red-eye flight

Meaning

1. 1nouncountableinformal

   A flight that leaves late at night and lands early the next morning, so passengers get little real sleep.

   Grammar: Takes an or the: we booked a red-eye flight; red-eye flights are cheap.

   Patterns

   • take a red-eye flight to somewhere
   • catch the red-eye flight from somewhere

   I took a red-eye flight from Seattle and went straight to the conference without a nap.

   The red-eye flight was half the price of the daytime one, so I put up with the bad sleep.

   She dreads red-eye flights because she can never sleep sitting upright.

Word forms

Common combinations

take a red-eye flight

We took a red-eye flight to save a night's hotel fee.

book a red-eye flight

He booked a red-eye flight so he could attend the morning meeting in New York.

overnight red-eye flight

The overnight red-eye flight was packed with business travelers.

catch the red-eye flight

If you catch the red-eye flight, you will land before breakfast.

cheap red-eye flight

A cheap red-eye flight is tempting if you can sleep anywhere.

Synonyms and how they differ

night flight

A night flight is any flight made in darkness, whereas a red-eye specifically implies arriving at dawn after missing a night's sleep.

overnight flight

Overnight flight is more neutral and is often used for long-haul routes, while red-eye is mainly for shorter domestic trips and sounds more tired and informal.

late flight

A late flight just leaves late in the day and may land at midnight, so it lacks the early-morning arrival that defines a red-eye.

Opposites

Word family

red-eye noun

short form meaning the same overnight flight

red eyes noun

the tired, bloodshot look that gives the flight its name

redeye noun

alternative spelling without the hyphen

Commonly confused: red-eye flight or red-eye (photo)?

Practice

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Write a sentence using “red-eye flight”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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