For One Week, Europe Is an Hour Closer
Europe and the UK set their clocks back on October 25, but the US waits until 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 1, so New York is four hours behind London and five behind Paris this week.
This week, Europe is an hour closer than usual. The UK and the EU turned their clocks back on Sunday, October 25. The US doesn’t fall back until 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 1, according to NIST. Until then, New York is four hours behind London instead of five, and five behind Paris instead of six.
The gaps this week
Under EU law, summer time ends on the last Sunday of October in every member state, the European Commission says. GOV.UK confirms the UK went back at 2 a.m. on October 25. The US rule, set by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, is the first Sunday of November.
| Hours behind | Until Oct. 24 | Oct. 25–31 | From Nov. 1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York to London | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| New York to Paris, Rome, Madrid | 6 | 5 | 6 |
| New York to Athens | 7 | 6 | 7 |
| Chicago to London | 6 | 5 | 6 |
| Los Angeles to London | 8 | 7 | 8 |
| Los Angeles to Paris | 9 | 8 | 9 |
| Phoenix to London | 8 | 7 | 7 |
The table uses NIST’s US offsets (Eastern is UTC−5 in winter and UTC−4 in summer) and the European zones the Commission lists: the UK, Ireland and Portugal on GMT, most of the EU an hour ahead, and Greece and Romania two hours ahead. Arizona and Hawaii don’t observe daylight saving time, NIST says, so for clients there the gap to Europe changes on October 25 and then stays the same.
What it means for travel
Flight times on tickets are local, so they already account for the change. Where it goes wrong is anything worked out by hand. A car booked for “two hours after the London meeting” or a dinner reservation set using last week’s gap will be an hour off.
Airline timetables also turned over at the weekend. IATA‘s calendar shows the northern winter scheduling season started on October 25. Clients who booked months ago should check their departure times again, because times can change between seasons.
The US change happens overnight on November 1, when the hour from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. repeats. Clients landing in the US early that Sunday get an extra hour. Many computer clocks and cell phones update automatically, NIST notes, but it’s worth checking anything that doesn’t.
Change may be coming. The Council of the EU says the Commission proposed ending seasonal clock changes in 2018, and Parliament voted in 2019 to end them. The Council has not agreed a position, so no change has been decided.
Sources
- NIST, Daylight Saving Time rules, 2026 dates
- NIST, Local time FAQs, US time zone offsets
- GOV.UK, When do the clocks change? 2026
- European Commission, Mobility and Transport, Summertime
- European Commission, The application of summertime in Europe, Sep 19, 2014
- Council of the EU, Seasonal clock changes in the EU, archived Aug 20, 2026
- IATA, Worldwide Airport Slot Guidelines calendar of coordination activities, June 2026 update
Casie Stewart is Senior Editor at Not An Atlas, usually found in a Toronto coffee shop in a cute outfit, laptop open, coffee in hand and phone (always) within arm's reach. Some of her warmest memories are of fishing and camping in New Zealand's Bay of Islands with her family as a kid. She's a New Zealand citizen, and it will always feel like home. She takes the window seat (she wants to see the world, not the beverage cart), swears by her Trtl travel pillow (comfort over cool, always) and orders whatever the locals are having. Waking up to the sounds of the rainforest in the middle of the Costa Rican jungle is her “this is why I travel” moment, and Arizona's deserts and sunsets are where she'd go back tomorrow. She covers the places, people, food and festivals that make a destination memorable. Friends say funny, effervescent and organized. Her mum adds cuddly. Next stop: Bali.
