Long haul flying is something not everyone relishes. The typical passenger is obviously in coach, and traveling long-haul economy can be completely exhausting. I’ve certainly had these experiences, but I’ve also had a couple that were solidly fun. Flying Air France A380 economy from Paris to San Francisco being one of them, as well as a Qantas 747 flight where I got three seats all to myself back in 2017.
If you think a 10-hour flight overseas is rough, have you considered how punishing an ultra-long-haul flight would be? There are a handful that stretch beyond the 17-hour mark, an insane amount of time to spend in the air.
But I’d still be game for it. As long as I’m flying business class, that is. Here are the three ultra-long-haul flights I’d love to fly most.
Singapore Airlines: Singapore to Newark
Singapore operates the world’s longest flight between their Changi Airport hub and New York’s Newark airport (hub of United, their Star Alliance partner). The route is operated by an Airbus A350 with a premium-heavy seating configuration. Singapore opted to equip the aircraft with only Premium Economy and Business class, which makes sense, given the long haul and premium they can command on the route.
Besides being the longest flight in the world, experiencing Singapore’s excellent business class and enjoying the comfort of the modern A350 makes this an excellent choice for an ultra-long-haul flight.
Qantas: Perth to London
Qantas continues to push toward nonstop service from Sydney to both New York and London through their “Project Sunrise”. Linking the land down under with both of these markets would be an incredible feat for the Australian airline, mainly for the business aspect of linking these important financial centers.
For now, however, Qantas operates the only nonstop between London and Australia on their Perth-London route. The airline operates a Boeing 787 on the 17-plus-hour trek. The route has been a resounding success, showing that passengers are willing to fly that far nonstop, and that linking Sydney and London should eventually be at least as lucrative.
Qatar Airways: Doha to Auckland
Qatar Airways operates a 777 between their Doha hub and Auckland, New Zealand on this staggeringly long 9,034 nonstop. This is the longest 777 route in the world. Even though the more modern 787 and A350 aircraft are more fuel efficient, the 777-200LR still maintains an incredibly long range that bests all but the A350-900ULR.
Some QSuites-configured aircraft operate the route, but not every flight features Qatar’s snazzy new business class. Eventually the route should be 100% QSuites. Still, it would be a great route to fly with a companion in their 2-2-2 business class configuration.
Conclusion
Flying ultra-long-haul isn’t for everyone, and in some cases, I’d much rather plan in a stopover to break up the flying. But it is also nice to fly nonstop when available, even if the flights are ridiculously long. My picks are actually the current three longest flights in the world.
Are you interested in flying any of the world’s ultra-long-haul flights?
Qantas image courtesy of Mertie via Flickr. Qatar featured image courtesy of TJ Darmstadt via Wikimeida Commons. Both used under CC BY 2.0 license.
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Just a minor point… there are QSuites on the Doha to Auckland services. In fact, all but two of the Qatar Airways Boeing 777-200LRs that operate the route have QSuites and the remaining two should be done in the near future. Either way, I did the flight in four times (two returns) in 2017 in the 2-2-2 configuration business class and I found it supremely comfortable. Long flights are no problem in J as far as I’m concerned.
Thanks! Updated. I couldn’t find anything definitive, and the one route I checked still showed the 2-2-2 seat map.