Here in NZ the economy is booming, and with it we are witnessing a rapid growth in new airlines and new routes to/from Auckland. Emirates launched a Dubai-Auckland direct service a year ago. Now they have just been pipped by Qatar Airways with a new Doha-Auckland direct service. 17 hours' flight one way, almost 18 on the return leg! Fantastic or fearsome?!
Next year Qantas will launch Perth-London direct flights, even longer/further! Any takers?!
|
Right now I'd give it a chance.
But I've never been longhaul until I fly Manchester to Houston next month. Might change my mind after 9 hours in the air.
|
|
Surely economy long haul would be classified as a cruel and unusual punishment if inflicted on criminals.
|
5 hours in the cheap seats is about my limit. I've done longer but I don't find it pleasurable in the slightest. I think the longest single leg I've done is about 10 hours and that was way too long, climbing the cabin walls by the end. I just find long haul flying very dull and boring. Might be different if I flew business/first class but i can't afford and I've more chance of winning the lottery than work paying for anything other than economy.
If I had to do those sort of flight lengths I'd try and avoid it tbh.
|
|
The choice is simple, if you want to be on the other side at the world its a day in a jet or weeks in a ship. I know my preference, even cattle class would be luxury, but I'm not a pampered wuss. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Wed 15 Mar 17 at 08:11
|
|
I think the longest leg I have done is 12 hours, Frankfurt to Las Vegas (London to Vancouver, and London to SF can't have been much less), I was in kind of economy + and it was quite enjoyable, reasonable comfort, regular refreshments and helped by a window seat. I reckon 15 hours would be quite bearable.
|
|
Heathrow to Singapore non-stop . VERY long!
|
|
I think the longest leg I have done is Dubai / Perth, unless London / Hong Kong is longer. I have done Perth, Dubai, Glasgow with only an hour in Dubai due to a late arrival from Perth, that is a long one and our checked bags made the Glasgow flight, impressive! That was a loooong day! Fortunately I can sleep anywhere. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Wed 15 Mar 17 at 15:40
|
14h 40m Santiago / London on BA.
That'd be a long time in Economy.
|
Think the longest I've done is LHR to LAX but it was in Virgin "upper class" so not so bad, although TBH I prefer BA business class
I used to do LHR to Chicago O'hare regularly with BA. For the return leg I used to get the last flight out - about 10pm, and BA used to offer their night sleeper service - in the Lounge for a nice meal, plenty to drink, quick nightcap after takeoff and then lights out until breakfast. Used to make 8 hours pass quickly.
Worst longish flight I had was Gatwick to Banjul - Gambia- it was with Air2000 who were a pretty poor charter operator - wedged in a 757 (awful aircraft). Not enough fuel loaded to make it all the way so had to refuel in the canaries so the 6 hour flight became 9. Return flight had a medical emergency so we were diverted once again to the canaries, only they were so tight they landed the aircraft fueled and over weight so we had to wait for engineering to give the OK
|
>> Worst longish flight I had was Gatwick to Banjul - Gambia- it was with Air2000
>> who were a pretty poor charter operator - wedged in a 757 (awful aircraft). Not
>> enough fuel loaded to make it all the way
Tight seat pitch on a charter plane perhaps but what's awful about the 757? BA still had them when I was going back and forth to Greece in the mid 2000s, often used them on that route and I was always irrationally pleased when it was a 757. Well known for great take-off and climb performance apparently.
Coincidentally, the first 757 I went on was also Air2000, Gatwick to Florida in 1989 or 90. That flight also stopped to refuel, at Bangor, Maine. It just didn't have the safe range for Orlando. Bags off and reclaimed, immigrated, baggage checked in again and back on.
Surprised you had to refuel for Gambia - that should have been well within range for any 757. maybe the fuel was cheap (cheep?) in the Canaries.
I wouldn't fancy an 18 hour flight TBH.
|
>>Surprised you had to refuel for Gambia - that should have been well within range
>> for any 757. maybe the fuel was cheap (cheep?) in the Canaries.
Gatwick has a decent runway so unlikely that created a performance issue. Could have been stronger than forecast winds, different route to that planned or a lower than expected cruise due x, y or z.?
|
Talking of the 757, I returned from Alicante to LBA on one last Sunday courtesy of Jet2. Only a 2:45 duration flight, plenty of legroom, and knowing that it was quite elderly, noticed that in the overhead warning signs ( fast seat belts, no smoking) the warning was also in a Far East language. The CC didn't know what language.
Any ideas or aircraft history from Forum anoraks?
|
I haven't an anorak, but a bit of googling shows they have three 757-200 aircraft that came from China Southern Airlines in 2006/7 - the ones formerly with "B" registrations.
www.planespotters.net/production-list/search?fleet=Jet2&manufacturer=Boeing&type=757&fleetStatus=current
|
Thanks Manatee
I'll tell the CC next month when I fly the same route
|
Son living in London is flying tonight to N.Z.
long haul 24 hrs he reckons.
|
I have been on a lot of long haul flights , East West and South but not very often "down the back".
To Aus, NZ, USA -East and West coast, Caribbean etc.
Most long haul flight folks have been on are East or West and I have a feeling that the effect of time zone changes also affects their memory of the " long flight"
I can only recall one flight when we night stopped en route PER, SIN, LHR and that certainly made us feel quite a bit better when we arrived back in the UK.
Flying back from Boston to LHR with a strong jet stream pushing the aircraft often meant very little time for sleep and folks were certainly grumpy on arrival.
I have been to South Africa many times on business and with the children when the were young and over the years into their twenties.
One or two hours time difference and usually night flights both ways.
Often we arrived at LHR, got home, wash and changed and off to school.
No apparent bad effects.
I have, flying in comfort, done a day trip to Johannesburg. An overnight flight, shower and change prior to presentations/meeting then back on the same aircraft that evening to LHR.
After a good sleep in both directions there were no adverse effects that I noticed.
|
That flight also stopped to refuel, at Bangor, Maine. It just didn't have
>> the safe range for Orlando. Bags off and reclaimed, immigrated, baggage checked in again and back off.
Stopped there a few times, it's a bit of back water the place seems to shut down around 10pm. Never had to take my bags off though.
|
Talking of refuelling, in a previous life we flew out from MAN in early January with B Caledonian ( remember them?) on a Tristar. About 8 passengers. Landed at Gatwick to pick up several cabin crew, then on to Antigua I think. There were as many cabin crew as passengers.... the aircraft was returning fully laden with New Year revellers.
On our return it was full and we had to stop & refuel in the Azores
|
|
How about London Singapore with refueling stops at Kuwait and Colombo. British Eagle Britania, followed by a BOAC Boeing 707 on to Sydney. An RAF VC10 can't make UK Florida without a refueling stop usually Washington.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 16 Mar 17 at 08:02
|
>> Stopped there a few times, it's a bit of back water
I remember a hell of a lot of trees on the approach. We spent an hour or so in the airport, such as it was. They had live lobsters for sale in a tank, a small cafe and not much else I can remember.
>>the place seems to
>> shut down around 10pm. Never had to take my bags off though.
They were reasonably efficient at that, although I don't remember many other aircraft arriving or departing. At the time, immigration at Orlando was apparently subject to long delays so they did us a favour by doing that at Bangor. We were then a domestic arrival at Orlando.
Country boys and girls they might have been, but the immigration people at Bangor were just as inscrutable as anywhere else.
|
>>That flight also stopped to refuel, at Bangor, Maine.
>> It just didn't have the safe range for Orlando.
>>Stopped there a few times, it's a bit of back water the place seems to shut down around 10pm.
There are a few airports in that region that were routine places en route to the East coast USA etc.
In the days when aircraft had much shorter range. London Prestwick Iceland and then far north east USA and Canada then on to the big cities. These days these places are used for a lot of local flights and of course for emergency diversions of all types.
Frobisher Bay- now there is the old name replace by Iqaluit where a Swiss flight, early this month diverted.
Goose Bay, another remote airport.
|
I was there last year on a stop, there's not much else there tbh. A few shops and that's it.
Country boys and girls they might have been, but the immigration people at Bangor were
>> just as inscrutable as anywhere else.
Think I've only had to show my passport for immigration once there, last year i didn't have to bother. Yes most airports in the US have very stern looking staff. Only two airports that stick on my mind was Newark about two years back, where for a large airport they were all surprisingly friendly. The other was Pease Portsmouth about 5 years ago, barely a glance at my passport, no doubt bored, another small NE airport.
|
|
It's not so much the long flight that I don't like but more some of the people one has to sit with. For years while working walking up the steps and turning left was the only way I knew. Turning right has come as a bit of a shock.
Last edited by: The Melting Snowman on Thu 16 Mar 17 at 18:23
|
>> It's not so much the long flight that I don't like but more some of
>> the people one has to sit with.
On a Delta flight to Cincinatti, en route to Tampa in 1999, a truly enormous man got on and without even going into the cabin he announced to the female cabin crew member at the door that he was a WWF wrestler, that he couldn't possibly fit into an economy seat, and they would have to upgrade him.
You can guess the rest. Do all Delta CC take Nurse Ratched as their role model?
His seat turned out to be right in the middle of 5, on the MD11. I thought Nurse Ratched might have upgraded or at least moved the people in the adjacent seats, but she didn't. He made great play of wedging himself into the row with his knees at chin level and shoulders and arms intruding into the adjacent seat spaces. He remained immobile for the whole trip, sinking beer after beer. Fortunately he was two rows behind us.
|
>> >>...announced to the female
>> cabin crew member at the door that he was a WWF wrestler, that he couldn't
>> possibly fit into an economy seat, and they would have to upgrade him.
A 25-stone rugby fan was told he had to book two seats on a plane because of his size - only to find that the two seats were on opposite sides of the aisle.
Les Price, 32, of Blaencuffin Road in Llanhilleth, South Wales, was flying to Cork with a group of friends to watch the Wales v Ireland rugby game earlier this month.
First-time flier Mr Price claims he was told it was Aer Lingus policy for passengers over 20-stone to book an extra seat.
But Mr Price was really baffled when he discovered after checking in for the return flight ...
"But it was only when I was sitting waiting to board, I started to laugh, because they had booked me two seats in two different aisles, on different sides of the plane."
|
>> Tight seat pitch on a charter plane perhaps but what's awful about the 757?
There is probably nothing wrong with the 757 - just I've never had a good / comfortable flight on one. I am biased towards the competition though - fly a 737 / 757 against a A319/20/21 and to me the European option is ar more comfortable
|
No one up for a Mars flight then?
Six months each way and a 500 day stopover.
|
|
That would have to be premium economy at the very least.
|
|
I'd like to go, but I don't think I could stick the weather: www.universetoday.com/14941/mars-weather/
|
World's longest scheduled flight..! - Bromptonaut
