AIBU to not want my parents to drive immediately after a 24-hour flight?

Go and meet them at the gate, say you wanted to surprise them and then you can drive the hire car back to yours for them (or at least be there to help if they need it)

If they are able to sleep on the plane then I’m sure they will be fine.

If my kids did this I'd be furious.

Are they flying business so can get some rest on a lie flat bed or is it economy all the way? If the former, I suspect they’ll be okay. If the latter, no way.

I watch a series on the TV about policing the Scottish Highlands and apparently there are a lot of accidents on the A9, caused by people who have flown long haul into Glasgow or Edinburgh, hired a car and then fallen asleep at the wheel. On the program they were dealing with the fatal aftermath of one such accident. These people insist they are safe to drive too.

No

Did you just stop reading the initial sentence of not one, but two posts though?

I understood "they're adults, they can sleep on the plane." to mean they can sleep on the plane because they are adults.

They’re adults and not even that old! Let them do as they see fit.

My father in law almost killed himself and us in a car accident ahh we driving after a long haul flight.

They had been away to South America and returned for a family funeral. They live in a different part of the uk to us which is also where the funeral was so we travelled there by train. After a long day, he drove us back to the station to get a train home. Drive was about 50 mins, early evening but dark.

Basically we were all tired and he was clearly jet lagged and he momentarily fell asleep at the wheel. My husband was in the front and had also nodded off. I was in the back and awake and suddenly became aware the car was drifting onto the wrong side of the dual carriageway. I screamed and he woke up but by this point we were facing oncoming traffic who has to swerve us. We ended up smashing into a road sign in the hard shoulder.

Everyone was fine apart from the car, but it was terrifying. My life passed before my eyes in those seconds. He felt terrible and was very shaken. He said he felt fine to drive but the long flight and little sleep plus a long and emotional day were clearly too much and she shouldn’t have been driving. lesson learned.

so yeah, I’d advise them it’s not a great idea and that they will not be as alert as usual and it’s a risk not worthy taking.

....and if you told airline crew (shift workers, jet lagged etc, often aged 60
plus) they couldn't drive 45 minutes home after 24 hours without sleep (it happens) companies would have a problem employing/retaining employees.

Ideally I guess some here would like to embargo anyone from driving after a Longhaul flight but realistically 45 minutes or so should be OK for most passengers, especially if they've rested in flight.

With that in mind If the parents are stepping off a genuine 24 hour flight, or something close to it they actually have the potential to be better rested than someone stepping off a 6-8 hour red eye.

Jet lag is a breeze compared with how I've felt from regular insomnia.

Hell no, I don’t drive my own car 20min home from the airport after a late arrival or long haul flight and that’s a familiar journey I did daily for nearly 10 years! Driving tired and with jet lag is akin to drink driving.

Not sure how that is relevant.
I’m sure you’re also perfectly capable of deciding if you can drive or not, no?

Give them taxi numbers and tell them if they are tired when they land to put the car booking off and you’ll pay the taxi fare. It’s less concerning that driving is the same side of the road, but it’s up to them and there is an “out” if they are too tired to pick up car keys and drive when they arrive

Yes but they have to think about other people on the road who may not have wanted them to make that decision.

Yes, I’m well aware of that - but that doesn’t change the fact that her parents are adults and can make their own choices about whether they want to drive or not.

We certainly would not have wanted to drive after our long plane journey (with a change) to New Zealand. We had a flat bed on the way there but even so. It was unfamiliar surroundings.

That would be because people on here are humans, not robots, and we understand we can’t control what other adults choose to do.

In the UK you can be prosecuted if being tired affects your driving. The highway code tells you not to drive while tired.

Funny how if I Google "driving after a 24 hour flight" I get a very different response to most of the replies on this thread.

People comparing the level of fatigue to that of a parent or a shift worker clearly have never experienced jet lag! It's an entirely different sort of tiredness compounded by the body being utterly confused by the time difference.

They should be okay as it's just 45 minutes. I've always found that, after a long haul flight, the first hour's driving is fine but I then need to stop for a 'power nap' before continuing.

That would be my question too. It makes a lot of difference if you can lie flat on the way over.

I'm an adult but I can't sleep on planes.

God, exactly - I think people are a bit delusional if they think every driver has had a perfectly restful nights’ sleep before getting behind the wheel 😂