Yes, 24 hours to hell and back is the name of a show by Gordon Ramsay, but it could also be the story of your next ‘ultra long haul’ flight. On the menu, we have several routes, the most noteworthy being Singapore-Newark, Doha-Auckland and the very ambitious ‘Project Sunrise’ of Qantas. Project Sunrise is Qantas’ ambition to operate the Kangaroo route non stop. To put it lightly, this is mildly insane. These are 21 hour flights, readers! Qantas should rename this as ‘Project Sunset’ in lieu of the sun setting on their passengers’ sanity. You may build a gym, spa, cafe or a golf simulator on board, but nothing will take away from the fact that you’re stuck in a metal tube hurtling through the sky for 21 hours. Too much is too bad, and in this this case, too much is simply terrible. Flying for this duration will LITERALLY kill you. Welcome to the world of deep vein thrombosis, dehydration and massive build ups of gas. Flatulence will be the new normal, and airborne microbes will be the norm.
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| Fly the Kangaroo route to be tired like this kangaroo (Courtesy - National Geographic) |
Alright, things probably won’t be as apocalyptic as is made out to be here, but it is certainly something to think about. A saying comes to mind - ‘We seek neither convenience nor ease, but to live at the edge of possibility’. Unfortunately with these ULH flights, we’re neither nailing the convenience nor the ease. We’re just living at the edge of possibility, which happens to be 21 hour flights. While Singapore Airlines seems to have acknowledged that these ULH flights will be tough for economy passengers and have configured their A350-900ULR aircraft with premium economy and business, the same cannot be said of Qantas. They have explicitly stated that they would like their ULR aircraft in a 4 class configuration. Which means, First, Business, Premium Economy and Economy. May God help those economy passengers. It all boils down to this - how important is convenience to you, and how much more are you willing to pay for it?
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| SIA's A350-900ULR, which operates the SIN-EWR sector |
For instance, take the Singapore-Newark flight. One week from now, you can either fly Singapore Airlines non stop for almost 18 and a half hours, or you can fly EVA Air for almost a third of the price and a stopover at Taipei, resulting in only about two and a half hours of extra travel time. During the layover, you get to visit a REAL bathroom, grab a bite and perhaps take a shower in the lounge as well. These are conveniences that you get only with a layover. I know what you’re thinking, ‘Emirates offers all these facilities to their first class passengers’, but what about those who aren’t in the top 1%? Whatever magic an airline might do, these ULH flights are generally terrible for economy class passengers as well as cabin crew. The logistics of operating a ULH flight itself are maddening. With multiple sets of crew, the whole horde of meals, amenity kits, these flights are not picnics for those who are organizing it or for those who are flying it. Yes, with the non stop SIN-EWR and SYD-LHR flights, airlines will probably fill planes due to the convenience of non stop flying, but at what cost?
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| Qantas 787-9 departing London |
It is wonderful to see the massive strides being taken in aviation with these ULH flights, but we must draw a line somewhere. There is already a significant amount of ultra long haul flying in store for mankind in the future, what with Elon Musk wanting to colonize mars and all. For now, we should all embrace the layover, take it a little easy and fly like normal humans and not like astronauts, who cannot get off midway at all. One day, 18+ hour flights might be pleasurable, with food from ‘Ottolenghi’, a Six Senses Spa on board, and full length beds with en suite bathrooms and showers, but today is not that day. So unless Emirates decides to being their April Fools gag to life, all I’d like to say is - thanks but no thanks.
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