Non-stop Flights from Australia to Europe

[mike carey]

Qantas has just announced that it will commence non-stop flights between Australia and and Europe starting in early 2018. The first flights will be a daily service from Perth to London and return. The services will be operated by the B787 aircraft that Qantas is in the process of acquiring. I'm not sure I'm ready for a 17 hour flight, Sydney to DFW was long enough!

[Bargara Leatherboy]

That was a secret badly kept .

 

Personally I will still fly via Singapore or Abu Dhabi

[mike carey]

That was a secret badly kept

That it was.

[liubit]

A seventeen hour flight seems awfully long, especially in a crowded Economy Class. I don't know if I would stand it....

[mike carey]

Personally I will still fly via Singapore or Abu Dhabi

I note you said AD and not Dubai, so Virgin or Etihad rather than QF or Emirates? I'm disinclined to fly with anyone that stops in the Gulf, so agree on SQ, or fly BA, CX or Finnair, or NZ via LAX. Malaysian if you trust them!

A seventeen hour flight seems awfully long, especially in a crowded Economy Class.

I said above that SYD-DFW at 15 hours was long enough, but this is only a couple more hours. At their announcement they at least paid lip service to the need for comfort on such a flight.

[Irtwo]

I hope they start a non-stop to NYC. There used to be a nonstop from NYC to Singapore that was 18 hours.

[mike carey]

I hope they start a non-stop to NYC. There used to be a nonstop from NYC to Singapore that was 18 hours.

They may well do that eventually. London is a core destination for QF in a way that NYC is not. QF flies from Australia to NYC and return daily via LAX (Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane flights all connect in LAX so you can fly on a QF aeroplane to any of those cities from NYC).

[+ Charlie]

I hate really long flights, like LAX to Melbourne or Chicago to Osaka, but I would rather get it all done at once than break it into two long flights. I used to fly New York to Mumbai via London, and I had to force myself to get on the second plane. My spouse had it worse, because he had to fly from Philadelphia to Singapore via SFO and Narita; he learned to schedule himself to always arrive in Singapore at night, so he could get some rest before going to the Singapore office in the morning.

[+ sniper]

I flew LA to Sydney once in first(used all my miles) and it was still an ordeal. If I were a smaller person it might not have been so bad, but I'm 6'3" and 280 and my shoulders are wider than the lay-flat seat. Coach is just not an option. If I ever go back I'm doing it in stages and maybe even just taking a cruise there.

[mike carey]

If I were a smaller person it might not have been so bad, but I'm 6'3" and 280 and my shoulders are wider than the lay-flat seat.

I'm 1m87 and 82kg and I was quite comfortable in premium economy from LAX to MEL. I concede that won't suit everyone. Premium economy is not lay-flat seating.

[Zman]

The problem with trying to break up the long flight to Australia from North America is how to do it. Honolulu to Sydney is still over 10 hours. http://www.ourgtn.org/public/style_emoticons/default/yuk.gif

 

Of course, that's better than 17...

[mike carey]

The problem with trying to break up the long flight to Australia from North America is how to do it. Honolulu to Sydney is still over 10 hours.

Australians flying anywhere are used to this. Once you are in an aeroplane, 10, 15 or 17 hours is all a matter of degree, you have to do it to go where you want to go. I spoke of travelling from Sydney to DFW, that's longer than SYD-LAX, but not that much longer. If your longest trip is JFK-LAX a Sydney trip is a big deal, but for us, not so much.

[+ sniper]

Yes, but if you have any sort of back or joint issues that "degree" is esponential. Five hours in a confined space I will have some difficulty walking when I get out but it resolves itself within a day. 10 hours, I've lost the better part of a week. This is a little better now that I've been through a lot of physical therapy, but I'm always going to have that concern.

[trav05]

I do Miami-Bangkok about 3 or 4 times a year. The Dallas -Hong Kong leg can run up to 17 hours when the winds blow the wrong way. After 12 hours it really starts to drag. I usually plan 30 hours, door to door.

[BSR]

Australians flying anywhere are used to this. Once you are in an aeroplane, 10, 15 or 17 hours is all a matter of degree, you have to do it to go where you want to go. I spoke of travelling from Sydney to DFW, that's longer than SYD-LAX, but not that much longer. If your longest trip is JFK-LAX a Sydney trip is a big deal, but or us, not so much.

I've spoken with a lot of Australian tourists here in Las Vegas. You can spot the accent from a mile away, and Australians tend to be rather chatty types. It's clear that Aussies just have a different mindset about traveling. One, by and large they absolutely love to travel. And two, they know from a very young age that if they want to travel almost anywhere outside of Australia, they have to fly a very long distance: Tokyo is 10 hours, LA is 14, London is (eek!) almost 24. So journeys that for most Americans would be too daunting, Australians tend to take them in stride. I've met quite a few Aussies who were in the U.S. for just a week. Yikes, a 14-hour (minimum) flight for just a week?! Hell no!! But Aussies don't seem to think much of it.

[bigvalboy]

I do Miami-Bangkok about 3 or 4 times a year. The Dallas -Hong Kong leg can run up to 17 hours when the winds blow the wrong way. After 12 hours it really starts to drag. I usually plan 30 hours, door to door.

 

...Sleeping pills (prescription of course). After breakfast, I sleep like a baby for a good 12 hours. It's almost heaven. Your mileage may vary...

[+ azdr0710]

...Sleeping pills (prescription of course). After breakfast, I sleep like a baby for a good 12 hours. It's almost heaven. Your mileage may vary...

 

definitely....a buddy gave me two Xanaxes for a 9.5-hour overnight flight recently....that combined with red wine knocked me out......have never slept well on planes, until then......looked at the "flight time remaining" display one minute and it said 7:05....next thing I know it said 0:55.....YES!!!!

[Marlfox]

I live in Perth, so the new Qantas flight is very welcome. At present to get to Europe I have to fly to south east Asia or the Middle East and change planes, adding extra hours to the journey. This new route will cut about 6 hours off the flight, plus it will avoid missed connections.

 

BTW, for those of you who aren't sure where Perth is, it's on the west coast. If your destination is going to be Sydney, you'll have to add another 5 hour flight to your itinerary.

[+ sniper]

I've spoken with a lot of Australian tourists here in Las Vegas. You can spot the accent from a mile away, and Australians tend to be rather chatty types. It's clear that Aussies just have a different mindset about traveling. One, by and large they absolutely love to travel. And two, they know from a very young age that if they want to travel almost anywhere outside of Australia, they have to fly a very long distance: Tokyo is 10 hours, LA is 14, London is (eek!) almost 24. So journeys that for most Americans would be too daunting, Australians tend to take them in stride. I've met quite a few Aussies who were in the U.S. for just a week. Yikes, a 14-hour (minimum) flight for just a week?! Hell no!! But Aussies don't seem to think much of it.

Aussies also tend to be, um, skinnier than us Americans, which is probably a factor. But even when I was under 200 lbs, my frame is still quite wide and coach seats are an ordeal for me.

[Bargara Leatherboy]

The thing about LHR to SYD via PER is that PER transit.

 

Many years ago i used to fly AKL to LAX several times a year, and this was before the flight was non stop, so if you went via HNL (with HNL being the first entry point into the USA) it was a min 4 hr stop - as the whole aircraft had to exit, clear USA Immigration, then claim your bags, clear USA Customs, then line up to recheck the bags in. Horrendous.

 

If possible I would try to fly via PPT - Tahiti - at least that was a shorter break.

 

So 17 hrs from LHR to PER - then arrival formalaties - then check in for your onward flight to the east coast - another 5 hours onto SYD - as we have yet to see the schedule - could be a red eye - and 5 hrs is too short to sleep for a decent time.

 

I normally go to Europe via Singapore - as I can time it for day flights - and can normally break the flight for 18 or 19 hours in Singapore - time to get a good sleep in a proper bed (even if it is the transit hotel at the airport), or go into town and eat somewhere nice - sleep well, and arrival and departure at Changi is always so easy.

 

I do not normally sleep on the plane - I just enjoy the movies and the big 80cm wide seat - and the great service on Singapore Airlines.

 

While I try not to support the Middle Eastern Airlines like Emirates, Etihad, and

[marylander1940]

A seventeen hour flight seems awfully long, especially in a crowded Economy Class. I don't know if I would stand it....

 

I would but depends on WHO seats besides me... and how big she/he is.

[trav05]

The person sitting next to you is usually totally opposite of the person you dream of sitting next to you.

[mike carey]

The thing about LHR to SYD via PER is that PER transit.

It's not clear whether they'll do customs and immigration in Perth, the Qantas CEO spoke of a 90 minute stop in Perth, which implies no arrival formalities there.

[Bargara Leatherboy]

Well if its just a tech stop - that changes it a little, and yes it could not be done in a 90 min turn around

[Marlfox]

I'm not sure, but I think immigration and Customs checks will be done in Perth. Qantas insisted that using Perth was subject to them being able to use the domestic airport. That will enable passengers to other Australian cities to transfer more easily to domestic flights. To me that indicates that the London flights will start and terminate in Perth.