It's a long way from Texas to Australia...

TangoWhiskey

TangoWhiskey

Touchdown! Greaser!
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If I were on that flight I would be happy they stopped in Noumea cuz I'd have drunk the plane dry by then. Of course I would be expecting them to replenish supplies as they refuel.

LAX nonstop LHR is a bit over 11 hours. I once stayed awake the entire flight. 3 parties...one retirement, two birthdays. Started with the Gran Marnier, when that was gone worked through the stock by specific gravity.
 
Richard said:
If I were on that flight I would be happy they stopped in Noumea cuz I'd have drunk the plane dry by then. Of course I would be expecting them to replenish supplies as they refuel.

LAX nonstop LHR is a bit over 11 hours. I once stayed awake the entire flight. 3 parties...one retirement, two birthdays. Started with the Gran Marnier, when that was gone worked through the stock by specific gravity.
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LAX (or SFO) to SYD is about 14 hours, so DFW to SYD would be worse. No thanks.
 
TangoWhiskey said:
Qantas started non-stop service from DFW to Australia last month. They had to stop in Noumea for fuel... stronger than forecast winds forced them to refuel enroute. That's a LONG flight, and if I was on board, I'd be glad for the conservative decision to stop for more go-juice. :yes:

http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/qantas-dallas-route-suffers-new-blow/story-e6frfq80-1226066182685
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Not exactly a new idea. I did Sydney - LAX nonstop circa 1980 in the days of the 747SP - 16 hours. I'ts been a long time since I've seen one of those. I suppose that the 747ER gets better Seat Miles Per Gallon - and probably has more efficient engines as well.

Dave
 
weenies,,,,,, we did 18 per hop, 8 hours off and do it again.... 9 years
 
I did Atlanta to Tokyo--14 hours in a steerage class seat. I thought the last 4 hours would never end.
 
My sister was on the inaugural flight from Sydney to DFW - lots of whoop-de-doo associated with it, and John Travolta was on board. He greeted every passenger personally as they deplaned in Dallas.

I am just ecstatic that the last reason I had for setting foot inside LAX is gone!
 
Ghery said:
LAX (or SFO) to SYD is about 14 hours, so DFW to SYD would be worse. No thanks.
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Lie flat seats to the rescue! I did one of these 14 hour flights recently and it wasn't bad at all - slept through most of it since I didn't get any sleep the night before. The food was excellent as well.

Cathay Pacific :yes:
 
That's really not all that much longer than the JFK - Johannesburg route that South African Airways flies. It used to be with 747s, looking now it seems they use A340s.

When I did that trip, it was similar. Heading south we went non-stop. Heading back north, we had to stop for fuel on some little island in West Africa. I don't see it as a blow, I think they'll probably find the conservative thing to do will end up being planning the fuel stop, and come up with some opspec to say that it can be bypassed if they have X number of hours worth of fuel remaining by some point.
 
kkoran said:
I did Atlanta to Tokyo--14 hours in a steerage class seat. I thought the last 4 hours would never end.
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I've done Houston - Frankfurt - Bombay and back in steerage. The layover in Frankfurt was only a couple hours. It truly is torture on the body. It was also the last travel I did with that company...
 
Clark1961 said:
I've done Houston - Frankfurt - Bombay and back in steerage. The layover in Frankfurt was only a couple hours. It truly is torture on the body. It was also the last travel I did with that company...
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Try doing a VN ---> travis AFB om a 141 medivac., that flight stands as my worse flight ever.
 
Tom-D said:
Try doing a VN ---> travis AFB om a 141 medivac., that flight stands as my worse flight ever.
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Ummm, no thanks. Anything with "medivac" in it is a bad flight. That one sounds doubly bad.

Had to carry half my drilling super up the stairs and into a G-II in Mexico for a medical evac. Don't worry, the rig medic was carrying the other half and the halves were still firmly attached. It wasn't fun just loading him on that little plane...
 
sba55 said:
Lie flat seats to the rescue! I did one of these 14 hour flights recently and it wasn't bad at all - slept through most of it since I didn't get any sleep the night before. The food was excellent as well.

Cathay Pacific :yes:
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That suggests a more expensive ticket than my employer springs for. Cattle car for us, anywhere we go.
 
Clark1961 said:
I've done Houston - Frankfurt - Bombay and back in steerage. The layover in Frankfurt was only a couple hours. It truly is torture on the body. It was also the last travel I did with that company...
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I worked on a drilling rig off the east coast of India for three years. Left to their own devices the travel agency would book us to Bombay on the local airline, then either through Frankfurt or London then to LAX. However, they would entertain change requests - and I figured out a better way: Evening flight from Madras to Singapore, then continuing to LAX by way of Tokyo or Seoul the next morning. The benefit of doing so was that Singapore had (has?) rooms for rent right in the airline terminal. So instead of a continuous ordeal, I at least got a good night's sleep along the way.

The time element was about the same either way (it is halfway around the world). Once I met a coworker (who had departed the rig at the same time as me and travelled through Europe) in LA and rode in the same commuter plane up the coast.

In related matters, the year or so following United's aquisition of Pan Am's Asian routes were great for passengers (the flights were quite empty for a long while). So it was not unusual to find a whole row empty - and sack out for the duration!

Dave
 
Clark1961 said:
I've done Houston - Frankfurt - Bombay and back in steerage. The layover in Frankfurt was only a couple hours. It truly is torture on the body. It was also the last travel I did with that company...
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I did the same with a 30 minute flight to Pune after leaving Bombay. 24 hours from Houston to my final destination. Never again.
 
I've done the ATL - Johannesburg flight about 9 times in the last 10 years. My first couple of trips, they flew direct both ways (seems like it was 747s) but now they stop at the Cape Verde Islands (Sal Island). It's the middle of the night and they sit on the ground for a couple of hours while they have a crew change. It's a pretty grueling 16-18 hours in cattle class. The last trip we made was May '09 just 5 weeks after my second partial knee replacement. That one seemed especially grueling.
 
jlwilson said:
I've done the ATL - Johannesburg flight about 9 times in the last 10 years. My first couple of trips, they flew direct both ways (seems like it was 747s) but now they stop at the Cape Verde Islands (Sal Island). It's the middle of the night and they sit on the ground for a couple of hours while they have a crew change. It's a pretty grueling 16-18 hours in cattle class. The last trip we made was May '09 just 5 weeks after my second partial knee replacement. That one seemed especially grueling.
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Yep, Ive made that one. I remember the first time when the flight attendent was doing her preflight speech, she said " laying down in the aisle is not allowed", I thought to myself that that was crazy.....about 10 hours in I realized that if allowed, I would have been down there asleep.
 
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