Daylight saving, as you may have heard, ends this Sunday. Of the twice yearly practice, the end of DST is generally considered to be “the good one,” because we earn a whole extra hour of sleep, or whatever you choose to do with your additional 60 minutes. Good or not, there’s no doubt that switching up the clocks causes all sorts of issues as people struggle to adjust.
Nowadays, some clocks update automatically but there are still plenty of people who rely on analog clocks. It’s easy to forget to reset them before bed and, if you’re traveling the day of, miss a flight.
So why do we continue to subject ourselves to this outdated ritual? Not everyone does, which only adds to the confusion. Connect in a state that doesn’t observe daylight saving and you may not have as much time to reach your gate as you thought.
In the U.S., Arizona doesn’t observe daylight saving, with the exception of the Navajo Nation. There’s plenty of sunshine year-round as it is, and keeping clocks as is helps keep energy usage down.
Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands also skip out on daylight saving. Floridians recently voted to do away with the practice, though it hasn’t officially happened just yet. And in the coming election, Californians will also have a say in whether or not to scrap it.
Traveling internationally? Again, not all countries observe daylight saving, and those that do aren’t necessarily in synch with one another. In Europe, most clocks were set back last Sunday, October 28, but the European Union has decided to stop observing daylight saving as of next October.
In South America, Argentines wisely abandoned daylight saving in 2009. Not all Brazilian states participate but those that do will “spring forward” at the same time as we “fall back” this Sunday, due to our reverse seasons.
Meanwhile, most of Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean don’t adjust clocks, ever.
If you are traveling this weekend, quadruple check that your alarms are set correctly to avoid missing a flight. And for connections through places where DST is not the norm, ask a gate agent to confirm the correct time, and allow yourself puh-lenty of time to make your flight.
International travelers can check the DST practices of their arrival country using this handy chart at TimeandDate.com.
