Skip to main content

Could You Handle a Marathon, 20-Hour Nonstop Flight?

airplane flight aisle passengers
Gerrie van der Walt

Transpacific flights are no picnic. If you’ve ever suffered the hell of a 17-hour long-haul from, say, San Francisco to Singapore, you’ve gotten a taste of life aboard the International Space Station. Now, Qantas Airways wants to go even further with the world’s first 20-hour, nonstop ultra-long-haul flights. But, they aren’t sure the human body can even cope with that much time in the air.

With its newly confirmed Project Sunrise, Qantas is planning nonstop “ghost flights” from London to Sydney and a world-first New York to Sydney as early as October. These research routes will carry up to 40 non-commercial passengers, including flight crew, Qantas employees, and other volunteers. All will undergo pre-flight medical testing. Once aboard, they’ll be outfitted with wearable technology to monitor their health, including physical activity, in-flight entertainment consumption, food and beverage selections, sleep patterns, and ambient lighting to understand the flight’s effects on their overall well-being and body clocks. Pilots will also be fitted with EEG devices to monitor their alertness through brain wave patterns. Scientists on the ground will keep tabs on the passengers throughout the flight. Qantas has also promised all carbon emissions from these mostly empty flights will be offset.

Recommended Videos

According to Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, these ultra-long-haul flights — sometimes called “marathon voyages” — are the final frontier in aviation. Several premier airlines, including Qatar, Emirates, and Qantas, already operate long-range routes of more than 17 hours. Last year, Singapore Airlines launched its record-setting Singapore to Newark route that covers a whopping 9,500 miles with more than 18 hours in the air. That wouldn’t seem so bad if we could all score beds in the cargo hold.

According to Joyce, “For customers, the key will be minimizing jet lag and creating an environment where they are looking forward to a restful, enjoyable flight.” For economy passengers without the luxury of a fold-flat bed, that seems like a tall order. Current long-haul flights already push the limits of what air travelers can physically handle. Overall, modern air travel seems to be getting worse. Major airlines are actively spying on passengers, standing-room-only “seats” might soon be a thing, and aircraft mechanics are sabotaging planes just to get more overtime. At the same time, passenger patience is stretched ever thinner, and tempers are increasingly frayed.

What exactly is the breaking point where the typical passenger snaps and flights begin erupting into caged-death-match-style anarchy? Qantas will soon find out. It’s optimistic about launching its first ultra-long-haul flights as early as 2020.

Mike Richard
Mike Richard has traveled the world since 2008. He's kayaked in Antarctica, tracked endangered African wild dogs in South…
Travel tips you can’t miss: How to survive a busy airport this holiday season
These tips work. Trust us. We travel a lot.
Christmas tree in airport

The holiday season brings joy, warmth, and the promise of family reunions, and it is also one of the busiest times of the year for air travel. This holiday travel crush can lead to chaos in some airports, especially larger hub airports, where it seems everyone is rushing to make a tight connection. Throw in the possibility of bad weather shutting down flights, especially in the northern parts of the country, and it doesn't take much to cause major problems.

Millions flood the nation’s airports throughout November and December, resulting in crowded terminals, long security lines, and potential flight delays. All of this can be intimidating, but if you use these travel tips, you can master the art of holiday travel.
Plan ahead

Read more
Can you bring food through TSA? Here’s the full breakdown
This is the list of foods you can and cannot bring through TSA airport security
person walking into the security line at the airport

Traveling with food can be a bit of a guessing game, especially when getting through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint at the airport. You may have asked yourself, can you bring food through TSA? Here’s a look at what you can and can’t bring in your carry-on bag regarding food and some practical tips to get you through security smoothly.

In short, the TSA is generally okay with most types of food. The tricky part is the specific rules around what kind of food you’re bringing, particularly regarding its state (solid or liquid) and packaging. Still confused? Don't worry; we're here to help; keep reading to figure out what foods you can bring through TSA security and what you can't
TSA guidelines for food: What you need to know

Read more
Travel tips for a better flight: The secret airline perks you didn’t know about
Knowing these secret airline tips could make travel a little nicer
Man seated on airplane speaking with flight attendant

With the average price of flights on the rise and many airlines charging more for perks that used to be included in your ticket price (hello, window seat), you might long for the good old days when fliers were pampered with little extras like, say, dinner on a domestic flight. While those times are likely gone for good, there are still plenty of free or low-cost benefits out there for air travelers that the airlines don’t always tell you about — and most of them are available even if you’re not in one of the airline’s frequent flyer programs.

Read on for some travel tips that will let you in on a few secret airline perks that you can take advantage of next time you travel.
Fee-free family seating

Read more