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Home » Qantas » The Melodramatic “Guinea Pigs” On 19.5-Hour Qantas Flight…
Qantas

The Melodramatic “Guinea Pigs” On 19.5-Hour Qantas Flight…

Matthew Klint Posted onOctober 21, 2019November 14, 2023 25 Comments

a man in a suit standing next to a sign

A small cadre of travel journalists and bloggers was invited to take part on the 19.5-hour nonstop from New York to Sydney on Friday. I’m chuckling at how seriously some of them took it.

Angus Whitley of Forbes flew all the way from Sydney to New York via Los Angeles to take the flight. His review is entitled, “I Just Took The World’s First 20-Hour Flight. Here’s What It Did to Me.” As far as click-bait goes, I’ve been guilty of far worse.

He leads off his story with words like “endured” and “demanding”:

I’ve just endured the world’s newest longest flight, a 16,200 kilometer (10,100 mile), nonstop ultra-marathon from New York to Sydney. It took about 19 and a half hours, and was almost as demanding as that sounds.

How demanding, you might ask?

Well, everyone onboard flew business class.

The plane’s 40 passengers, including media, are all in business class: With so few passengers, nobody needs to travel economy.

What a lovely dilemma!

The six human guinea pigs at the heart of the research are seated on one side of the cabin. I want to do my own set of tests to see how my body is holding up.

After speaking to a travel doctor in Sydney before the trip, I’m armed with equipment to monitor my blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen-saturation levels. I’ve also got a memory test and a mood questionnaire. I want to see if a flight this long impairs my brain or dims my spirits.

Like, really?

I’ve done a trio of economy class trips over 17 hours this year. Is the extra three hours really going to be a dealbreaker, especially when you have a lie-flat bed? Isn’t tracking blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen-saturation levels a little overdramatic when you are in business class?

The three-hourly tests I take during the first half of the flight reflect the demands of this trip. My blood pressure is elevated, though not high, and my heart rate picking up. My mood is light, though darkening very gradually.

I’m so sorry your mood is darkening as the chef prepares a beautiful meal for you!

But it’s exercise time!

Marie Carroll, a professor at the University of Sydney who’s overseeing the passenger research on the flight, rallies her troops at the back of the plane. “This is the time, guys, when we really have to work through this,” she tells them. Moments later, they’re leaning against the food trolleys in the galley, stretching. Next, they perform upright press-ups among the empty economy sets. As a finale, they attempt synchronized dance moves in the aisles. All in the name of science.

All in the name of science…

I once did a mileage run from LAX-HNL-SFO-SYD-SFO-HNL-LAX ($551) without any stopovers between flights. The San Francisco to Sydney to San Francisco flights were both in economy class!

a close-up of a flight schedule

Somehow I “survived” and those 747s did not have in-seat power, wi-fi, or even individuals TV screens.

CONCLUSION

I would have loved to have been part of that flight. Perhaps subtle envy has played a role in my gentle criticism. But please, a business class seat for 19.5 hours is very manageable. The true guinea pigs will be the ones who fly in a middle seat in economy class on the 20-hour London to Sydney flight. Where do I sign up to volunteer?

Adventures in deep-vein-thrombosis undoubtedly await…

On a serious note, kudos to Mr. Whitley for an entertaining read and for surviving the historic journey.

Photo of Qantas CEO Alan Joyce by James D Morgan/Qantas

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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25 Comments

  1. 121Pilot Reply
    October 21, 2019 at 11:49 am

    Air Force crews have flow missions longer than 20 hours on a number of occasions without issue and without relief crews beds etc. They survived it just fine.

    I’m with you. People have been acting like this is some brave new frontier but it’s not. Especially in a lie flat seat.

    Where the “research” exits is in terms of how you handle service flows on a flight this long to make the experience as good and as restful as possible. Articles I’ve seen on the EWR-SIN flight suggest that their service flow is decidedly less than optimum for example.

  2. 121Pilot Reply
    October 21, 2019 at 11:52 am

    From Wikipedia;

    On September 29, 1957, a TWA L-1649A flew from Los Angeles to London in 18 hours and 32 minutes (about 5,420 miles (8,720 km) at 292 miles per hour (470 km/h). The L-1649A holds the record for the longest-duration, non-stop passenger flight aboard a piston-powered airliner. On TWA’s first London-to-San Francisco flight on October 1–2, 1957, the aircraft stayed aloft for 23 hours and 19 minutes (about 5,350 miles (8,610 km) at 229 miles per hour (369 km/h).

  3. Jack Reply
    October 21, 2019 at 12:00 pm

    WSJ The Middle Seat was on the flight as well. Qantas knows how to drum up press for a flight that can’t be flown fully loaded based on the planes of today.

  4. Sexy_kitten7 Reply
    October 21, 2019 at 12:15 pm

    Wow. I’m surprised such a route is possible (physically and economically)!

    • Chris Reply
      October 23, 2019 at 12:09 pm

      It’s not economically possible…

  5. Fat Ted Reply
    October 21, 2019 at 12:16 pm

    Did he compare any of that to a 16-17 hour flight? It is interesting, but his 1 sample isn’t really scientific. You can’t get angry at Qantas for the publicity stunt or for any of the journalists for writing about it. It did its job. Do you wish you had been invited?

    • Matthew Reply
      October 21, 2019 at 12:26 pm

      I do. I admitted that in my conclusion. 😉

  6. Mike Reply
    October 21, 2019 at 1:08 pm

    Why would you show-up wearing a suit for a 19 hour flight?

    • Matthew Reply
      October 21, 2019 at 1:14 pm

      He’s the darn CEO! 😉

    • Donald Reply
      October 21, 2019 at 2:29 pm

      They gotten so much (undeserved) free press over this. Ridiculous.

  7. FredM Reply
    October 21, 2019 at 1:15 pm

    In 197o and 1971 I flew round trip from the U.S. East coast to Vietnam, once on leave, once starting a one year tour and then returning from it. The trip while on leave was in a chartered stretch DC-8, all economy seating of three and three across. I had a window seat which was OK as I was barely six feet tall, but the guy in the middle beside me was six-three and he wasn’t so comfortable. Refueling stops were made in Japan and Alaska where we had to deplane briefly but the total travel time was 23 hours, 21,5 hours on the plane. Nobody died. Nobody was taken ill. Nobody complained. If the prospect of a 20 hour flight in business class is anathema, skip it and make a connection. Until then, get over yourself.

  8. AK Reply
    October 21, 2019 at 2:12 pm

    Matt,

    Finally someone speaks truth to power, or at least truth to douche-baggery. U have had the only realistic article on the subject. Bravo.

    And, as a “travel doctor,” I can tell u a travel doctor has no expertise on this subject. Only a dive medicine specialist – they exist – does.

  9. Nick Reply
    October 21, 2019 at 2:27 pm

    Just think about the stories we will tell our grand kids about these long flights once Musk get’s his starship to start moving people around the world within an hour….

  10. Aaron Reply
    October 21, 2019 at 2:47 pm

    “Perhaps subtle envy has played a role in my gentle criticism.”

    Perhaps?

    • Matthew Reply
      October 21, 2019 at 2:48 pm

      Hey, at least I admitted it.

  11. Colleen Reply
    October 21, 2019 at 3:23 pm

    “As far as click-bait goes, I’ve been guilty of far worse.”

    I didn’t understand this. If you thought he was especially click-baity (and I agree) you’d say something like “as far as click-bait goes, I’ve been called out for far less”.

    Or are you just giving him a pass on click-bait?

    • Matthew Reply
      October 21, 2019 at 3:40 pm

      I’m giving him a pass. Mine are occasionally worse.

  12. Esteban Reply
    October 21, 2019 at 7:14 pm

    Now do you understand how we feel when people complain about first class?
    Oh, they forgot to give me a rose ( sad face)…

  13. Greg Reply
    October 21, 2019 at 8:24 pm

    This was a good take.

  14. Steve Reply
    October 21, 2019 at 9:29 pm

    Last February, I flew SQ22 in J. Why? Because I could use miles and it was the longest scheduled commercial flight. Not sure that I would do it again, at least not in that direction. Even in J, >18 hours was a bit too much. It took a couple of days to recover. Perhaps SQ21 would be a bit better as it departs at 10 AM? Or SIN-FRA-NYC…at least a bit of a break.

  15. Neil James Moloney Reply
    October 21, 2019 at 11:32 pm

    Wow, dude, you’re amazing! Way to make it all about you…

  16. Neil Reply
    October 22, 2019 at 6:31 am

    I distinctly remember the old SQ EWR-SIN on the A340-500 sometimes took 20+ hours due to headwinds. I traveled this route regularly and one particular flight in 2006 took about 21 hours to get there. And I used to travel in Executive Economy (SQ version of Premium Economy from many years ago) before these planes became fully J configured. The flights were fine. No problem at all

  17. Paolo Reply
    October 22, 2019 at 8:59 am

    QANTAS is good at the PR/Spin/BS. It will appeal to cashed-up Aussie Ma and Pa Kettle types. Doesn’t alter the fact that the QF product is poor , at least relative to SQ, QR, CX, EK and the like.

  18. Stogieguy7 Reply
    October 22, 2019 at 10:19 am

    Exactly! Put an average sized man in a middle seat in economy for 19 hours and then see what happens. Because they’ll inevitably have middle seats and an economy section (of some form), so test the WORST case scenario rather than messing around with business class (which should be somewhat comfortable no matter what).

    This “test flight” was a dog and pony show and nothing more.

  19. PolishKnight Reply
    October 22, 2019 at 2:27 pm

    I touched the (plastic) covering of the 3 man Apollo 11 capsule at the Smithsonian. It’s MUCH smaller than it looks like in the movies. They were in that thing for a week surrounded by barf bags and the capsule also doubled as the in-flight toilet.

    https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/command-module-apollo-11

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