Imagine you are on board long haul flight in economy class for around 20 hours. Your seat has little recline and you’re sitting upright for the best part of a day. What would you want on board the aircraft to make your flight more comfortable?

Qantas are working on Project Sunrise which will see non-stop 20 hour flights from places like Sydney to London and New York. As part of this, they have been taking suggestions from passengers on what they want.

Long Haul Passenger Desires

One thing I particularly like when flying long haul is a sense of space and not to feel confined. This is the reason I select an aisle seat when flying for lengthy periods of time.

Several suggestions have been popular in the research Qantas has been undertaking. Wireless noise cancelling headphones are considered very important. It makes sense, you feel more disconnected from the flying experience with decent headphones and don’t have noise intruding while enjoying a movie.


Somewhere to conduct exercises is another one on the list. I’ve often seen people stretching and doing other light exercises in the doorways on long overnight flights. A dedicated space may be good for this, even if it was just directing passengers to specific doors which would least disrupt people.

Another item on the top five list is apparently an on board cafe, offering alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Many people tend to complain when they are left alone on a long haul flight with no water service or anything like that. It makes sense that passengers would want the option to get what they want when they want it, like on trains.

Overall Thoughts

Considering these long haul flights will last almost an entire day, it is good to see Qantas getting all the suggestions they can. I would be very surprised to see exercise equipment such as stationery bikes or rowing machines offered on board.

What would you want on board one of these long flights? What would ease the experience for you if you were flying in economy class? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image via Aer Lingus.
Project Sunrise routes via Qantas.