Longest Commercial Flight///Coming Soon

JEP

Does It Really Matter....?
Staff member
Posted 8:20 a.m. ET - Wednesday Back to top
World's longest flight to fly from LAX in February
Singapore Airlines announce today that it will begin the world's longest continuous commercial passenger service early next year when it starts flying the 9,412 miles from Los Angeles to Singapore. The flight will take 18 hours and 20 minutes — more than two hours longer than the Continental's current non-stop from Newark to Hong Kong, Reuters reports. "When we start our service, it will be history making," Michael Tan, a senior vice president at SIA, tells the Los Angeles Times (free registration). It will be possible thanks to the new ultra long-range Airbus A340-500 and should begin in February.
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Woo! ... nineteen hours in economy between another fat guy and "Mr. I-was-late-for-my-flight-so-I-skipped-the-shower!"
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18 hours on a jet would SUCK. Just flying from the US to Germany is bad enough even in business elite, but that's a long flight!
 
When I was 16 I flew over 14 hours on Qantas from LA to Sydney, non-stop. That is something I never wish to experience again. I thought that flight would never end, luckily there were plenty of open seats to lay down. I cant even imagine what this Singapore flight would be like with a full plane.
 
THis might be the time i fork out the extra money for business class or something.

-brian
 
try taking a 12 hour flight from berlin to charleston sc in the back of a military c-141 with web jump seats and a metal floor as your only comforts....and to make matters worse the lav was a couple of receptacals hanging from a cord behind a curtain next to the cargo. military space-a is cheap, but you certainly give up certain comforts. (I was 15 though, so i kinda enjoyed it...i think)
 
My flight next week is 17 hours with a stop over in New Zealand. Most of my travels have been long haul (LAX-LHR-LAX) but long flights are never fun. This one is not too bad, as you take off late at night and 17 hours later arrive mid-day so time changing should not be too tough!
 
Seat 48A

It will be a 747-400 I am hoping it will be an ER (mainly because they are the newest to the QF fleet - so they will not be smelly).

Alot of people get quite excited about the 744 - I really don't. Infact I am more excited about the 738 flight up to Brisbane.
 
It's not too bad flying for long periods of time (like 14 hours)...I love it, especially flying across the Pacific!!!!! Even so more than short 2 or 3 hour flights domestically!!!!! I know economy isn't always that great, but I never stay in my seat for more than 3 hours at a time so it's not something I really care about. I usually walk around the aircraft, talk to the crew, chat some nice chicks up........etc.... I never get bored!!
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The time really does not bother me at all just because I love flying SO MUCH! Heck, I wouldn't even get bored if the flights across the pacific to Australia were twice as long!!
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I'll be making a couple of trips back to Australia next year, one in April/May, and then another in August/September. There's still 6 months until I make the first trip back, yet I'm already jumping up and down with excitement.........Can't wait, can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!
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And Iain, mate...I can almost promise you that if the aircraft is a 744ER it will be "smelly"....Ought to smell like a new car!!!!!!!!!
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BTW.........what in the world are Singapore Airlines doing? Retiring aircrafts that are less than 14 years old and replacing them with new??
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How can they possibly afford to do this? How is there a need?? Can they just not make up their minds what aircrafts they want in their fleet or something?
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Iain,

I recently flew from LAX to Brisbane(stopover in Auckland) on a 744-ER on Qantas. Nice video system in each seat. I was actually in 48D by the way. Have fun

Tim
 
I flew Quantas from SFO to Sydney by way of Honolulu and Fiji in a B707 in 1969. It was the coolest ever. I remember a little porthole in the roof of the cockpit (yes, they let us in there back then) where we took celestial bearings while crossing the Pacific. 18 hours. I also remember my first taste of Fosters on this trip, along with the first warm tomatoes served with a meal. I met a girl that whipped my ass at gin rummy. Now she's my wife. I'd say a lot happened right on that trip. Long trips show you how big the world is, and how insignificant we can be at 35,000 feet with nothing but water and stars and hot engines in sight.
 
Prospective Pilot - There has only been one time where upon landing (while travelling economy) that I have thought 'WOW I could happily do that again'. That flight I had 5 seats to myself and slept on the floor for 10 hours.
Most of the time I am itching to get off the plane - and am more then happy to not look skywards for atleast a few days.
I agree with walking around, chatting to people (remember Doug says Network, Network, Network), and have a good stretch of your legs while on the thrown. FYI my new SN is IWEHolmes

Tim - I hope our 744 is an ER - I am not a huge fan of PVT's I am more of a sleeper/newspaper reader. I just can not sit and focus and enjoy a movie on one of those.

Pilotjww - I have sat next to a few nice girls on some flights. One I saw while boarding, and was like WOW. Being on the last to board, and it started to look like I was sitting next to her, boy you should have seen my smile. I also got adopted by 2 15 year olds (I was 18 at the time) on a flight from BOS-LHR - they were a bit young, but were quite enjoyable company. For the record they approached me because some weird guy started talking to them on the 4 hour lay over in BOS. Hopefully on this next flight I can meet a really nice Sheila!!
 
Longest day of flying for me was from LAX-SFO-NRT-PEK (Los Angeles-San Fransisco-Tokyo Narita-Beijing Peking).

After 20 hours of airports and airplanes...I was, well, tired. My girlfriend was with me and it got a little old with her laying on my shoulder. There's nothing like feeling like a grease ball after a long day of travel. The worst thing was having to get up the next "morning" (my body had no idea what was going on) and go to the airport for another 3 hour flight to Chengdu (smack center of China). We flew United 744 to Beijing and then Air China for the rest (767). It was a great trip, but it would take some getting used to if I ever become a long haul guy.

A friend of mines dad is a 744 captain for NW. Last time I talked to him he had flown 3 roundtrips from MSP to NRT in about 8 or 9 days. He was beat. He said it normally takes him at least 2 days to get his body even some what normal.

I've also been to europe, but it really didn't compare.
 
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