New York to London Time —
The Real Scheduling Guide
Three hours. That's your entire real-time window.
The gap in plain language
New York runs 5 hours behind London for most of the year. When it's 2pm in London, it's 9am in New York. Both cities observe daylight saving time — but they switch on different Sundays. For a few weeks in March and again in late October and early November, the gap temporarily shrinks to 4 hours. That's when recurring meetings quietly drift.
The headline number is five hours. The operational number is three usable hours.
The honest overlap window
If both teams work roughly 9am–6pm, here's what actually overlaps:
| 🇺🇸 New York | 🇬🇧 London |
|---|---|
| 9:00am – 1:00pm | 4:00am – 8:00am |
| 1:00pm – 2:00pm | 8:00am – 9:00am |
| 2:00pm – 5:00pm ✦ | 9:00am – 12:00pm ✦ |
| 5:00pm – 6:00pm | 12:00pm – 1:00pm |
The only clean overlap inside normal working hours is 2pm–5pm London / 9am–12pm New York. After 5pm London, someone in the UK is staying late. Before 9am New York, someone in the US is starting early. If your meetings regularly run longer than 60 minutes, that window compresses fast.
The fairness problem
In practice, New York usually holds the scheduling leverage — especially in US-headquartered companies with London sales or ops teams. The cost lands in London's late afternoon and evening. A 4pm New York meeting is 9pm in London during parts of the year.
If you schedule from New York, London absorbs the fatigue. That's the default, not the exception.
The DST trap
Both cities observe daylight saving time — but not on the same dates.
The US switches in early March and early November. The UK switches in late March and late October. For roughly 2–3 weeks in March and 1 week in late October, the gap narrows to 4 hours instead of 5.
During those windows: a 9am New York standing meeting becomes 1pm London instead of 2pm. A 2pm London meeting becomes 10am New York instead of 9am. Nobody updates the invite. Someone joins an hour late. It happens every year.
In the second and third weeks of March, and the last week of October: re-confirm every standing invite. Assume it's wrong until proven otherwise.