Qantas tests 20-hour nonstop flights to see if passengers can bear it

[left-of-center2012]

Qantas Airways Ltd. will run marathon ghost flights from New York and London to Sydney, Australia, carrying just a few staff to see how the human body holds up on a 20-hour, nonstop flight before commercial service starts. Qantas said Thursday it will simulate the world’s longest direct flights with Boeing Co. Dreamliners as soon as October. The 40 passengers and crew, most of them employees, will undergo a host of medical checks and assessments.

Qantas is trying to roll out a network of super-long direct services connecting Australia’s eastern seaboard with South America, South Africa and North America as rising oil prices squeeze profit margins. The Australian airline wants to start direct flights connecting Sydney to New York and London as soon as 2022. Chief Executive Alan Joyce describes the services as aviation’s final frontier.

The services aren’t yet a sure thing. Qantas still hasn’t decided on a Boeing or Airbus plane that can fly the route fully laden and without a break. And it’s not clear how passengers will tolerate living in the cabin for the better part of a day and night. “The things we learn on these flights will be invaluable,” Joyce said on a call Thursday.

Joyce said Qantas and the aircraft manufacturers were dreaming up cabin interiors geared toward surviving such marathon flights — possibly incorporating bunks, child-care facilities and even somewhere to work out. “We’re challenging ourselves to think outside the box,” he said. “Would you have the space used for other activities — exercise, bar, creche, sleeping areas and berths? Boeing and Airbus have been actually quite creative in coming up with ideas.”

But later Joyce said Quantas had ditched those notions; instead, passengers will be given a space to stretch and have a drink of water.

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-08-22/qantas-20-hour-nonstop-flights

[COLGATE4]

1. "passengers will be given a space to stretch and have a drink of water. "

Yeah. Your stretch time is when you get in an interminable line to use one of the 2 lavatories and the water will cost you $4.00. Welcome to the unfriendly skies.

[brooklynite]

35. FWIW - Qantas (and most foreign legacy carriers) don't nickel and dime passengers

[Recursion]

2. Jesus. I did a 17 hour flight once and it was like a Hieronymous Bosch painting

17 hours, Newark to Mumbai. Never, ever again. 20 hours is insane.

[Newest Reality]

6. That was an excellent illustration.

Visualizing that here!

[jberryhill]

16. I did Chicago to Hong Kong, and JFK to Johannesburg

I was in United Economy Plus for the Chicago to Hong Kong flight, and they seated an XXXXXXL gentleman next to me who had an open wound on his elbow which encroached well into my seat along with much of the rest of him. I spent maybe 4 hours in my seat which I then abandoned, 3 standing in the galley, and the rest in a regular economy seat elsewhere. My wife was wondering if maybe I had jumped off.

Weird thing about the Joburg trip is that I don't even remember much about the flight out or the flight back. Total blank both ways, except for boarding and landing.

I tend to just exhaust myself before long flights to be able to sleep as much as possible.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

44. I admit I had to Google the reference.

But it was well worth it.

[Recursion]

47. Yup, that's Air India about 12 hours in

Never again

[Ilsa]

51. I'm not educated in fine arts, either.

The paintings shown online really drive home the point made above. Incredible work.

[pangaia]

3. They are so dumb they have to run--- TESTS??

Have none of them ever been on a flight from, oh.. say.. NYC to Beijing (14 hours) or NYC to HK- 16 hours, or NYC to Singapore-- 19 hours!!

Tell Chief Executive Alan Joyce to sit in stearage on one of those flights even with the EXTRA LEGROOM.. He'll learn a lot.!! Dumb fucker...


DUH !!!!!!!!!

[pangaia]

4. Chief Executive Alan Joyce describes the services as aviation's final frontier.

Guy has been in the outback too long....

[USALiberal]

5. LOL, wagon trains were a little worse. Nt

[pangaia]

7. ""We're challenging ourselves to think outside the box," he said"

This guy is just too much..

Maybe he needs to 'get out' more.

[ornotna]

8. I would do it

If I was in a medically induced coma. 20 hours in the air without escape from the kooks, no thanks.

[pangaia]

9. "But later Joyce said Quantas had ditched those notions;

But later Joyce said Quantas had ditched those notions; instead, passengers will be given a space to stretch and have a drink of water.

Shit, we have that now, as long as everybody doesn't get up at once...

What an absolutely dumb rich fuck !!

[912gdm]

10. in one of the first class pods? Sure!

coach? no way in hell

[no_hypocrisy]

11. How will they handle the increased risk of blood clots to the legs?

The 20-hour sojourn will not necessarily allow regular intervals of movement that prevent blood clots that pool in the leg veins.

[virgogal]

36. That would be the responsibility of the passenger,not the airline.

[lindysalsagal]

12. I'll take these tests seriously if they meet these conditions:

1. Stand in line for 35 minutes for the scan/pat down, and then wander around the airport for 2 hours after a nasty expensive taxi ride from home, after getting up at 3 a.m. They have to dump their water bottles out.

2. They have to refuse to allow any carry on other than the small bag that fits under the seat in front of them.

3. They have to sit in the middle seat between a guy who's 6'2 300 lbs and a hyper-active 3 year old with absentee parents (the 3 yr old happened to me)

4. The movies are all old, commercial and limited.

5. no wifi

6. Goes without saying: plane food, and only open plastic glasses of half-filled soda, and only every 4 hours does the cart comes through.

(Can you tell I just did 6 plane rides, 2 of them 13 hours?)

7. They have to hold onto their own garbage until the last hour of the flight.

8. One or more bathrooms are "out of service".

9. at least 60% of the trip they're not allowed out of their seats

10. They have to stand in immigration lines and fill out useless paperwork, and then wait for baggage return, and another taxi ride to a hotel.

[pangaia]

20. You forgot, everybody on the plane trying to make it to the can

in the last 22 minutes because they didn;t serve breakfast until 1 hour out...


Why do they ALWAYS do that?

[jberryhill]

21. You left out my specialty

Fall in the hotel bathroom the morning of your flight, start bleeding profusely from your injured elbow and come up with an ad-hoc bandage with tape and toilet paper that won't look like you are hiding something, but will at least get you through passport control and security without them wondering why you are bleeding.

Try to "walk it off" on the way to the airport, as you notice a growing pain in your side, difficulty lifting your bag, and a dawning realization that you have an orthopedic injury of some kind.

Struggle to find a comfortable position to sit, while making sure you can deal with further bleeding.

Find out, after you get back to the US, that you have three broken ribs.

The weird thing about it was, coping with airline seating is not particularly any more difficult than coping with it while you have broken ribs. The marginal discomfort of the broken ribs is so insignificant that you feel pretty much the way you always do in an airline seat.

[lindysalsagal]

56. Yup. You found a way to make it worse! Yikes!

[pangaia]

13. This must secretly be from THE ONION !! But it's not, is it..

Even after promoting Project Sunrise for years, Joyce said he’d be ruthless. “We will kill the project” if the economics don’t stack up, he said.

Wow, he is really ruthless..... and brain dead as well...

[USALiberal]

17. You should apply! Nt

[pangaia]

19. No way.. I'm just having a little fun..

I retired a few years ago and enjoying it...

But I fly internationally enough to know that this guy has never consciously flown 'steerage' anywhere.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

14. On a BOEING? No thank you! nt

[JCMach1]

15. It's 16 hr. direct to Dubai... did it too many times to count

If you have a connecting flight, you are in transit 24hr, or more.

An extra 4 hrs. would make little difference after you have already done 16.


I once did that direct flight on United. We had an emergency landing in Boston for a heart problem and then were delayed another 2+ hours on the tarmac in Boston due to Thunderstorms in DC. Total flight time? 26hr+ no break.

[USALiberal]

18. Thanks for a rational post! Nt

[pangaia]

23. Excuse me. Are you implying that one or more of my posts are irrational?

[jberryhill]

26. "...for a change"

[JCMach1]

32. Flights over 12hrs. moves you over to irrational!

I don't even think of anything under 8hrs. as a flight... just a bus ride...

[pangaia]

38. LOL me too...

Flying from ROC-JFK-LGB is over too fast. I don;t even have time to get drunk..

[Sapient Donkey]

22. I saw multiple posts on here from folks talking 16 and 17 hour flights...

I get that extra 3 and 4 hours might suck, but in the end is it really that much difference?

I don't know how anyone can do anything more than six hours. I recently took some 4-hour domestic flights, and when it was all done I decided I would rather take a literal stagecoach than fly on a plan ever again.

[jberryhill]

25. It takes zenlike practice

Economy seating on long haul flights is often slightly, but noticeably, better than shorter domestic flights. Not always, though.

I pop on a blindfold, put in earplugs, and transport my consciousness to an infinite universe through which I can stretch out into another dimension.

Your consciousness is just a passenger in the cramped vessel of your body, just as your body is a passenger in the cramped vessel of the airplane. When your consciousness can deboard your body, just as your body will deboard the plane, then, Grasshopper, you can fly from Beijing to San Francisco as easily as taking a five minute Uber downtown.

[JCMach1]

33. 4 hours for me is the equivalent of a 15m bus ride

my brain goes: thank the diety its not 16-24... easy peasy!

[jberryhill]

24. Good point

Would you rather have two connecting flights of, say, 12 hours and 8 hours, with, say, five hours between them in Frankfurt between 4 AM and 9 AM; or one twenty hour flight?

[pangaia]

39. I'd rather connect in Seoul.. better food,

[jberryhill]

41. No, no, no, no...

That was the point.

Off hours in Frankfurt, and I will also add no preferred status with lounge access.

[pangaia]

49. Gotcha

[nolabear]

48. Yep, Mr. Bear just did Seattle-Dubai and back a couple of weeks ago.

He copes well, but man, he says it’s grueling. On the return (he actually went to Bangalore, another four hours on) he had a ten hour layover in the Dubai airport and rented a sleep pod. They’re pretty remarkable.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

27. I did a 10 hour flight in coach to Europe recently.

The flight over wasn't too bad simply because I was psyched up for my trip. I didn't sleep though, although that was for the best because it allowed me to acclimate to the new time zone.

But on the flight back, after my vacation was essentially over, I lasted about 8 hours before starting to feel antsy. I watched three movies, listened to some music and read a book, ate a couple of meals and took a couple of trips to the bathroom. But you can only do so much. I felt pretty beat by the time we landed.

I would figure with a 20 hour flight, a coach setup would be impossible. You'd have to have fully reclining seats and enough space to move around without disrupting fellow passengers.

[liberal N proud]

28. Singapore Airways had a 19 hr flight

Al business class with personal pods.

I once flew 14 hours in economy pluss because my company paid me $3000 to choose that option over business class. It was gruling in the 4 across seats.

[MineralMan]

29. I did a 14 hour flight twice: JFK to Istanbul and the reverse.

It was doable, even in coach, and not that terrible, really. I got up numerous times to walk the aircraft's aisle, and so did just about everyone. Los Angeles to London is another long flight I've made a few times.

I could do 20 hours. I wouldn't enjoy it, but it would be worth it to get somewhere in a single pass. However, the airline would need to make it easy for passengers to get up and walk around frequently. No aisles blocked all the time with service carts, etc. A beverage station at the rear of the plane would be a good incentive, and was available on all of my long flights, with a flight attendant back there to hand out beverages.

[Sgent]

42. JFK to IST

shouldn't be anywhere near 14 hours. I just checked its only about 9.5 - 10.

[MineralMan]

52. Both were one-stop flights with a 1 hour delay.

They were also in 1967.

[DonaldsRump]

30. I would fly a 20 hour non-stop too

If (a) there were only 40 passengers on a plane that is supposed to be carrying 350+ passengers like these so-called "test flights" or (b) in business class/first class.

Option (a) clearly is not testing real world conditions where the plane will be packed to the rafters. I'm not sure what they are testing and option (b) is super-expensive.

I've taken many 14 and 15 hour flights in both economy and business classes. If we're flying economy, we tend to break up a journey with a long layover (8 hours or more) and get a hotel room near the airport or ideally IN the airport to get some sleep and take a shower. That works wonders and is usually only a couple of hundred dollars for the hotel (which can often include free transport to and from the airport), which is far cheaper than a business class ticket. However, this assumes that I have the extra time and the extra couple of hundred dollars.

US carriers' idea of "economy plus" is nonsense. For example, we flew from Seattle to Seoul last year in Delta's "economy plus", and it was one of the worst flights ever and, at least for us, was definitely not worth the extra cash. By contrast, a few years ago, we flew between the US and Asia on British Airways, and the economy plus seating, along with a hotel break at a Heathrow hotel, made it quite decent.

[greatauntoftriplets]

31. It might be doable with a bit of legroom!

A friend who is 5' 3" and who is going to Ireland today was bemoaning the lack the legroom. I'm 5' 10", and I thought that if she's complaining, they're really packing people in these days. Sadly, it's been a while since I've been anywhere.

[brooklynite]

34. This would require carrying two extra flight crews onboard

[Yavin4]

37. Sounds like the opening to a SciFi movie n/t

[Thyla]

40. I'd do it

But Madrid to Adelaide please otherwise the connections I would need would negate the convenience.

[Kid Berwyn]

43. Think Norman Bates' mom.

Last edited Fri Aug 23, 2019, 01:01 PM - Edit history (1)

That’s how passengers will feel.

[customerserviceguy]

45. Six hours is as much as I can stand

and only if it's first class.

[tblue37]

46. The good ol' days with airplane lounges:

[jberryhill]

53. Were any planes ever actually outfitted that way for commercial flights

Or were those the Boeing equivalent of a "serving suggestion".

[EX500rider]

55. I vaguely remember a 747 I flew way back when that had a piano bar upstairs. nt

[librechik]

50. I love Qantas already-- and tolerate the 17 hr leg from LA to Oz

so...why not?

[csziggy]

54. No, thanks - For cheaper I will take a 29 DAY cruise

TSA is not as aggressive, you can exercise, hear lectures, watch movies, eat great food, and have a relaxing trip. And if you pick the right cruise, it is cheaper than flying first class!

Of course I am retired and can spend that kind of time.

[RandiFan1290]

57. Future long-haul flights could take 30 minutes, says Elon Musk