Two Historic Flights Took Off This Week

I think you meant Air Force One, not Air France One.

I think you meant “Air Force One” not “Air France One” hahaha

I have to do LHR to Australia, including Perth, for a work trip sometime in the next 2 or 3 months. My employer pays J. But even with the novelty value, I’m not sure I want to do that direct flight rather than my original idea (Qatar via Doha). It just doesn’t look like fun, for the saving on time - and I write this as someone who usually prefers direct flights to messing about with changes just to get a slightly better hard product.

Any views?

@Lucky, was that a typo when you said the flight time difference is just 10 minutes between El Al and Air India? If not, this doesn't really seem to be significant at all.

Why can't air India fly over Pakistan and Afghanistan and Iran?

Question is how feasible are these very long haul routes? Many sources say the Perth to London flight on a 787 could only carry 200 passengers so they could carry enough fuel to make it.

Well, now that QF9 made it , Maybe one day we will see a direct MEL-TLV (over Saudia airspace ofcourse 🙂 )

I thought this was a first nonstop flight to London, not the entire Europe.

"I imagine this is a significantly less comfortable journey"

Ya think? Even in business class it would be a taxing journey.

Lucky—any plans to review the new Qantas business class product? I plan to fly MEL-SFO later this year and would love to have an idea of what I can look forward to!

When you are going to do the Perth to London trip report?

Great reporting in the section titles! OF9 was the first scheduled flight between Australia and the UK or Europe.

Around 1989, Qantas flew LHR to SYD non-stop in a 747-400 but it only carried 16 passengers and was not a scheduled flight. Later, Airbus flew a A340-200 from LeBourget to Auckland, New Zealand carrying a minimal number of passengers.

@The nice Paul: QF9/10 actually operate MEL-PER-LHR and back using the same plane on both legs. This gives Perth passengers a non-stop option and preserves the one-stop flight from Melbourne, while creating a new one-stop option from many other Australian cities.

Previously, passengers from Adelaide or Brisbane, for example, would have had to connect in both Sydney or Melbourne and Dubai to get to London, putting Qantas at a disadvantage against the Asian and Middle Eastern carriers.

I've read a lot of how much work they have done to manage the human body clock (chilli, chocolate, lighting etc.)

I would be interested in hearing from someone in the know if any of it makes a material impact? Also, how many beers would David Boon sink on this QF9 flight?

I understand the longest flight by planned route but I wonder what the longest route is/will be accounting for actual distance flown e.g. accounting for diversions due to weather or whatever?

The nice paul. Over a couple of decades I’ve flown east coast AU to the uk a lot ( nearly always in economy :-(. recently I took the Qatar option as it was a steal of a price. It’s by far the best option, service was brilliant, food great and Doha is such a pleasure compared to Abu Dhabi or Dubai. The only other option to try is Finnair, as a transit through Helsinki is equally relaxing. Having said that Perth has a new terminal and is also a good connection for the 4 hr hop to the east coast

@Arcanum, @Jay

Thanks for feedback. Qatar is my go-to favourite airline, so I may just stick with what I know works!

Last summer, I did PER - HEL with a stop in HKG on Cathay and Finnair. I was supposed to go to LHR, but the PER to HKG segment was delayed, so Cathay put me on Finnair. Final destination was CPH. It was a long day, but I flew in J. PER to HKG left at midnight and was an 8 hour flight. I probably slept 7 hours. Layover in HKG was less than 90 minutes, so it was nice to stretch my legs and move around, but not too long. No shower in the lounge or anything.

Another 10 hour flight to HEL in the Finnair A350 was definitely comfortable and not a big deal. The final leg to CPH was rougher, but all in all, not bad for 20 hours of flying.

Would I have wanted to do PER to LHR in one sitting? I really didn’t mind the stop in HKG and I loved leaving PER late as I hardly remember the PER-HKG route. I think I would get a bit more bored with 17 hours on one plane vs 18-19 hours on two planes and a short break.

I agree while a long flight i think it would be worth it yes for the novelty though it really does make it a shorter trip which some people like especially since a lot of people (not me) get stressed about connections etc

@The nice Paul fly QF9 while Qatar good try out the 787 maybe go Qantas one way and Qatar the other

This certainly is a long flight, but it's all relative. I suspect some contributors may not be used to the 24-28 hours trek that Australians make to Europe (eg 14+hours to Dubai and 6-8 hrs on to Europe depending upon your destination).

A transit within Australia has attraction even from the east coast particularly if it's made at a civilised time as opposed to the common 2-4am transfers in Dubai. Also, this is a very convenient flight for Western Australians.

For the last few years we have annually travelled from YVR to CPT over the pacific. CX to HKG and then to JNB + a short hop to CPT. Both the CX flights are in the 15 hour range but for me that allows a leisurely meal and a good sleep plus a few movies. Hate flights shorter than 10 hours. So might be tempted to try the PER-LHR route.

The LAX-DOH-CPT route and the JFK-JNB routes are also quite nice with the extra time in the air.

All in J of course.

Worst ever was DXB-DFW in EK Y on a 380 - 16 hours of pure misery.

The Qantas promotion of London to Australia has been boring me to tears since the announcement. The west coast of Australia holds less than 10% of the country's population, so the only advantage I see is to most UK people who seem to have a cousin/aunt/uncle in Perth.

QF9 still originates in Melbourne, but now leaves mid afternoon, rather than late evening, which means I would effectively lose that day, and have to contend with London peak hour traffic upon arrival, and necessitating a long day trying to shift my body into the new timezone.

Admittedly, I rarely catch QF9/10 anymore, as the 20% premium Qantas charges over their oneworld partners is too expensive for my pocket. I typically now catch the midnight Cathay flight to Hong Kong, catch the train into Central for a relaxing lunch with friends, and then catch the afternoon flight to London, landing in the early evening, and allowing me to head straight to bed, and feeling fresh the next morning.

The plane geek in me means I will catch the MEL/PER/LHR leg at some stage, but it son't be a regular occurrence for me.

Considering the fact that a huge % of my flights are on economy, I can't imagine sitting in economy for 17 hrs 15 mins (LHR to PER). And apparently, the plane does not even have wifi?

I flew on SQ21 (EWR-SIN) a few years ago, all business-class flight, which used to be longest non-stop flight at close to 18 hours.
I love flying, and SQ is one of the best airlines.
Still, after 18 hours in an aluminium tube, I could not wait to get some fresh air.

In addition to the direct service all other QF flights now go via Singapore to LHR. There are no longer any QF metal going to Dubai. No Wifi on any QF long haul but pork is back on the menu.

For those that argue that Australia to London is still no quicker than connecting via Perth than it is via Singapore etc, they are assuming that all travellers live in Sydney or Melbourne. For people living in Adelaide, Canberra, Alice Springs, Cairns and rural WA it is one stop less than we used to have.