East?
Well, what if my itinerary is broken up by a connection through the Middle East? What if I’m flying Qatar, Emirates, Etihad, or Turkish Airlines?
The big sleep-related issue with flying through the Middle East between Europe and Asia is that your flight time gets cut squarely in half. This means that instead of an uninterrupted stint where you could be getting some sleep, you end up with two medium-haul flights, where you might be able to get four hours of sleep if you’re lucky.
Given that you just don’t get much sleep on these itineraries, I generally just try and get a flight that doesn’t land too early in the morning. When flying between Europe and Asia, most redeye flights between the Middle East and Asia leave very late at night and arrive in the early afternoon, which I’d prefer to an earlier redeye flight (take the below example).
This would be a hard no for me, though thankfully these flight times aren’t very popular
From Asia to Europe, early morning arrivals are a bit more popular (as those are the flights that leave the Middle East very late at night). I tend to prefer itineraries that leave East Asia late at night, arrive the Middle East very early in the morning, and get to Europe in the late morning or early afternoon.
My 2 AM flight from Abu Dhabi to London in 2023 onboard Etihad was beautiful, though I remember the following day being a slog
The role of coffee and alcohol onboard longhaul flights
General jetlag advice involves avoiding coffee and alcohol completely – especially the latter. However, especially when I’m flying in a premium cabin, I like to live a little, and enjoy some of the wines and/or cocktails on offer (especially if I’m visiting an airline lounge with a bar beforehand, since it’s not something I otherwise can easily enjoy when I’m not flying).
Firstly, I’ll only drink on flights if there’s a beverage I otherwise wouldn’t be able to easily get on the ground, as I’d consider it part of the experience of flying. So if there’s a cocktail list, you bet I’ll give some of the selection a go. However, if we’re talking beer and house wine, I don’t drink every day when I’m going about normal activities, and I absolutely don’t feel like I need to drink on a plane.
With that in mind, as you’d expect, I like enjoying a drink if I’m planning to go to bed, and having coffee if I’m planning to stay awake. That will be quite obvious advice to many. However, I’m not too hard on this – I’ll avoid a drink if I’m specifically planning to stay productive (e.g. the first half of a daytime flight from Asia to Europe) or if it’s early in the morning, though an afternoon tipple or two doesn’t usually throw off my body clock.
My rule of thumb is no drinking before lunchtime, and no coffee if I’m planning on trying to get some sleep. On a longhaul flight, there definitely will be a point in the flight where it isn’t lunchtime. 😉 I’ll sometimes break this rule – e.g. if I’m trying out an airline lounge in the morning with a cocktail bar – though that’s my general rule of thumb.
Enjoying a cocktail at the Qantas Lounge Hong Kong before a 1 PM flight
Conclusion
I’ve developed preferences for my flight times between Asia and Europe over the years – I generally prefer night flights in both directions that leave as late as possible, and even on a daytime flight from Asia to Europe, I prefer if the flight leaves later in the day. I generally give myself a bit of room to enjoy coffee and alcohol onboard flights (especially when they serve things that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to enjoy during my daily life), though stay sensible so I still have a good chance of adjusting to jetlag.
What are your favourite flight times between Europe and Asia? Do you have particular preferences on the routes you fly most often?
