If you thought the 16 hour flight with Qantas from Sydney to Dallas was long, consider the new 18 hour flight from Auckland to Doha with Qatar Airlines. A 9000 miles haul 35,000 feet up.
What might one do for 18 hours on a flight?
Set sessions
5 movies = 7.5 hours
5 eating sessions = 2.5 hours
Unset sessions
perhaps 9 walking exercises – once every two hours
perhaps reading two or three books – perhaps 4 hours
snacks, ice creams, chatting, watching flight path = 2 hours
This broad guess-a-metre brings to a grand total of 18 hours without any knowledge of personal preferences as to movie selection or book reading analysis or even sleep.
What of long haul flights
The truth is, most of us find the travel as a waste of our valuable time when all we want to do is to get there!
Like those road sings between Rockhampton and Mackay Queensland for the kids ' "Are we there yet" and "How far is it now" .....
The travel component is the necessary elephant in the room.
For those in First Class – take a shower, lay down on the bed to sleep, sip the champaign, taste the caviar, eat the lamb of culinary delight ..... for most of us in cattle class, it's a very long time.
Long haul flights to date
Sydney-Dallas, Qantas – 8,578 miles, 16 hours and 55 minutes
Johannesburg-Atlanta, Delta Air Lines – 8,439 miles, 16 hours and 40 minutes
Abu Dhabi-Los Angeles, Etihad Airways – 8,390 miles, 16 hours and 30 minutes
Dubai-Los Angeles, Emirates – 8,339 miles, 16 hours and 35 minutes
Jeddah-Los Angeles, Saudia – 8,332 miles, 16 hours and 55 minutes
Doha-Los Angeles, Qatar Airways – 8,306 miles, 16 hours and 25 minutes
Dubai-Houston, Emirates – 8,168 miles, 16 hours and 20 minutes
Abu Dhabi-San Francisco, Etihad Airways – 8,158 miles, 16 hours and 15 minutes
Dallas-Hong Kong, American Airlines – 8,123 miles, 16 hours and 20 minutes
Dubai-San Francisco, Emirates – 8,103 miles, 15 hours and 50 minutes
Many such flights
Obviously many such flights already exist and for those on such flights the aim of the game is the destination. It's a countdown. It's getting there.
The Sydney to Perth trip seems hardly but a short hop compared to these 15-18 hour long hauls and with the associated technology involved and a growing need to conserve fuel by being at 35,000 feet for longer, this will inevitably become the trend.
But there is more than this. Regardless of what the politicians might say, the less times a planned trip involves landing and coming into security zones the better. There is a cost involved in landing an aircraft, passengers alighting and back on board. There are so many issues that long haul flights have serious benefits to them.
Christian Mission
Homework is the name of the game. To get to their final destination, is it cheaper to fly the first section long haul and then one or two other flights, or is it more advantageous to take flight short distance several flights.
This is one of the questions on our Holy Land Tours from Australia. Getting to Israel requires a lot of investigation – need to check out the airlines and what's of offer. Some of these discount airlines have hubs where you can catch inexpensive flights to and from the hub.
These are regular routes
(Sydney meaning Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth)
Sydney via KL to Amsterdam, to Milan, to Israel
Sydney via KL, to Milan, to Israel
Sydney via KL to Germany, to Israel
Sydney via KL to London, to Israel
Sydney to Singapore, to Israel
Then for Christian Mission personnel these long haul flights may be the perfect time-out to catch up on prayer, bible reading, devotionals and books on Christian missionaries past and present. Not everyone wants to watch 5 movies.
Obviously, it is what we do with what we have is the critical agent in such issues. Enjoy your next long haul flight!
Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html