How I Made Red-Eye Economy Class Bearable Without Upgrading

I don’t think many frequent flyers really enjoy flying overnight in Economy Class, but sometimes it’s just the most practical option.

The majority of flights from Asia to the east coast of Australia operate overnight. I often try to book one of the few daytime flights, but my most recent flight was on Royal Brunei Airlines which only offers red-eye flights into Melbourne.

To avoid the discomfort of red-eye Economy Class flying, I considered upgrading to Business Class. Royal Brunei lets you bid for an upgrade, and the minimum bid was around $650 for the six-and-a-half hour flight.

Why I chose not to upgrade

That cost to upgrade was not unreasonable. But realistically, I would probably only get around 3-4 hours of sleep on the plane at most – even in a lie-flat Business Class seat.

The flight from Brunei to Melbourne currently departs at 8.35pm, and lands at 5.30am (which is 3.30am in the Brunei time zone). In the Australian summer, it’s even more brutal – you depart Brunei at 7pm and land at 5am (which is 2am in Brunei). This schedule is typical of many of the overnight flights from Asia to Australia.

By the time I would finish dinner on board and actually feel tired enough to go to sleep, it would probably be around half-way through the flight (I’m a night owl and can’t just force myself to sleep when I’m not yet tired). So, at best, I would get half a night of sleep on the plane, then have to wait the whole morning in Melbourne before being able to check into my hotel. And I would have spent $650 for that privilege.

What I did instead

I don’t mind long-haul Economy flying during the daytime, when I’m not trying to sleep. I’m happy enough just to watch a few movies, read a book or listen to a podcast.

But, like many people, I really struggle to sleep when sitting upright in an Economy seat. I usually can’t sleep more than about 20 minutes at a time, and I just feel uncomfortable if I’m trying to sleep but can’t.

So, my strategy was simple: I wouldn’t try to sleep on the plane. I’m used to staying up until around 3-4am, which is effectively what I would be doing. I would then check into a hotel immediately on arrival in Melbourne and sleep for a few hours there.

The PARKROYAL Melbourne Airport hotel is across the road from the international terminal, and offers competitively-priced daytime rooms for use between 7am and 7pm. I booked a five-hour stay, which cost $119. That’s a small fraction of the cost of upgrading to Business Class on my flight.

By the time I cleared customs and had something to eat (there was no breakfast served on my flight), I turned up at the hotel to check-in at 6.40am. Officially, check-in for day use rooms starts at 7am, but a room was already available so they checked me in straight away. I slept solidly from around 7am until 10.30am, then used the gym and pool before checking out at midday.

From there, I went to my CBD hotel and was able check-in straight away when I got there. No need to wait around for the whole morning in a sleep-deprived state!

I think this was a good compromise to get some sleep while saving money

My logic was simple. Either way, I would probably only get about half a night of sleep. So, I might as well get those few hours of sleep in a real bed, and not spend an extra $500+ to do so!

In the end, my overnight flight was quite bearable. I ended up getting a row of seats to myself anyway, which was a welcome surprise. But even if I wouldn’t have been able to lie down on the plane, I didn’t feel like I needed to force myself to sleep on board. I could enjoy the flight, knowing that I would have a proper, comfortable bed waiting for me on arrival.

A growing number of airports around the world, such as Kuala Lumpur, have sleep capsules that you can rent by the hour. These would also fulfil the same purpose, at a very reasonable price.