Seattle to San Juan PR?

[cruzinisgood]

Our cruise isn't till 2/2024 but started to look at airlines and the trip in general. Who has done this trip? The shortest trip is 10 hours. 

Is it best to try it to do it in one day or break it up and do it in 2 days?

Any thoughts would help.

[Zach1213]

I am not sure the exact route matters, it's really the time. It's going to be a long trip either way, one of the longest possible domestic ones, and people are going to have a lot of different opinions - one day versus two. I am a firm believer of just getting it done and out of the way in one (possibly painful) go. Plenty of connection points - Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, Charlotte, etc. etc. so just pick the one that works best for you based on timing, price, and/or any kind of airline/alliance loyalty. 

 

There are also two distinct options on how to get it done all at once - leave SEA in the morning and get to SJU in the evening, or leave SEA in the evening and get to SJU mid-day (via a redeye out of SEA). In either way, I would recommend arriving in to SJU a day before your departure. 

[6rugrats]

I also think it’s best to just get it over with.  I hate redeyes, so would take the early morning departure on UA or AA.

[CruiserBruce]

Last time we did it, we did SFO-ORD, spent the night in a hotel at the airport (Hilton) and flew early the next morning...a 6am flight, and went straight to the ship. I don't usually recommend going straight to boarding, but it worked for us that trip. This was in April, and Chicago was freezing.

[Zach1213]

2 hours ago, 6rugrats said:

I hate redeyes

 

Yo, same. Hate them. Even relatively long domestic redeyes (like LAX-JFK, or even SEA-ATL) are painful. Some of the short ones are just cruel and unusual. I've done some redeyes where you're only in the air like two-and-a-half or three hours (such as LAX-DFW) and even in business or first, it's just a killer and messes up your entire day on both ends. 

[cruzinisgood]

Thank you for your thoughts. As much as we hate red eyes we are currently leaning that direction. Sea to Mia to Snj.

One and done too.

The first leg is 6 hours so at least we'd get some sleep. Then arrive around in PR around 2.

When we leave in the moring we are arriving after 10 which we don't either. So we at lest have time.

Also we like to arrive a few days early so we can relax and get use to the time change.

[CruiserBruce]

10 hours ago, cruzinisgood said:

Thank you for your thoughts. As much as we hate red eyes we are currently leaning that direction. Sea to Mia to Snj.

One and done too.

The first leg is 6 hours so at least we'd get some sleep. Then arrive around in PR around 2.

When we leave in the moring we are arriving after 10 which we don't either. So we at lest have time.

Also we like to arrive a few days early so we can relax and get use to the time change.

The airport code for San Juan is SJU.

[FlyerTalker]

Flying to SNJ will take you to San Julian Air Base in Cuba.

[jsglow]

Here's the challenge. You certainly can't do it without an overnight, either on a plane or in a hotel. I'd make my decision based on price (including to a certain extent the hotel stay).

[jsglow]

Edit: Wow it actually IS possible without an overnight.  That's a LONG day.

[cruzinisgood]

Looking at the times it's either leaving around midninght and land in San Juan around 1ish or leave 6am and arrive around 10pm or later.

We decided when that the red eye works better then trying to sleep in a hotel and having to get up at 4am.

Either way you don't get much sleep but we like landing in the afternoon.

[jsglow]

2 hours ago, cruzinisgood said:

Looking at the times it's either leaving around midninght and land in San Juan around 1ish or leave 6am and arrive around 10pm or later.

We decided when that the red eye works better then trying to sleep in a hotel and having to get up at 4am.

Either way you don't get much sleep but we like landing in the afternoon.

Yeah, that's the traditional way to get to Europe so what I would have done. 

 

I do have a suggestion... If you are able to commit a few days to adjusting your sleep schedule, you'll feel better on the San Juan end.  We've done that for Europe and it does make a difference for me, a person that struggles with significant time zone change.

[Zach1213]

11 hours ago, jsglow said:

Yeah, that's the traditional way to get to Europe so what I would have done. 

 

I do have a suggestion... If you are able to commit a few days to adjusting your sleep schedule, you'll feel better on the San Juan end.  We've done that for Europe and it does make a difference for me, a person that struggles with significant time zone change.

 

Regarding the traditional way of getting to Europe - the redeye is definitely the tradition, but once I realized how great the daytime flights to Europe are, I started taking them as often as possible. Sadly, that isn't too often, but they're a game changer - arrive in to London at bedtime and get some good rest. 

 

Regarding time change - I have a colleague who refuses to adjust to local time whenever possible. For example, we end up in Australia a lot and only for a couple of days at a time, so he just stays on US central time (or as close as possible). He'll sleep from like 5pm to 1am local time, and then wake/work during the 1am to 5pm timeframe. He swears by it, but I like having fun in the evenings too much. 

[aungrl]

1 hour ago, Zach1213 said:

 

Regarding the traditional way of getting to Europe - the redeye is definitely the tradition, but once I realized how great the daytime flights to Europe are, I started taking them as often as possible. Sadly, that isn't too often, but they're a game changer - arrive in to London at bedtime and get some good rest. 

 

Regarding time change - I have a colleague who refuses to adjust to local time whenever possible. For example, we end up in Australia a lot and only for a couple of days at a time, so he just stays on US central time (or as close as possible). He'll sleep from like 5pm to 1am local time, and then wake/work during the 1am to 5pm timeframe. He swears by it, but I like having fun in the evenings too much. 

 

I couldn't agree more with this.  In flying to London from the DC area, once I discovered the day time flights - which on AA departed from either Chicago or Boston - I would typically fly into one or the other - (yes, going backwards to Chicago) - the day before in order to get the non-stop day flight across.  For me, at least, it was a game changer in terms of my ability to adjust right away, and be productive (or enjoy vacation time) the entire trip.

 

The pushback I always got from colleagues at the time was that I was "wasting an entire day".  In my case, that wasn't true, because I would have wasted the first day there in any case from the overnight flight - I was present in the room, but definitely not present mentally.

[cruzinisgood]

Coming from the west coast and heading east we always arrive at 2 or 3 days early. One because of the time change and also because you never know what will happen with weather nad the airlines. A little buffer:)

[Zach1213]

3 hours ago, aungrl said:

The pushback I always got from colleagues at the time was that I was "wasting an entire day".  In my case, that wasn't true, because I would have wasted the first day there in any case from the overnight flight - I was present in the room, but definitely not present mentally.

 

I'm a consultant, so there are times I definitely hit Europe (or whatever my destination is) in the morning and am working later that day, to make my trips as efficient as possible. But even then, I find that the rest I get by arriving in the evening on a daytime flight is still worthwhile - sleep in a few extra hours in the morning, but then I'm ready to go with a brain at (mostly) full power.