I took a red-eye flight from NYC to Berlin with Norse Atlantic Airways in October 2022. For $180, I traveled through the night on a nonstop economy flight with a row of seats to myself. Although I thought the flight itself was ideal for a red-eye, I started my trip feeling exhausted. I'd never heard of Norse Atlantic Airways before October 2022, when I booked an eight-hour red-eye flight with the budget airline.
You're hunched in a plastic chair, clutching your boarding pass, waiting for a flight that doesn't even depart until after midnight. Around you, the terminal looks like a strange in-between worldhalf asleep, half awake. You could've taken the 10 a.m. flight like a normal person. You could've slept in, had breakfast, and breezed through check-in. But you didn't. You took the red-eye.