[kovilkalai]

Before I turned 40, long-haul flights didn't seem like a bother at all. The longest I flew on an aircraft was on a Qatar flight from Doha to Washington DC which had to take a longer route because of a volcano eruption in Europe (remember that?). I believe the flight was something like 17 hours. The flight was alright. I slept fine in Economy and through a fair amount of turbulence.

Post-40, my ability to sleep in Economy and through turbulence has taken a hit. I don't think I will choose a 12+ hour non-stop leg.

I don't know why folks seem to love the Middle-eastern airlines so much. I disliked Qatar (I felt that they treat Indians a little differently... multiple instances). Emirates seemed average... maybe I got their older aircraft. I actually prefer American airlines. My favourite was United. If you were a frequent flier, their service was very nice. I always felt that American airlines and hotels had just the right amount of service. They don't hover around you all the time. They are there when you need them. I prefer this style of service any day. Also, although their aircraft are old, the in-flight product isn't (unlike Air India and some of the Indian airlines).

[SCORPION]

I think the longest routes to fly to from India are those in South and Central America, especially when you live in a smaller town with no direct international connections. I have had the not so pleasant experience of flying a few times to and from, in the last 3 years, to Santiago, Buenos Aires, Fortaleza (Brazil) and Manzanillo (Mexico). Brazil is comparitively better because it has more direct flights from the Gulf. The other airports are mostly served by European and American airlines.

From Coimbatore to these places, ensures anything between 30 to 40 hours in airports and aircrafts. Not a great experience. You are completely exhausted by the time you reach your destination. This is where the airline plays a major role in your well being and I find all European and American airlines and airports lacking on that front. I think it was a Lufthansa B747 from Buenos Aires where I found a passenger holding up the flight because he had been allotted a seat which had no window! Near the emergency exit. Claustrophobia on a 14 hour flight! Unfortunately, I have only flown economy so far, except for a few times when I have been upgraded due to sheer luck. My tickets are booked by people who have no real love for me, unfortunately.. I think if you are flying economy, you would always prefer breaking your journey at a transit airport especially when you are a shade above 6 feet. My biggest nemesis on long flights are the toilets which require you to be a contortionist to be anywhere close to being comfortable on the throne. . Why can't they make it a wee bit bigger! May be it is deliberate so you don't spend too much time in there.

For some reason there are very few transpacific flights. Like, for instance, if you want to fly from Tokyo to Sao Paulo or Buenos Aires, there are more options to fly Westwards via the Gulf or Europe instead of Eastward via US (only) which should logically be shorter. I wonder if it is because of ETOPS regulations that there are very few transpacific flights especially in the South Easterly direction. North Pacific routes takes you on a great circle route which probably has more emergency landing spots. Experts may throw more light on this.

[Mohan Mathew A]

The longest I have flown non-stop was Frankfurt-Mexico city. It was something like 13 hours and I hated it. I find anything more than 4 hours a pain. My problem is I can't sleep on flights. We should have faster aircrafts.

[bsdbsd]

Originally Posted by turbospooler

Off topic, but this guy makes me cringe. He choreographs his "review", which makes the treatment and experience he receives only confine to him. An honest review cannot be trusted from this guy as he gets special privileges all the time like visiting the cockpit ! Which normal person will get this experience!
I try to follow "Non-Stop Dan" but he is also super annoying...

I second you here. Exactly word-to-word. These are nothing paid reviews or advertisements. These guys have no business after landing (they are just flying because they are paid to do so). Dan used to host flight videos on YT, which I am still a fan of. I think its the same Dan who has become Non-stop Dan now. I played one video the other day our of curiosity and it was a huge mistake. Extremely annoying and cringe-worthy videos. Avoid at all costs.

Who gets to visit a cockpit these days? Why would the captain (it was an Indian I believe) talk to a random stranger passenger in-flight? I have so many questions. These reviews have no objectivity left. (end rant).

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by carmayogi

1) The Singapore flight has 2 sets of captains and co-pilots. They work as two separate teams. When Captain 1 and Copilot 1 are flying, they are in charge and the other two are on designated rest break. When #2 & #2 are flying, the first set are also merely 'passengers'. Every emergency and scenario is taught in training as a two man team troubleshooting and trying to solve the issue. Same applies on this flight.

The flight plan of the airline will have details of who flies at what point in time - it's all pre-decided. Usually team 1 does takeoff and landing while team 2 does cruise. A lot of shorter (but still long haul) flights have a 3-crew set up.

Most aviation legal systems I am familiar with allow for only one PIC (Pilot in Command)per flight. There might be differences under different systems. But one PIC per flight makes a lot of sense. Even if the flight was conducted with four captains, there would still be only one PIC.

Then there is also the PF and PNF. Pilot flying and Pilot not flying. These are operational terms determining who at a specific time handles the flight control or not Could be any of the 3/4

According to FAA:

The pilot in command of an aircraft is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to, the operation of that aircraft

Nothing special about this. Long haul flights are routinely conducted with one captain and two co-pilots/first officers. During parts of the cruise the two co-pilots will be by themselves, whilst the captain takes a rest. Remember AF447?

The captain at the time was PIC (although sleeping/resting) and PNF. He was not in the cockpit when this aircraft started tumbling down the sky. He made it it the cockpit and took command (as the PIC do), but he never got behind the controls!

So my question is really, is there one or two PICs on these Singapore Airline flights? My money would be on one, but I have been wrong before!

Jeroen

[bsdbsd]

Sorry that I am ranting today...given that Lion Air is under Java sea. :-(.

I am an aviation buff, but I am not sure what the brouhaha is about. Of course, this is a notable event given the cities its connecting and the number of hours. Lots of route existed before this flight, lasting up to 17+ hours. I did DOH-LAX this April, and it was almost 17 hours, an hour less than the longest flight. It was just like any other flight...passengers boarded and landed. I am sure if we had flown another 1 hour, no one would have noticed. If all the flights were about 8 hours, and then if this did 18 hours, then it would have been a celebratory event. All I am telling is there is not much to get excited in extending the journey by an hour than the existing long flights, notwithstanding the marketing blitzkrieg by SA. Seems like an expensive way to get to Jersey from Bangalore.

[satishv1987]

Originally Posted by kovilkalai

I don't know why folks seem to love the Middle-eastern airlines so much.

Personally, I find the likes of Etihad & Emirates far superior to European airlines such as Lufthansa & KLM. The cabins are first class, the service is top notch & the food is quite good. But all this also depends on where you board the flight.

For e.g., The experience on a Bangalore-Dubai Emirates flight will be vastly inferior to what you get on a Emirates flight from Dubai to a North American/West European city. The same would be applicable for Etihad as well.

[rijo_tj]

From 2009 till 2011 I used to travel from Dubai to Sydney and back very frequently and all these used to be 15 hour plus flights. As someone pointed out it's all in the mindset of the people who travel. I used to be excited to watch one of the latest releases of Hollywood movies, take a nap, then eat a meal and then repeat the whole cycle again. Never have I felt frustrated with the trips. I guess I am lucky in that way.

Off topic - Sam Chui makes me cringe to death everytime he does a review. Non Stop Dan seems much better. But I still watch both due to them doing first class and business class trip reviews frequently and I don't think I will be able to afford one anytime soon.

[bsdbsd]

Originally Posted by rijo_tj

Off topic - Sam Chui makes me cringe to death everytime he does a review...

Watch from 8:29-8:54. I have never cringed so hard. Its unbelievable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jVv21yg4qw

.

[Sinner666]

Originally Posted by SCORPION

I think the longest routes to fly to from India are those in South and Central America, especially when you live in a smaller town with no direct international connections. I have had the not so pleasant experience of flying a few times to and from, in the last 3 years, to Santiago, Buenos Aires, Fortaleza (Brazil) and Manzanillo (Mexico). Brazil is comparitively better because it has more direct flights from the Gulf. The other airports are mostly served by European and American airlines.

I second that! I flew a couple of times to Bogota, Colombia, and it remains one of the longest air journeys for me till date. Flew KLM-AF on DEL-AMS-BOG. AMS being the only place which allows layovers without a Transit Visa if you are flying KLM. Flying time for DEL-AMS being around 9hr, and AMS-BOG another 11 hrs. The onward sector had a very short-ish layover of ~4 hours, but it was the return which killed me with a 15hr layover being the only KLM option (last minute trip left me with little time to apply for a TV). Slept at the airport cubicle hotel, and it was a new experience for me.

Another time I did the same route, took a return via Panama to avoid the lengthy layover, but ended up flying almost the same time. BOG-PTY (2 hrs) + PTY-AMS (10hrs) + AMS-DEL (9hrs). Needless to say, I arrived fresher in the second route, plus got to transit through an airport I may never go through otherwise in my life, unless I reply to one of those emails from Nigerian princes' who want to share their fortunes with me

[B103]

I once flew from Toronto, Canada directly to New Delhi in an Air Canada flight. I would not prefer to do it again.

Even though flight was almost empty, the whole flight stink-ed so bad after some time because of the quirks from the human body's digestive system at high altitude for a longer time.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by B103

Even though flight was almost empty, the whole flight stink-ed so bad after some time because of the quirks from the human body's digestive system at high altitude for a longer time.

There must have something been wrong with the AC system. Cabin air gets circulated and replenished dozens and dozens of time per hour!

Also, the body isn’t really at high altitude. The cabin is pressurised! So effectively, on average cabin altitude is around 7000 feet. So this is similar to being on a 2000 meter high mountain.

Jeroen

[rst89]

Most of the Sam Chui videos are choreographed. He rarely tell how he got those first class and business class seats. He should declare trips which are purely sponsored. There was only one time I appreciated Sam Chui was when he traveled to Nepal to fly those elusive Chinese passenger planes.

Non stop Dan at least tells how he got those tickets, like how much he actually paid. More natural than Sam Chui.

Regarding business travels, most of the companies are on cost cutting spree. They look for the cheapest flights. Those gulf flights from Indian airports early morning around 0300h to 0430h are super inconvenient. First your sleep is incomplete and you walk like a zombie in the gulf airports due to lack of sleep.
Again you have to catch a connecting flight. I got once hit by a very bad jet lag taking these flights. I have been avoiding them since.

For personal travel, I prefer direct connection. I can take few naps in the economy seats. Though uncomfortable, but amount of time saved is huge.

[ChiragM]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

This is a great thread to show off my Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900 model. It's not the ULR version(Ultra Long Range model which comes with more internal fuel tanks) used on this worlds longest flight, but externally I don't think there is any difference.

Here's how the plane looks:


Image source: Singapore Airlines

[acurafan]

I used to fly the SIN-LAX nonstop flight quite regularly till they cancelled it sometime around 2012 as far as I recall. I really liked the all business configuration, there were 100 seats in 1-2-1 configuration. SQ business seats are really comfortable, so 17.5 hour flight times were quite bearable.
Unfortunately, these flights were surely money loser for SQ. Once I flew the SIN-LAX leg with 37 people on-board. Lot of us worked in one seat and slept in another seat !!
These days I rarely fly longer than US to Europe, so can't really comment on other long haul flights. Though we are taking the SFO-SIN direct flight this winter, hopefully it will be good.