10/22/2026
The flight nobody wants is often the one that leaves on time.
A club of 64 is flying Chicago to Dallas the day before a tournament. We suggest the 6 AM departure. The coaches would rather take the 3 PM flight so the players can sleep in. It sounds safer. It usually isn't. Here's why:
1. The first departure of the day typically uses an aircraft and crew that overnighted at that airport. No inbound flight to wait on.
2. By mid-afternoon, that aircraft may have already flown several legs. Any delay earlier in the day rides along with it, and in many regions afternoon storms add to the backlog.
3. Recovery time. If a morning flight has a problem, there is still a full day of later flights to work with. If the afternoon flight cancels, finding 64 seats the same evening gets much harder, and the group may arrive in pieces or the next morning.
An early wake-up costs a few hours of sleep. A missed arrival can cost the first game.
When the event starts the next morning, the earliest reasonable flight is usually the one to protect.
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