# Longest flight experiences



## Bob Dylan (Jul 27, 2022)

Rover said:


> I overnighted at the Frankfurt Airport in the 90's, waiting to catch a morning flight out, back to Dallas.
> A 10 1/2 hour flight. My longest ever! We got in early to DFW, and there was no gate for our widebody, so we sat parked on the tarmac for 30 minutes. Even in Business class, 10 1/2 hours is at the limit of what I want experience in jet travel. If I ever had to travel to Australia, I would intentionally book through Honolulu verses a non-stop from Dallas or the West Coast.


Longest Flight I ever was on was Qantas between San Francisco and Sydney! ( in Coach!!)


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## gswager (Jul 27, 2022)

Longest flight was nearly 11 1/2 hours from Istanbul to Chicago, in daylight. It screwed up my biological time for nearly a week!


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## JayPea (Jul 28, 2022)

Longest flight for me was between Portland and Maui, about 6 hours. All told, between flights and layovers, it was about 14 hours from the beginning of the journey to the end. Three flights, one between Pullman/Moscow (WA/ID) to Seattle, a long layover, then another flight between Seattle and Portland, another long layover, and then Portland to Maui. Going back it wasn't near so long because the layovers were pretty much non-existant. I hardly had time to get off the plane in Portland and get on the one to Seattle, and barely had time to get off in Seattle and back to Pullman/Moscow. I believe it was about 9 1/2 hours total, with, again, 6 of that between Maui and Portland.


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## Rover (Jul 28, 2022)

I never had experienced jet lag until I flew from Honolulu to Dallas. We got in at 5:30am. My timeclock was already screwed up from such a short trip there and back. I hadn't earned anytime off from new job with AA, but my parents had flight benefits by way of me, and they flew to Honolulu and were staying there for a week. So, I had never been to Hawaii, and I all I had to was show up, and my room and board was taken care of by my parents, who had been to Hawaii before. I even had a free trip, my Welcome Aboard pass. 

I got to HNL on a Friday afternoon. Stayed over Friday night. Then took a flight out Saturday night, back to Dallas, arriving Sunday morning at 5:30am. My shift at work that Sunday was an afternoon shift that began around 1pm. 

I had never experience jet lag like that before. I was warmed over death.

After that experience, I would never travel that many time zones, unless my return trip involved a day off to rest up.


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## DetroitTed (Jul 28, 2022)

Couldn’t help but add my worst flight ever. Due to a mixup in both reservation and language, I got stuck in a middle seat for 12 hours from San Francisco to Beijing on Air China.


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## Joe from PA (Jul 28, 2022)

Our longest flight was Philadelphia to Hong Kong, with 3 stops, about 20 hours.


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## jis (Jul 28, 2022)

My longest flight so far several times was Newark to Singapore or vice-versa clocking in at around 18 hours and 45 mins. It was always in Premium Economy or Business since the plane did not have any other accommodation. This was Singapore Airlines when they flew the route using a specially equipped Airbus 340-500ULR.


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## MARC Rider (Jul 28, 2022)

My longest flight was a tie between JFK and TLV in 1971 (when they were flying 707s on the route) and IAD - PEK in 2017. Both flights were 12 hours. When I repeated my trip JFK - TLV in 1989, they were flying 747s and the flight only took 10 hours. (I also think the political situation had changed to the point they could make a more direct flight. On the 1971 flight, we had to twist and turn to avoid flying over the Iron Curtain.)

I also had a 16+ hour flight from JFK to Narita (Tokyo), but we had a stop in Anchorage where they let us off the plane to stretch our legs and buy unbelievably expensive snacks in the airport transit lounge.)


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## WWW (Jul 28, 2022)

My longest was JFK to Honolulu - American Airlines 707 in coach (with a bonus 2+2 seating middle seat empty)
Duration was supposed to be 10 hours a few minutes actual 11 hours 35 minutes - Original flight plan was
JFK to Portland OR and then across the open water - due to extreme head winds was diverted way south over
Mexico - just couldn't get a break from those winds - it was that or a mainland fuel stop.

But nothing compared to New York - South Africa or Australia to Europe which easily beats Australia Texas.
Most European flights from the US benefit from the shorter over the pole routes.

Compare long distant air travel to long distant train travel the Siberian Express has to take the prize but not
currently available.


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## jis (Jul 28, 2022)

MARC Rider said:


> I also had a 16+ hour flight from JFK to Narita (Tokyo), but we had a stop in Anchorage where they let us off the plane to stretch our legs and buy unbelievably expensive snacks in the airport transit lounge.)



I flew NRT - JFK on one of the early non-stops flown by Pan Am using a 747SP, which then was the only commercial aircraft that could reliably make it non-stop. This was back in the mid to late '70s.



WWW said:


> But nothing compared to New York - South Africa or Australia to Europe which easily beats Australia Texas.
> Most European flights from the US benefit from the shorter over the pole routes.


Which US - Europe flight flies over the pole? I am not aware of any. Even SFO - SVO is over northern Greenland at its northmost point on the Great Circle route.

Here is a nice tool to play aroud with to see what the shortest routes look like for a particular itinerary. It shows the San Francisco to Moscow route below:









A map from Great Circle Mapper


A map from Great Circle Mapper




www.gcmap.com


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## WWW (Jul 28, 2022)

Literary license - not exactly over the pole or its magnetic equivalent more like bisecting Greenland - the great circle arc tends to drift
further south from east coast cities and further north from Pacific northwest


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## jis (Jul 28, 2022)

OTOH EWR - SIN takes much less of a literary license to legitimately claim trans-polar, though truth be told, of the eight times I flew on that flight it actually flew trans-polar route only twice. The other times were eastbound over Europe and India and westbound across the Pacific. The exact route taken on a particular day depends a lot o which way the wind blows.

Of course now the actual trans-polar routes are mostly out of bounds for many airlines as a result of the political situation involving Russia.


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## Ziv (Jul 28, 2022)

I fly from DC to Bangkok via Tokyo every couple years. 14 hours going from IAD to Narita, 13 hours coming back. Economy. I used to do a 2 hour layover and fly the same day from Narita to Bangkok. My last trip I broke up that travel day by staying in Tokyo for 3 days. That helped a lot. Tokyo is expensive but it is a GREAT city to visit!


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## jis (Jul 28, 2022)

Bob Dylan said:


> Longest Flight I ever was on was Quantas between San Francisco and Sydney! ( in Coach!!)


I have done San Francisco to Sydney and back several times on United. All on 747-400, including one time with a re-fueling stop at Nandi, Fiji because of too much load and head wind heading to Sydney.

BTW, QANTAS does not have a "u". It stands for Queensland And Northern Territories Aerial Service. It was founded in Longreach, Queensland. There is a QANTAS 747 plinthed there in recognition of that.


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## jiml (Jul 28, 2022)

DFW - NRT on AA 777 several years ago. At the time most carriers were still using west coast hubs to reach Japan, so DFW was a bit longer.


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## Bob Dylan (Jul 28, 2022)

jis said:


> I have done San Francisco to Sydney and back several times on United. All on 747-400, including one time with a re-fueling stop at Nandi, Fiji because of too much load and head wind heading to Sydney.
> 
> BTW, QANTAS does not have a "u". It stands for Queensland And Northern Territories Aerial Service. It was founded in Longreach, Queensland. There is a QANTAS 747 plinthed there in recognition of that.


Thanks, a typo by my Old fingers, I do know better!( and actually Coach wasn't that bad back in the day on 747s when they had Movies, Music and Fed and Watered you properly and gave you Pillows and Blankets!)


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## jis (Jul 28, 2022)

jiml said:


> DFW - NRT on AA 777 several years ago. At the time most carriers were still using west coast hubs to reach Japan, so DFW was a bit longer.


I regularly did EWR - NRT on UA 747-400s in the late 90s, usually on the way to Bangkok or Singapore and then onto Kolkata. Just burning UA miles collected on business trips. I even did that once in UA First Class. Once while traveling on Business Class misconnected at Tokyo and got to experience ANA Business Class to Bangkok.


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## como (Jul 28, 2022)

WWW said:


> My longest was JFK to Honolulu - American Airlines 707 in coach (with a bonus 2+2 seating middle seat empty)
> Duration was supposed to be 10 hours a few minutes actual 11 hours 35 minutes - Original flight plan was
> JFK to Portland OR and then across the open water - due to extreme head winds was diverted way south over
> Mexico - just couldn't get a break from those winds - it was that or a mainland fuel stop.
> ...


Atlanta to Johannesburg is about 15 hours and the return flight was 16. In coach. The Atlanta - Johannesburg flight was two rows from the back in a middle seat.


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## jis (Jul 28, 2022)

In a week and a half I will be flying EWR - DEL - about 15 hours and then flying back end of August DEL - ORD, about 17 hours both on UA 787-9 in Polaris.


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## jiml (Jul 28, 2022)

jis said:


> I regularly did EWR - NRT on UA 747-400s in the late 90s, usually on the way to Bangkok or Singapore and then onto Kolkata. Just burning UA miles collected on business trips. I even did that once in UA First Class. Once while traveling on Business Class misconnected at Tokyo and got to experience ANA Business Class to Bangkok.


I should have added "west coast hubs to reach Japan with 2-engine planes", as the ETOPS regulations were just being relaxed back then.


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## Dakota 400 (Jul 28, 2022)

My longest flight was from Singapore to San Francisco with a brief (1 hr) stop in Hong Kong to change crew, resupply, and refuel. Singapore Airlines 777 in Business Class; nice plane and good service.

I almost had a mis-adventure during the stop in Hong Kong. Everyone had to get off the plane during the service stop. The time was close to Midnight; I was tired; my ears became mostly plugged as we descended for landing. The Flight Attendant provided instructions as to what to do when we got off the plane. I did not hear those well. Thought, OK, I will follow the "herd" and go where they go. I walk slow; the herd got way ahead of my and I lost sight of them. I came to an intersection and there was a corner that I should have turned to get to the gate waiting area to re-board the plane. Not realizing that, I went straight, came to passport control, and went through that (welcome to HK). Seeing the next place was luggage pick-up, I realized that I had made a mistake. (A large one.) I didn't go through the doors (that would have been worse). Tried to explain my situation to 2 or 3 of the agents who were puzzled what to do. One of them contacted a Singapore Airlines employee who arrived. I explained to him what had happened. He took me in tow and ushered me out of the area and to the gate area, found me a seat, and firmly said "Sit here. Don't leave your seat until someone tells you to." Just before boarding was to begin, a gate agent told me to follow him and got me to the door of the plane where a Flight Attendant escorted me to my seat. To say that I was embarrassed about what happened would be an understatement.


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## blueman271 (Jul 28, 2022)

My longest trip was from Norfolk-Singapore. The trip included 2 connections, 5 airports, and took around 24 hours total.


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## Rover (Jul 28, 2022)

The longest flight ever, was of course, by Dirigible, over 24 hours in the air...from Germany to South America...









The 10 Longest Non-Stop Flights from Dallas - Hopper


Travelers from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) will find several options for traveling to Asia, the Middle East and South America. Hopper rounds up the longest - and most affordable - flights.




media.hopper.com





Dallas to Sydney, Australia on Qantas is 8,596 miles and 17 hours

Coming is Non-Stop service from DFW to Melbourne, Australia using the 787 with a flight time listed as 17:05 flying 8,992 miles.









Qantas announces nonstop DFW to Melbourne service - The Points Guy


Qantas will being operating direct flights from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to Melbourne, Australia beginning in December 2022. The flights will be aboard a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.




thepointsguy.com













The world’s longest nonstop flights, updated - The Points Guy


We ranked the world's longest flights by distance.




thepointsguy.com


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## mcropod (Jul 28, 2022)

It's not really possible to get to or from Oz by air without a long journey. I prefer to enter an leave via Melbourne which is located in the SE of the country even for a north-west destination - Singapore (about eight hours) or Doha (about fourteen). Both those flightpaths take about five hours just to get out of Oz.

I combined two fourteen-hour longies on my last OS trip by flying to Philadelphia from Melbourne via Doha. I took a one-day stopover on my way there, but not on my return. Qatar Air is my airline of choice. Their Doha- Auckland run of about 17 hours for our Kiwi friends is a super-longie.

When we came to Oz as migrants in the mid-1960s from Scotland, it was by plane rather than the boat journey which was the more common way the Oz government used at the time for we assisted-passage migrants. After a BEA Vickers Viscount prop-jet flight from Edinburgh to London and a couple of days in the English capital, it was a Qantas 707 which took the following path: London, New York, San Francisco, Hawaii, Fiji, Sydney. It was absolutely the same plane for the full journey, and we left our gear on it and de-planed for the 45 minute stops each landing - including at about 0300h onto the tarmac in Fiji while being watched by a white-skirt clad policeman.

We were in economy-class seats for the duration, which took about 24+ hours airtime, but less on the calendar because we were chasing the sun. That's definitely the longest flight I've been on. It was probably muuuuch longer for my oldies who had to wrangle we four kids throughout.

After arrival in Sydney we were taken the one hour last leg to Melbourne on a TAA 727.


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## Rover (Jul 28, 2022)

The Longest flight of WWII. Yes, it was a modified B-29, and lasted 23 hours, with no refueling.






The Longest Mission | Air & Space Forces Magazine


The crew of the B-29 Double Trouble had some odd moments on a flight fraught with dangers.




www.airforcemag.com


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## George Harris (Jul 28, 2022)

Over a period of 17 years, I made, either 19 or 20 trips between the US, usually Memphis TN, and either Taipei or Hong Kong, with a couple to Singapore thrown in for variety. 

My first overseas jaunt was earlier in the form of two round trips to Saigon (I refuse to say Ho Chi Minh city) from Travis AFB CA in 1971. These were in many senses the most memorable, first because they were my first long flights and second because the military used the cheapest charters they could find and on airlines you never heard of and hoped to never see again and were set up with sardine can seating density. Then as you board, they ask everybody their weight. Two round trips because at that time you could take a mid-tour trip back to the states on your own dime, which was more around $1,500 as best I recall. These flights all had an intermediate fueling stop at Anchorage between Japan and the US. To shorten the story, my final flight out of Vietnam was delayed over 24 hours after its arrival to pick us up due to mechanical difficulties, and then there was an additional long delay in Japan for mechanical work. All in all really inspiring and comforting. Then we go down the runway accelerating like a freight train. Finally, we get off the ground before we run out of runway, and as we are climbing the pilot came on the intercom an announces, "We will attempt a non-stop flight to Travis AFB California." At that point I'm thinking, can we take a boat? If you are the pilot and stating the flight plan in the form of "attempt" what happens if we don't? There is not much else between here and there but water. We made it. I finished my trip home by train. 

Back to doing it commercial while working in Asia: We generally figured on 24 hours door to door Memphis to Taipei. These were all on Northwest. All except one out of Taipei was via Tokyo. The other was via Soeul. Then there was the 12 +/- from Tokyo to either Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle or Detroit. Our contracts with Taipei Rapid Transit System stated that home leave travel was to be by lowest cost economy class air fare.


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## railiner (Jul 28, 2022)

My “longest” flight, was a trip around the world in just 4 days, back in 2000. 
AA 777 JFK-NRT, ANA 747 NRT-HKG, Cathay Pacific 747-400 HKG-LHR, AA 777 LHR-JFK.


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## Bob Dylan (Jul 28, 2022)

Rover said:


> The Longest flight of WWII. Yes, it was a modified B-29, and lasted 23 hours, with no refueling.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Most interesting, thanks for the find!

My dad was a B-29 Crew Member based on Tinian on 2 different Planes, "Man 'O War" ( Crashed with another Crew aboard) and "The Spearhead",, and flew 12 Missions to Japan, all Fire Bombing Runs.They would take off in the Middle of the night and be gone for 15-16 Hours on these Missions.

His Squadron included The Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the First Atom Bomb on Japan.

But it was Ultra Top Secret, and the Plane and Crew had a Seperate Hanger that was heavily Guarded. 

All of the other Air Corps Members on Tinian weren't told about this Mission till after the Enola Gay returned to Tinian.


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## Rover (Jul 29, 2022)

Bob Dylan said:


> Most interesting, thanks for the find!
> 
> My dad was a B-29 Crew Member based on Tinian on 2 different Planes, "Man 'O War" ( Crashed with another Crew aboard) and "The Spearhead",, and flew 12 Missions to Japan, all Fire Bombing Runs.They would take off in the Middle of the night and be gone for 15-16 Hours on these Missions.
> 
> ...



Thanks for that fascinating information!!

During WWII my father flew a USMC Douglas SBD Dauntless Dive-Bomber on sub patrol on a remote island in the Pacific, Funafuti, Tuvalu. So no really long distances there.

But, after being called back into active duty for the Korean Conflict, he was stationed in Honolulu, and flew 4 engines with mail to Japan. They would island hop to take their load there. But, on the way back from Japan, with a much lighter load, they would dead head back to Honolulu.

I may be missing some parts of the story. He died at 84 in 2006, so I can't ask him all of the questions I'd like to now... He flew for Texas International, the DC-9, so, I grew up with flight benefits. I made a lot of short trips from Dallas to Austin and back when I was attending UT in the mid-70's.


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## JRR (Jul 29, 2022)

On August 23, 1969, I boarded a TWA stretch 707 charter and we took off from Ton Son Hut Airbase in Saigon headed for Travis AFB at 5:35 pm. with fueling stops in Guam and Honolulu. When we arrived in Honolulu, we were advised that there would be a 4 hour layover for a mandatory crew rest (turned into a 6 hr delay). I used the time to arrange for a flight to Dulles from San Francisco and to call my wife and advise her when I would arrive (she had been manning the phone for 3 days 24/7 since we had no idea when I might actually get a flight to Travis)! In any event, when we finally took off from Honolulu, by the weirdest coincidence, it was exactly 5:35 pm wheels up, and because of crossing the International Date Line. It was August 23, 2969! I took off from two different airports at the same date and time on the same airplane!

The other event of note was that shortly after the pilot announced that we had passed the point of no return, there was a bump as if we hit some turbulence, and as those of us in my row looked out the window, we saw the outboard engine on the starboard side burst into flames! It flared for only a short time before it was extinguished. A member of the crew rushed back and leaned across me ( the setup was rows of 4 on each side and I had an aisle seat) to peer out the window. I told him, “Dint worry the fire is out”). He quickly hushed me and said ti keep quiet. A 707 has no trouble flying on 3 engines but every time we hit a little turbulence the rest of the way, all of us in my row quickly looked out the windows! There was no sleeping in our row!

The rest of the flight was uneventful but when we passed over the Golden Gate Bridge all lit up around 5am, it was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen!

On landing at Travis, we were quarantined in the plane for another 21/2 hours as they took two off because of some unknown illness.

Never did the calculations, but that’s the longest flight, time wise I have ever had or want to have!


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## Ziv (Jul 29, 2022)

mcropod said:


> It's not really possible to get to or from Oz by air without a long journey. I prefer to enter an leave via Melbourne which is located in the SE of the country even for a north-west destination - Singapore (about eight hours) or Doha (about fourteen). Both those flightpaths take about five hours just to get out of Oz.
> 
> I combined two fourteen-hour longies on my last OS trip by flying to Philadelphia from Melbourne via Doha. I took a one-day stopover on my way there, but not on my return. Qatar Air is my airline of choice. Their Doha- Auckland run of about 17 hours for our Kiwi friends is a super-longie.
> 
> ...


I am going to be flying Billings-Quito-Lima then Santiago-Auckland-Fiji-Sydney starting in September, (knock on wood). Then taking the Indian Pacific Railroad to Perth and flying up to Denpasar from there. And then up to Thailand for a month or two. Every other route to Australia had some huge 16 hour flight involved. I have wanted to travel the "Trans-Australian" railroad for years!
The Santiago to Auckland flight is still 12 hours, but that is better than 16!


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## rfmccoy (Jul 29, 2022)

19 hours, 20 minutes from Tinker Air Force Base (Oklahoma City) to Incirlik, Turkey. Nonstop with two aerial refuelings on board an E-3 Sentry (AWACS). Door-to-door it was a good flight.


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## jebr (Jul 29, 2022)

So far my longest has only been MSP - ANC - about six hours long. I have planned an AMS - MSP flight for next year which will become my longest, although even that's only clocked in around 9 hours. All in economy currently - and the MSP - ANC six hour flight was in a 737-900ER! No special service either; it was treated the same as any other standard domestic hop.


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## BCL (Jul 29, 2022)

I've flown from California to Asia several times, as well as once to New Zealand. Trying to remember......

It's typically slower going west because of the prevailing winds. 13 hours going west can be 10-11 hours in the reverse direction. It's nice having a good tailwind.

SFO-PVG (13+ hours).
SFO-TPE (13+ hours)
SFO-GMP (13+ hours)
SFO-PEK (13+ hours)
LAX-AUK (14+ hours)


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## Bob Dylan (Jul 29, 2022)

JRR said:


> On August 23, 1969, I boarded a TWA stretch 707 charter and we took off from Ton Son Hut Airbase in Saigon headed for Travis AFB at 5:35 pm. with fueling stops in Guam and Honolulu. When we arrived in Honolulu, we were advised that there would be a 4 hour layover for a mandatory crew rest (turned into a 6 hr delay). I used the time to arrange for a flight to Dulles from San Francisco and to call my wife and advise her when I would arrive (she had been manning the phone for 3 days 24/7 since we had no idea when I might actually get a flight to Travis)! In any event, when we finally took off from Honolulu, by the weirdest coincidence, it was exactly 5:35 pm wheels up, and because of crossing the International Date Line. It was August 23, 2969! I took off from two different airports at the same date and time on the same airplane!
> 
> The other event of note was that shortly after the pilot announced that we had passed the point of no return, there was a bump as if we hit some turbulence, and as those of us in my row looked out the window, we saw the outboard engine on the starboard side burst into flames! It flared for only a short time before it was extinguished. A member of the crew rushed back and leaned across me ( the setup was rows of 4 on each side and I had an aisle seat) to peer out the window. I told him, “Dint worry the fire is out”). He quickly hushed me and said ti keep quiet. A 707 has no trouble flying on 3 engines but every time we hit a little turbulence the rest of the way, all of us in my row quickly looked out the windows! There was no sleeping in our row!
> 
> ...


Very interesting, thanks for sharing and thanks for your service!

Your flight home from Nam was similar to my Brother's(, except they stopped in the Phillipines and Hawaii on one flight) who served there twice as a Marine!


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## BCL (Jul 29, 2022)

Bob Dylan said:


> Your flight home from Nam was similar to my Brother's(, except they stopped in the Phillipines and Hawaii on one flight) who served there twice as a Marine!



I've been to Hawaii on a partial leg of a longer flight. It was (the then) Malaysian Airline Systems where the flight was LAX-HNL-KUL, where my parents and I flew on a buddy pass that a (travel agent) relative secured for us after selling a lot of tickets for that airline. We flew on 747-400 and I got to sit in business class on the way there, but on the way back they didn't allow me in business class (my parents were) saying that I was under 21 and I sat in coach. On the return flight I sat next to an English guy and we were looking at the planes at Hickham while taxing to the runway. I think he was a small plane pilot although I clearly remember seeing C-5s and an F-15.


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## mcropod (Jul 29, 2022)

Ziv said:


> I am going to be flying Billings-Quito-Lima then Santiago-Auckland-Fiji-Sydney starting in September, (knock on wood). Then taking the Indian Pacific Railroad to Perth and flying up to Denpasar from there. And then up to Thailand for a month or two. Every other route to Australia had some huge 16 hour flight involved. I have wanted to travel the "Trans-Australian" railroad for years!
> The Santiago to Auckland flight is still 12 hours, but that is better than 16!


That's a decent bit of globe-coverage, eh? But you are right, there's few places as far away from everywhere else as here. And then even for we residents, it's a bloody long journey to anywhere else in the country.

You'll have fun on the Indian-Pacific right enough, and I hope you post about it along the way. Sydney's not my town, but I reckon a fab way to spend an inexpensive day there is to get a day-ticket on public transport including the ferries from Circular Quay (there's a nearby city railway station), and take a trip over the harbour to Manly. On your return, go for a walk across the bridge for some great harbour and Opera House views - you can take a train back on the bridge to the city.


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## Metra Electric Rider (Jul 29, 2022)

I have to say I'm jealous of you world travelling folks. Longest I've gone was ORD-VIE (I assume its longer than ORD-OSL or ORD-CPH)


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## Gary Moline (Jul 29, 2022)

Our worst flight was a 26 hour ordeal flying from Palm Springs, CA to Chicago O'Hare. We were to arrive in Chicago, stay over night and have a leisurely walk to Chicago Union Station for a private car excursion. We were attached to the end of the CA Zephyr.

Starting at 6 am on American Airlines, we were two hours on the tarmac at PSP due to incomplete maintenance records. We missed our DFW connection and were re-booked for ORD. We couldn't land in Chicago due to bad weather. They diverted us to Indianapolis. At Midnight, they cancelled the flight for the evening, as the crew ran out of time and no replacements were available. No hotels were available, so we camped out at the airport. We got on a flight the next morning to ORD, where our baggage was, took a Lyft to Chicago Union Station and had an hour and a half to spare.


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## Cal (Jul 29, 2022)

My longest flight was 15 hours, Los Angeles to Taipei. I think the winds slowed us down as it’s usually 14 hours. I was in economy and I enjoy long haul flights, I enjoyed it.


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## west point (Jul 29, 2022)

Was there several attempts to fly around the world in a B-36? cannot remember if US air force ever succeeded. Know there was a B-52 non stop around the world. Sslower B-36 would definitely be longer than B-52.


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## TWA904 (Jul 29, 2022)

My longest flight was a C5A flight from Kadena AB, Okinawa to Travis AFB in California. Flight was about 12 hours. No movie, only two cold boxed meals to eat and no windows


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## Ziv (Jul 30, 2022)

mcropod said:


> That's a decent bit of globe-coverage, eh? But you are right, there's few places as far away from everywhere else as here. And then even for we residents, it's a bloody long journey to anywhere else in the country.
> 
> You'll have fun on the Indian-Pacific right enough, and I hope you post about it along the way. Sydney's not my town, but I reckon a fab way to spend an inexpensive day there is to get a day-ticket on public transport including the ferries from Circular Quay (there's a nearby city railway station), and take a trip over the harbour to Manly. On your return, go for a walk across the bridge for some great harbour and Opera House views - you can take a train back on the bridge to the city.


Thanks for the tips, I will save them in my notes for Sydney! Using public transport is how I get to know a city. After I started to understand two bus routes in Bangkok I finally started to feel like it was "my" city. (Somehow using the SkyTrain didn't have the same impact.) Hopefully something similar will happen to me in Sydney. Nearly everyone I have talked to who has been there has loved the place. A big part of that is the people, but the city itself is a great character.


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## JRR (Jul 30, 2022)

Bob Dylan said:


> Very interesting, thanks for sharing and thanks for your service!
> 
> Your flight home from Nam was similar to my Brother's(, except they stopped in the Phillipines and Hawaii on one flight) who served there twice as a Marine!


Thanks!


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## saxman (Aug 4, 2022)

Longest non-stop as a passenger was on the Qantas DFW-SYD flight on the A380 in coach, about 17 hours. Even longer was SIN to IAH with a stopover in Manchester on Singapore Airlines A350. We had to get off in MAN and clear security again. Luckily that was in business class.

As crew, the longest flight I worked was from Guam to Fort Worth, blocked at 13.4 hours and 7,216 miles.


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## AmtrakMaineiac (Aug 6, 2022)

My longest flight was San Francisco to Seoul South Korea which was the 2nd leg of a trip that started in Philadelphia. It was a business trip for a process control company I worked for, our partner in Korea was Hyundai which is a huge outfit in Korea not just cars - think General Motors, General Electric and General Dynamics combined. Since our company policy was business class for all trips over 8 hours, they had to put me in first class PHL - SFO as that flight had no BC which was nice. At SFO I had about a 4 hour wait for the Seoul leg which was a United 747. We left around 6 pm and arrived about 5 pm Seoul time which was I think around 6 am Eastern. So maybe about a 10 hour flight? The BC was pretty comfortable and we were well fed. This was in 1996 before the downgrading of meals on most airlines. Return trip was similar, that plane originated in Manila. I remember the captain making an announcement "the sooner you folks are settled down back there, the sooner we can get outa Dodge". Made me feel I was back on American soil already


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## jis (Aug 6, 2022)

On United, upon boarding in a far away land, what I enjoy the most is the Rhapsody in Blue. Yes, it feels a bit like already home partway. I did enjoy the so called Connoisseur Class on United upstairs on the 747-400s, right behind the cockpit. Many many NY Tokyo and NY Hong Kong flights.


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## TinCan782 (Aug 6, 2022)

I guess for me that would be Yokota Air Base (Tokyo) to McChord AFB (Tacoma) in Jan 1972 when I got out of the Navy.
It was a Flying Tiger DC-8 charter originating in Danang. Due to crossing the International Date Line, we arrived "before" we left!


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## bonzoesc (Aug 6, 2022)

gswager said:


> Longest flight was nearly 11 1/2 hours from Istanbul to Chicago, in daylight. It screwed up my biological time for nearly a week!


This happened with mine, the 12h from Beijing to Detroit. Left PEK at 5pm Monday, greyish brown skies, got to Detroit at 5pm Monday, crispy clear blue skies. Skipped work Tuesday, but made it in Wednesday!

And then Thursday I woke up at 4pm to a bunch of panicked messages and calls from coworkers because they couldn't reach me all day.


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## Anderson (Aug 6, 2022)

My longest individual flight was LAX-BNE on Virgin Australia.

My longest _string _of flights without an intervening overnight would have been SIN-HKG-LHR-IAD (and it becomes BNE-SIN-HKG-LHR-IAD if you set the Singapore overnight aside). HKG-LHR was the longest leg of that.

Edit: And this all sets aside times I've found myself riding a string of bumps/IRROPS fun. Those are a story for another day.


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## Trogdor (Aug 7, 2022)

AKL-ORD at 16h45 a few years ago for me.


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## Ryan (Aug 7, 2022)

All of these flights are a drop in the bucket compared to spending nearly 65 DAYS aloft in a Cessna 172.


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## Rover (Aug 7, 2022)

Ryan said:


> All of these flights are a drop in the bucket compared to spending nearly 65 DAYS aloft in a Cessna 172.


Yeah, okay.... I've got this then.... when people fly from earth to the ISS, they are on a bigger "ship" in flight, around the earth, and those "flights" can lat almost a year...


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