Guest Writer Juliet P., San Jose CA: Whenever possible, we always go red-eye, flights that depart 10 pm or later. There are so many advantages, it just doesn’t make much sense for this retired couple to do it any other way.

First of all, many of our flights are on Southwest, the airline with no assigned seats. As a popular low-cost airline, most SW daylight flights are jam-packed. Typically, if you book an SW red-eye, usually not totally sold out, chances of getting a window seat in front are much better. Another advantage is price. Check daily airline schedules, and you may find some red eye flights are half the price of daytime ones. It’s an economic advantage for airlines to cut prices on night flights, because they must adhere to 24-hour schedules and don’t want their planes to fly with money-losing empty seats.

Speaking of empty seats, there are many in airport waiting rooms at night. It’s much quieter and there’s less hassle of loading and unloading flights. Another important area at midnight is security, where there won’t be long lines of passengers.

An additional benefit is just getting to the airport for your flight. No drive-time lines of cars clogging highways and freeways. Whether you take your own car (more room in the airport parking lot) or take a cab, you can be fairly sure you won’t be caught in a traffic jam and miss your flight.    

And finally, once aboard your flight, you can unwind, sit back, take off your shoes, pull down eye shade and snooze away peacefully. If you’re really lucky, there won’t be little kids on your red-eye flight. Then, several hours later, you’ll wake up fresh and feisty in the morning. Ready to tackle whatever is next on your daytime agenda.