We all hate red-eye flights. Getting fitful sleep in an uncomfortable seat. Shuffling off the aircraft feeling tired, dirty, and groggy. And then trying to keep your eyes open and be productive the next day. Yet sometimes these flights are unavoidable, such as when you’re on the US West Coast and have pressing business the next morning on the East Coast. Or they’re irresistible, as airlines often price them significantly lower than regular fares.

While the United States has hundreds of red-eye flights on any given night, Allegiant Air has been notable for having no eastbound overnight flights in its entire network. That is, until March, when it will add a once-weekly red-eye for the first time. But even one is a surprisingly low number. Given that Allegiant has two large West Coast bases, and six bases in Florida alone — one might expect quite a bit more low-cost overnight flying. So let’s take a closer look.

From Sin City To The Magic Kingdom

Credit: Allegiant Air

Allegiant is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, where Harry Reid International Airport is the carrier’s largest base outside of Florida. It operates to more than 50 different destinations and carried more than a million passengers to and from Las Vegas last year. It is also the soon-to-be home of its only red-eye flight.

The new red-eye route in question is from Las Vegas to Orlando Sanford International Airport. This is the largest base in the Allegiant network, with the carrier transporting more than 1.5 million passengers through the airport in 2025. Allegiant is unique in that while all other commercial airlines fly to the much larger Orlando International Airport, it is the sole domestic operator at Sanford, located further northeast of the city.

The red-eye route is scheduled to begin on March 6, and will only operate on Fridays, departing Las Vegas shortly before midnight and arriving in Orlando the following morning after a four and a half hour flight time. Connecting two large bases would seem to make sense for Allegiant, but its motivation is primarily for the staging of the A319 operating on the route. Instead of turning around and returning to Las Vegas, it busies itself with a number of East Coast routes to and from Florida, before returning to Sin City on the Saturday evening.

The US Airlines With The Most Red-Eye Flights

Credit: Delta Air Lines

The number of daily US red-eye flights fluctuates considerably based on airline schedules, the day of the week and seasonality. But looking at data for tonight specifically, there are scheduled to be over 250 red-eye flights operating from the western US to the east coast. For the analysis, a red-eye flight is defined as leaving the West Coast airport after sunset, and arriving at its East Coast destination after 04:00 AM.

Delta Air Lines is the carrier with the most red-eye flights at 64, although United Airlines and American Airlines follow closely, each offering more than 60 red-eyes as well. However, Delta’s “red-eye network” is notably more diverse than the other carriers, where nearly all of their red-eyes originate from their respective hubs. In Delta’s case, it operates red-eyes from 19 different departure airports, including all four of the Hawaiian airports with red-eye flights (HNL, KOA, LIH, OGG)

Southwest Airlines only launched red-eye flights for the first time in February last year, but it is already up to 22 different routes. Meanwhile, Alaska Airlines itself has less red-eye flights than JetBlue (16), but when looking at the Alaska Air Group in total, including Hawaiian Airlines, this figure rises to 20. The only other carriers to operate red-eyes tonight are Spirit Airlines (6) and Breeze Airways (2).

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The Red-Eye Airport Leaderboard

Credit: Los Angeles International Airport

Tonight’s red-eye flights will originate from 19 different airports across nine states. Unsurprisingly, Los Angeles International Airport as the largest West Coast gateway and a hub for all of the “Big Three”, tops the list for the most red-eyes with 48, operated by seven different airlines. New York is the most popular destination city, with five red-eye flights to New York JFK Airport and two additional red-eyes to Newark Liberty International Airport.

Las Vegas, the origination point for Allegiant’s new red-eye flight, ranks second on the list. It is somewhat surprising to see it ahead of San Francisco International Airport, which one would expect to see right behind LAX given the amount of business traffic in the Bay Area. But Las Vegas’s numbers add up via a greater diversity of carriers and destinations — such as to Nashville with Spirit Airlines and to New Orleans with Breeze Airways. Or maybe red-eyes just make sense for Las Vegas, because sleep is never a priority for those visiting Sin City.