Posted on 10/11/2018 10:21:49 AM PDT by Simon Green
The world's longest commercial flight has left Singapore for New York, beginning a journey expected to cover more than 15,000km in almost 19 hours.
A spokeswoman for Singapore Airlines said Flight SQ22 departed at approximately 15:35GMT with 150 passengers and 17 crew.
The flight from Changi Airport to Newark took off amid much fanfare.
The flight time is about 90 minutes longer than the previous longest non-stop service.
Qantas launched a 17-hour non-stop service from Perth to London earlier this year, while Qatar runs a 17.5-hour service between Auckland and Doha.
Have passengers been snapping up the tickets?
Singapore Airlines (SIA) said there was demand for customers for non-stop services which help cut travelling times compared with flights which have a stopover.
Ahead of the take-off, the airline told the BBC that business class seats for the flight were fully booked, and there were "a very limited number" of premium economy seats left.
The airline is not planning to offer any economy bookings on the route.
A business class ticket will entitle passengers to two meals, and the choice of when they are served, plus refreshments in between. They will also have a bed to sleep in.
Premium economy fares will get three meals at fixed times, with refreshments in between.
The brand new Airbus plane that SIA is using has been configured to seat 161 passengers in all - 67 business passengers and 94 premium economy passengers.
"The thinking behind that is that they are selling a premium product - it's for the top end of town," says aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas, who was booked on to Thursday's flight.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
That’s a lot of trips to the potty.
In 1961, I took a flight aboard a Douglas DC-6 from McGuire Air Force Base in Wrightstown, NJ to Frankfurt, Germany that took 19 hours, but it wasn’t nonstop. The plane landed at Gander, Newfoundland to refuel.
Well, that leaves the market open to Spirit Air or Ryan Air to fill that ever so desirable, 19 hour flight for 550 folks and one operating loo.
Plus pretzels for all.
Seems like it took a couple of days with all the stops.
Singapore Airlines does a great job. But man that’s far. My longest Flight ever was LAX-SYD. Los Angeles-Sydney. Its not even in the top 20 longest.
Could you imagine being sat next to some fat guy with indigestion, a sinus infection and a emotional support squirrel...for nineteen hours?! Cause that is exactly what would happen to me.
The “Deep Vein Thrombosis Special”.
Heh, we are going to do Sydney non-stop to DFW in January.
“Well, that leaves the market open to Spirit Air or Ryan Air to fill that ever so desirable, 19 hour flight for 550 folks and one operating loo.”
They also ought to provide complimentary Immodium.
Just befriend the guy. Maybe he’ll share the squirrel with you.
In August I did 16 hours from Singapore to San Fran. in coach. That was after a 4 hour trip from India to Singapore. Never again. It was the worst flight experience of my life.
Better than a support porcupine I guess.
HAHA! my Mrs. and I had that from Newark to Barcelona a few years ago. 9 hours of horrible breath that could just about kill someone. We thought the whole time, “dude, toothpaste, Brush. use it” super gross.
Better put a tread mill on board or you’ll see a pulmonary embolism every few flights.
I think QF (Qantas) does that on the A380 to connect with American’s Oneworld hub at DFW. long haul.
I’ve done JFK-Johannesburg in coach, around 18 hours.
That’s LONG.
In the mid ‘70s, I flew the Douglas DC8-63 series for a US charter carrier. The -63 was designed for long flights.
I think the design specs were from SAS - Los Angeles or San Francisco to Stockholm nonstop. It was so fuel limited that Douglas engineers drained the wing to wing crossfeed manifold to make it work on that route.
We have 4,000+ employees (Turbine engine repair) in Singapore and we say its 24 hours from when you leave your house to when you get to your Hotel.
Singapore is the most expensive city I have ever been to (including Europe and Japan), so 10 years from now I seriously doubt we’ll still have 4,000 employees there.
I suspect we’ll be bringing the work back to the southern US and H1B visaing singaporeans as required.
No way I am ever taking that flight unless I was in first class. I will break it up before sitting on another 15 to 16 hour flight.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.