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I noticed that Virgin America uses a 12-hour time format, while Qatar Airways always uses a 24-hour time format.

Virgin America:

Virgin America

Qatar Airways:

Qatar Airways

1:00AM = 0100H
9:00PM = 2100H
12am = 0000H
12pm = 1200H

Is it okay to use 12MN or 12NN if I choose the 12-hour clock time?

Which time format would be more convenient and understandable for flight bookings?

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  • 21
    localization is really important to show time-zones and time...You should have it according to user preferences.
    – Abektes
    May 24, 2017 at 9:46
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    But what about the user that is not logged in?
    – Dimitra Miha
    May 24, 2017 at 10:10
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    12pm is not 2400H, btw.
    – Kevin
    May 24, 2017 at 16:44
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    @DimitraMiha Cookies can store personalization data, and you can generally get a best guess as to someone's location by using their IP. This doesn't necessarily work for​ someone behind a VPN or proxy, but generally people behind those will be used to odd localization.
    – anon
    May 24, 2017 at 18:16
  • @Kevin I submitted an edit to fix that.
    – Monty Harder
    May 24, 2017 at 20:29

3 Answers 3

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Times for flights are almost always given as local time in a 24-hour format.

https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/83626/how-to-read-time-of-flight-for-emirates-airline

Most airlines use the 24-hour clock system when telling time. They use this system when assigning trip departures, check-in times and other forms of time designation. The 24-hour clock alleviates communication problems and is more convenient.

http://www.flightattendantcabincrewtraining.com/clock.htm

I think it is interesting to read the following article on times and how people might miss the flight because of time format

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/travel-on-a-shoestring/topics/anyone-missed-their-flight-due-to-24-hour-clock

This is a very interesting case for further research, but I would suggest going for 24-hour clock.

What I see is that this is a convention. Since most companies use the 24-hour clock, it is better to use the same way, in order to avoid confusion for your passengers.

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11

Make your decision based on your user's location. So, someone in the USA will see AM/PM times and someone in Qatar will see 24H.

Having just one of the two will confuse users of the other region.

Edit

More information here: Date and time representation by country

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  • 3
    More information, here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_and_time_representation_by_country
    – Dimitra Miha
    May 24, 2017 at 10:12
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    What can you say, example about a user from US (with AM/PM) book a flight going to Qatar, one way. And as going back to US, he/she use the same site in QATAR (with 24H time). There is some inconsistency which become more confusing to the users.
    – Sknny
    May 24, 2017 at 14:17
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    As someone who sometimes uses a website when on vacation: No! Not based on location. Setting the default based on location may be fine, but allow users to set it to a sane setting.
    – Hennes
    May 24, 2017 at 17:26
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    I don't think this is correct. What if I'm an user who uses 24 hours time and access the site from my hotel in US? Will I get something confusing just because I accessed it from another country?
    – Devin
    May 24, 2017 at 17:39
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    Default should be 24H, even US citizens get confused. If you add both options, that's great, but I think 24H should be default. No ambiguity there, and no possible confusion.
    – Academiphile
    May 24, 2017 at 20:17
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People who are used to the am/pm format will be able to correctly understand the 24:00 format. People who are used to the 24:00 format will occasionally misunderstand 12:00 pm. Even people who are used to am/pm will occasionally misunderstand 12:00 pm.

So if context doesn't clarify if we're talking midnight or noon, and it's important to avoid misunderstandings, use 24:00. Same if you expect a lot of international users. International long distance flights satisfy all of these these criteria. US inland flights don't.

  • For international long distance flights, use 24:00.

  • For US domestic flights, both options are viable.

  • If your site displays both intercontinental and domestic US flights, use 24:00 to maintain consistency.

  • Ideally you provide an option that allows the user to easily show the second format.
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    Ironically, the list of people who misunderstand 12:00pm includes the OP... :-)
    – Fabio says Reinstate Monica
    May 24, 2017 at 17:50
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    Note that 24:00 on May 1 is the same as 0:00 on May 2, though I would suggest such a time should only be used to describe something that begins earlier on the same day and ends at midnight (e.g. describing something as running from 18:00-24:00 on May 1 makes it visually clear that the interval in question is six hours).
    – supercat
    May 24, 2017 at 17:57
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    It is not true that people who are used to the am/pm format will correctly understand the 24:00 format. To a person used to the am/pm format, a time like 07:00 is ambiguous and may be misunderstood.
    – ajd
    May 24, 2017 at 21:36
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    @AlexanderDunlap, someone used to AM/PM seeing "07:00" will be prompted to ask "Is that AM or PM?". Someone used to 24-hour time seeing "7:00 PM" will initially think "07:00". Which situation do you think has less potential for mistakes?
    – Mark
    May 25, 2017 at 0:18
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    @FabioTurati According to this I think you cannot say "misunderstand".
    – Axel
    May 25, 2017 at 9:25

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