Etihad Executive Trying To Beat Round The World Flying Record

Good luck! He has 3 stops, AKL, EZE, AMS.

I wonder if a 2 stop itinerary has advantages. A UA 747SP did SEA-ATH-TPE-SEA. I thought a A340 with little load was going to try CDG-AKL-CDG.

Silly me, didn't read. The rules are to use routes that airlines fly.

I think Michael Quandt, the guy mentioned in the excerpt, might be related to the BMW Car family. BMW is family owned, unlike GM.

The big mistake is traveling West to East. If you flew the other direction you might have a shot at time travel. Seriously I've always wondered how to beat such a record. My guess is avoiding ORD, ATL and DFW are helpful ideas in the quest. Well that and having tight connections.

Hi Lucky,
I emailed you about this world record on 12/6. Here is a youtube clip explaining it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N3rC-F_wUI

Interesting and it seems the selection of the departure city is one of the most important factors in this quest? Airline schedules, tail winds, on time records etc.

Not a valid attempt. The first Guinness record was via six continents. This one is only three.

See the below video and tweet about the fastest way to do it. 23,443 mile itinerary in 48 hours and 5 minutes!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N3rC-F_wUI

https://twitter.com/HalfInteresting/status/923943502655950848

lax-dxb-akl-lax should work. emirates and ANZ

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/search/applicationrecordsearch?term=fastest+circumnavigation+on+flight&contentType=record

There's no factoring in weather? Just wait for super duper tailwinds 😀

Also, you might get a small advantage going over the poles rather than sticking to the equator, since the rotation of the Earth means the globe isn't a perfect sphere, though I think that only gets you about 14 miles.

This'll be way easier once Virgin Galactic starts flights. Just go straight up out of the atmosphere and wait for the Earth to turn under you!

That's a very doable record to beat, given the right planning, but I wouldn't want to try 2 1/2 days in Economy like most of us mere mortals!

In a few more weeks I'll actually be attempting an east-bound Around-The World flying only on 747's!

I've booked it all, mostly through Aeroplan. I've already had one aircraft change after booking, but luckily I was able to move everything back a few weeks at minimal cost. Hopefully it all works out with no more issues, because the Queen of the Skies is slowly flying off into the sunset. Fly it while you still can!

Yep: lax-dxb-akl-lax was what I was thinking too. Emirates and Air NZ have good records for punctuality.

Would IAH-LHR-SYD-IAH get it done?

Or rather it will be once LHR-SYD is doable.

DEL-SYD-IAH-LHR-DEL

I did a different type of speed trip a couple of years ago - 6 continents in 117 hours but with running solo marathon distances (26.2 miles) on each continent. 🙂 but, I didn’t go around the world as I started in Europe and ended in the US. And that was not a record!

If you want an even bigger challnage try to beat David Springbett’s record of 44 hours 6 minutes. His route was LAX-LHR-BEY-SIN-BKK-MNL-NRT-HNL-LAX. The LHR-BEY-SIN was flown on the Concorde.

I have a trip planned in March to do just this, should take me approximately 84 hours. The 14 hour layover in HKG is killing most of my time. $3600, besides the two domestic flights, all lie flat seating, all OW.

I don't see a doable connection for LAX-DXB-AKL

infact you can do with just two flights. Book back to back flights with DEL-SFO and one is transatlantic and most of the time the return is transpacific

Hi Lucky.
I usually like your posts but.....
This makes me angry.
I am an EY Platinum card holder and have seen their overall level of service going down dramatically, sometimes down to totally absurdity like not offering amenities kits in BC. Not to mention that the so called dedicated Platinum help desk doesn't bother to mail or call back after several requests over several weeks....until 2nd Christmas morning (no kidding).
Well.....if this is how Etihad gets some attention, it really proves my point they don't care about their customers ( except Nicole Kidman and other select Residence guests ...like you). So please go ahead and break the planning VP's record and ignore them.
Could it be you are totally EY biased since you flew them in FC ?
I guess I flew them much more than you and their steep decline makes me sad...

EK LAX-DXB-AKL-LAX does not work becaused you land in DXB after the flight for AKL has departed

https://www.google.com/flights/#search;iti=LHR_SVO,DME,VKO,ZIA,JQO,XRK,ZKD,2G1,2G3,2G5_2018-02-04*SVO,DME,VKO,ZIA,JQO,XRK,ZKD,2G1,2G3,2G5_ICN,NRT_2018-02-04*ICN,NRT_YVR_2018-02-05*YVR_LHR_2018-02-05;tt=m;sel=LHRSVO0SU2579,SVOICN0SU250,NRTICN0KE704-ICNYVR0KE71,YVRLHR0AC854

If my calculations are correct - 44:35 (connections included)

EDIT: Play with those. I may have found simpler routings with less time.

The fastest flight in the world on scheduled airlines is 44 hours and 6 minutes by David Springbett back in 1980 when the Concorde flew nyc-london and london to singapore via Bahrain. The london-singapore route only lasted 20 months. This record wont be broken till we get another supersonic commercial aircraft if we ever do.

LAX>IST>SIN>LAX

Seems that many of you are missing the point that you must cross the equator.

EK 216 LAX-DXB 3:35 PM – 7:30 PM+1
EK 352 DXB-SIN 9:15 PM – 8:25 AM+1
UA 38 SIN-LAX 11:00 AM -10:15 AM

42.67 hours. Could easily be below 42 with good tailwinds on the SIN-LAX segment.

@Jonathan , I think SIN is close enough

Let's see him (or you) do it in coach. Then, it might be interesting.

In addition to what Jonathan said, one of the airports must be within 5 degrees of the antipodal (sp?) of the origin/destination.
I say try to pick the antipodal city airports first like EZE/PVG or AGP/AKL and then go from there. Good luck!

@ mike -- Fascinating! Hmmmm.... does that qualify on the basis of antipodal points, though?

@mike's routing doesn't cross the equator.

There's no way you are not going to break the record. Bonus points if you can do it all on one award booking

The antipodal requirement makes it tough and most of the suggestions noted above miss this point.

Looking at Fisher's route he has a 2hr connection in AKL, 55 mins in EZE (tight!) and 2:45 in AMS. Will be very tough to beat but I'm sure there's a way.

What is defined as round the world is pretty arbitrary, so I guess it depends on what matters to you. I guess there are multiple ways to set this "record".

That technically isn’t the world record, the world record was completed by David Springbett.

Did not know there is a record... I just did YYZ-JFK-DXB-AKL-BNE-SIN-CMB in one shot on EK F/J and DL last Nov.

I'm from Argentina and the mention of EZE on such a tight connections makes me wonder if he'll make it......lol

Jfk-jnb-hkg-jnb
Would that work?

Correction: jfk-jnb-hkg-jfk

If Thai ever brought back the BKK-LAX route the following would satisfy all the requirements (BKK/LIM are antipodal) and have a chance to be quicker pending connections:

LIM - AMS - BKK - LAX - LIM

There is a minimum distance you must cross to qualify as round the world. Many of you all's suggestions wouldn't cross that threshold. Go and check the videos some linked to see the requirement.

LOL if ONE of his flights gets delayed omg i would cry

How much carbon does that produce? This is ridiculous and self-absorbed to focus on self-gratifying records without any regard for the long-term harm global warming causes.

Sounds like a cool challenge.

We did RTW in 3 weeks. Almost all in 1st/Biz on miles. What an awesome trip. www.rtw40.com

It looks like his routing is feasible with these direct flights:

MU - PVG-AKL
NZ - AKL-EZE
KL- EZE-AMS
MU - AMS-PVG

That gives him 1-2 hours to connect in each city.

World record or not, that’s a crap load of time to be spending on China Eastern! This alone is award worthy!!!

I recently flew over 29,000 miles around the world: MIA-LAX-AKL-SYD-JNB-CPT-LHR-MIA

@Andrew Y I'm pretty sure he's taking Air New Zealand for the first flight bc it leaves an hour later (on certain days of the week)

Here is a 51 hour Star Alliance itinerary :
DEL-SYD on AI, 1:15pm-7:10am+1; SYD-SFO on UA, 1pm-7:35am; SFO-DEL on AI, 10:30-4:15pm+1.
I am going for it in February....!

Here is a 51 hour itinerary - DEL-SYD on AI, 1:15pm-7:10am+1; SYD-SFO on UA, 1pm-7:35am, SFO-DEL on AI, 10:30-4:15pm+1. I am going for it in February....!

The current rules are a bit illegitimate, it really doesn't fully satisfy as "around the world" to me. The "world" has seven continents, a true around the world itinerary should include stops in every continent besides Antarctica (due to the lack of commercial flights to/from it). This Etihad guy is only touching four continents, and David Springbeckett only touched down in four.

Here are the rules I would suggest to add for a true fastest around the world challenge.

1) Must touch down in all six continents (Asia, Australia, North America, South America, Africa, Europe). You can touch down more than once in each Continent for routing purposes, but must at least touch down in each one.

2) The entire trip must be in economy/coach class. The challenge should not just be viewed as a speeding contest, it should include an endurance factor. Spending time while being pampered in first/business class the whole time is vastly different from economy. This provides an equal playing field.

To make it REAL interesting and make the challenge "meaningful".
May I suggest to spice it up by requiring a checked baggage and have the time recorded as "From scheduled departure time of first flight to the time the luggage comes off the carousal at the final destination? This would separate the true travel savants from the amateur contestants as all kinds of analytics (airline on-time performance, airport conditions, baggage proficiency) will be tapped into and put into consideration during planning. Now, you can't tell me that's not interesting~

Edit, David Springbeckett only touched three continents, not four.

Now this would be the kind of a journey to experience in The Residence!!!

Does this mean I’m technically in the running? I’ve booked all the segments in F:

JFK-DXB-SIN-MEL-AKL-MEL-SIN-CMB-AUH-JFK-SFO-SEA

I think it ends up being almost 250 hours of the world best product.

What about Dubai–Sydney–Los Angeles–Dubai?

Antipodes is the killer. With those rules, the challenge may reduce to "fastest routing that touches PVG and EZE." 5% tolerance is tight. AKL is antipodal to southern Spain, but not close enough to MAD or LIS for either of those to work.

HNL and WDH qualify and would be my choice for the coolest way to do such a trip, but a little longer and a lot slower via scheduled flights.

Actually I'm not sure AKL and MAD don't work. But how fast can you do AKL-LAX-MAD-DXB-AKL?

Why is his journey so curvy? Wouldn't it be quicker just to fly straight?

Back when Air NZ flew AKL-HKG-LHR some of us flew an Air NZ only RTW in under 60 hours, AKL-LAX-LHR-HKG-AKL. The schedule had quite a long time in LHR (long enough for me to easily visit Belfast).

Wow! I returned last night from RTW18 - not for a record (gone 6 Days) since I spent 2 nights in Sydney, but for fun in experiencing Korean 747-8i & Etihad Apartment (again).
All flights in 1st Class with lie flat beds, including the DCA-JFK - AA had a 1-off use of its A321T . DCA-JFK-ICN- SYD-AUH-IAD

Do it, Lucky! I would love to see that journey written up as a trip report