Best flight times for flying West

[sandwl]

We need to come back from the US (-4hrs) to the UK. Want to avoid jet lag if possible. Is it better to fly at 5pm which lands 5am UK time or fly 10pm which lands 10am UK time.

I always try and go as late as possible so I'm tired when I get on the plane, fall asleep and get a good few hours in. If I don't, 10am is not a terrible time to land in the UK- by the time I've gone through the airport, made it actually home and sorted out washing etc, the day doesn't feel too awful.

I would struggle to feel tired getting on the plane at 5pm, depending on how long your flight is, you might just be drifting off at the point they come and wake you for brekkie.
Then 5am landing makes it a mighty long day before you get to sleep again, unless you have the chance to nap.

USA to UK is always always my absolute worst flight- I regularly travel long haul and it's the absolute worst for jet lag and feeling crap. The best one I did was a midnight flight in business class for 8 hours- got a good chunk of sleep, woken for breakfast, by the time I actually got to my house it was 4pm and I didn't have that long to stay up before a good night's sleep in my own bed. We always try and upgrade on those flight, more than any others!

Second that. A later departure means higher chances of falling asleep and getting more than a 20 minute nap before being woken up. Bear in mind, an east coast to London flight can easily be shortened to 6 hours if there is tailwind. This is very short as by the time they serve and clear dinner 2 hours are gone, then they start again with breakfast about 1.5 hours before landing. It’s a short window for sleeping, so ask yourself if you’d be able to fall asleep at 7pm or would rather try at midnight.

I would choose the later flight over the earlier one. You have more chance of actually falling asleep too.