The worst have limited hotel and food options – if any – and are far from tourist hotspots.
No one wants to wake up before the sun comes up to get to the airport, but taking the first flight out has its perks, says Gilbert Ott, a travel expert who flies roughly 200,000 miles a year.
Ott, who shares his insights on air travel on his blog God Save the Points, said that in his experience, the earliest flights are the least likely to be delayed.
“If it’s one of the first flights of the day, most of those planes are parked overnight at that gate. They’re not arriving that early and getting cleaned and changed,” he said.
Ott said some airports can make an early flight a breeze, and others are more likely to make your morning flight feel like a drag.
Based on his experiences, he shared the best and worst airports to fly out of first thing in the morning.
One of the most important aspects of an airport for an early flight is its location, Ott said.
“In so many cities, the airport is so far from where things are happening,” he said. “If you get a 6am flight, the idea of an hour-plus car journey sucks.
So, Ott prefers to fly out of airports like Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. It’s only 20 minutes from downtown Dallas by car.
Ott also said he appreciates that it has four hotels at the airport: Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Place, and Minute Suites, a nap centre inside Terminal D.
“I hate getting up in the middle of the night to catch a flight. I find it’s often so worth it to sleep at the airport the night before,” he said.
While John F. Kennedy International Airport is a trek from New York City hotspots, its TWA hotel within a terminal makes it one of the best for morning flights, in Ott’s experience.
When it comes to airport hotels, Ott prefers when they’re in the terminal.
“You just wake up and roll yourself into the departure hall,” he said. “That, to me, is early morning winning.”
Ott said that although John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens is not convenient to get to from New York’s more popular Manhattan borough, it’s great for early morning flights if you stay at the TWA hotel, which opened in 2019, that’s connected to the Jet Blue Terminal the night before.
“Having the TWA hotel has really changed the way people think about JFK,” Ott said. “It’s a short hop on the air train to all the other terminals. There’s a pool, and there’s decent food. I would shout that out as a nice option domestically.”
“Singapore Changi Airport slays,” Ott said. “Singapore has so many airport hotels for every budget. Some have pools and club lounges with luxury, quality amenities. Others are just basic sleeping pods. Most are in service to help you out 24 hours a day. ”
Aside from hotels, the airport has plenty of local dining options, allowing Ott to avoid eating fast food before a flight.
“Some of the best local food is at the airport because the famous places in Singapore set up locations there,” he said.
Ott said that I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali (also known as Denpasar International Airport) is one of the worst for early flights because it’s typically too hot for comfort.
Online reviews of the airport also mention how hot and stuffy the airport is while waiting to board planes.
According to Kayak, the airport has one hotel, Novotel Bali Ngurah Rai, with 214 rooms.
In March, the flight company AirHelp ranked the airport as one of the worst in the world. While AirHelp found good food and shopping options, the airport was on the list for its performance. AirHelp cited that customers complained of frequent delays and long lines in many online customer reviews.
I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ott said London Stansted Airport is among the worst for early flights because it can take one to two hours to get there from the city centre. According to the airport’s website, there are also no hotels in the terminals.
In 2023, the travel insurance company Loveit Coverit released a report on the worst international airports in the UK based on reviews and ratings from Google and Skytrax, a UK-based site that reviews airlines and airports.
London Stansted Airport received fourth place with a rating of 2.15 out of 5. Customers complained about it being crowded and having inadequate signage. Still, some reviews noted that the food options were on par with those of other UK airports.
London Stansted Airport didn’t immediately respond to request for comment.
Ott says small regional airports are generally the worst for early flights because they typically don’t have hotels or many food options.
“I think there’s just an inherent advantage to being a big airport because big airports can attract retail,” he said.
Ott did not point to any specific airports, but some of the smallest in the US are Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky and Morgantown Municipal Airport in West Virginia.
