Laravel Mutators: Date Mutators

<?php

namespace App;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class User extends Model
{
    /**
     * The attributes that should be mutated to dates.
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $dates = [
        'created_at',
        'updated_at',
        'deleted_at'
    ];
}

$user = App\User::find(1);

$user->deleted_at = now();

$user->save();

$user = App\User::find(1);

return $user->deleted_at->getTimestamp();

<?php

namespace App;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Flight extends Model
{
    /**
     * The storage format of the model's date columns.
     *
     * @var string
     */
    protected $dateFormat = 'U';
}