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So you think you’ve flown a long way? The 10 longest flights in the world

So, you think you’ve flown a long way? Spare a thought for frequent fliers on these routes who invariably spend over half a day in the air at a time when they board, without so much as touching down for a layover. Qantas’ Sydney to Dallas/Forth Worth A380 service currently takes the top spot as the longest commercial flight in the world in terms of distance – a whopping 8,578 miles without stopping. It takes 14 hours 50 minutes from Sydney, but 15 hours 30 minutes when making the return journey. The Johannesburg-Atlanta flight that takes second place in our list, however, is the longest in terms of duration in the air, at around 17 hours. And what’s more, the longest ever commercial flight doesn’t actually make our list since it’s been discontinued, but that honour goes to Singapore Airline’s Singapore-Newark route (approximately 9,500 miles in distance and 18 hours of flying time) which in 2012 was sadly deemed to be no longer viable. Airbus A380 The longest current non-stop flights in the world by distance are all over 8,000 miles and are as follows: 1. Sydney-Dallas (8,578 miles) 2. Johannesburg-Atlanta (8,439 miles) 3. Dubai-Los Angeles (8,339 miles) 4. Dubai-Houston (8,168 miles) 5. Dallas-Hong Kong (8,123 miles) 6. Dubai-San Francisco (8,103 miles) 7. New York-Hong Kong (8,072 miles) 8. Newark-Hong Kong (8,065 miles) 9. Doha-Houston (8,047 miles) 10. Dubai-Dallas (8,040 miles) What’s the furthest you’ve ever flown without stopping?

Paul Johnson

Paul Johnson is Editor of A Luxury Travel Blog and has worked in the travel industry for more than 30 years. He is Winner of the Innovations in Travel ‘Best Travel Influencer’ Award from WIRED magazine. In addition to other awards, the blog has also been voted “one of the world’s best travel blogs” and “best for luxury” by The Daily Telegraph.

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39 Comments

  1. My husband just got off QF 8 Dallas to Sydney , 15 hours 46 minutes! I cannot even fathom how he survived. He was still alive, fine and chatty despite the ‘ordeal’ and he said one of the tips to staying insane is to eat minimally during the flight.

  2. I completed Dallas to Hong Kong on board of AA’s Boeing 777-300ER. It is not surprising that Emirates operates 4 of the top 10 with an Airbus A380 its Dubai hub is far from N. America and stretches the double decker’s range.

  3. My 88 year old grandparents took the Dallas-Sydney flight last month to visit me in Melbourne! They actually loved it and the Qantas staff was amazing! Still, I’ll stick to my slightly shortly Melbourne-Los Angeles flight.

  4. The longest flight I’ve ever done was only 12 hours, Minneapolis to Tokyo. Of course, right after that I hopped off the plane for a 7 hour flight, Tokyo to BangkokÂ….crazy long day of traveling!

  5. I completed 2 years ago a flight Dubai – Houston and I said to myself that It was probably the longest flight that somebody could take! Too long for my health. And I was not wrong, after seeing it on the list.

  6. singapore airlines EWR to Singapore flight 21 and its return, over 9,000 miles and is listed as the longest regular scheduled non stop.

  7. I think the longest non stop flight must have been LA to Manila, but to get to LA we’d flown from Cartagena via Fort Lauderdale and then when we landed in Manila connected straight on to Cebu. Don’t know what we were thinking!

  8. I can’t go into details because of the nature of the flight, but it involved a military aircraft, was over 14,000 miles and involved 8 in-flight refuelings.

  9. Kuala Lumpur to New York by Malaysia Airlines back in year 2000. There was a short stop in Dubai if I’m not mistaken but if you chose to remain on the plane, it would be a 23+ hours journey for you.

  10. My longest flight was 14 hrs Vancouver to Hong Kong. It was 5 hrs to Vancouver from Toronto to catch that flight. A couple of days later onto Bancock. Then all the way bCk to Toronto within 9 days. Two days later felt like I was drugged I was so tired.

    The next was Vancouver to Singapore with a stop in S Korea, a woman died on that flight! Then on to Siem Reap for a few days and all the way back to Toronto within 9 days.

    Best airline so far Cathy Pacific.

  11. Our longest was Hong Kong to Toronto, non stop. Other long flights were Toronto to Beijing, Detroit to Tahiti, Detroit to Fiji, Toronto to Johannesburg, Nairobi to Toronto and Auckland to Detroit but only the Beijing flight was non stop.

  12. JFK-TPE on EVA airlines that is approx 8k miles too – with working wifi and great service! I’m curious why that’s off the list…

  13. The Dallas-Sydney flight seems to be bordering on non-viable. Regular has to divert to Brisbane or leave bags behind as it cant make it safely to Sydney. They never don’t sell around 80-100 seats because of the load issues. Frequent disruptions. Stick to LA route!

  14. It has to be the time I went Toronto -Beijing and then the return from Shanghai, 17hrs and then 18hrs. The up side !!!! I got back before I left the same day!! Does that make me younger by a day?..lol I felt about 50 years older.

  15. Sydney to LA on A380. Missed connecting flight to Chicago so had to spend few hours at the airport before flying further. It was my first time on the A380 and enjoyed it!

  16. The longest I’ve ever been on was Narita (Japan) to Frankfurt (Germany), 12-ish hours. And then Nagoya (Japan) to Dubai (UAE), it was also around 12 hours straight. Oh and Doha (Qatar) to Narita (Japan) was also 12 hours.

  17. Just did the ATL-JNB-ATL direct flights. Thank heavens for Delta sky miles and Business class. Although long, it sure beats the South African flights with stopover in Dakar.

  18. 14 hours Jakarta – Amsterdam, pretty long flight, but oke with some drinks, food, film, and good servise from Garuda

  19. Abudhabi-Sao Paolo fly about 14 hours with Etihad, it was enjoyable enough with the service and entertaiment tv…..

  20. My husband and I did the New York to Hong Kong flight on Cathay Pacific (final destination was Phuket which was another 3 hr flight from HK). It was awful. I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t get comfortable enough to read or watch a movie. I just sat there fixated on the flight tracker screen the entire time waiting to be out of that utter purgatory.

  21. I’ve done Jakarta to Amsterdam and KL to London (Stansted), both very long flights!
    At least the Amsterdam flight was full service, the London flight was on a low cost airline and it was VERY long without movies or other things to distract me.

  22. Auckland to London via LA… Around 24 hours plus the time difference and the connections (about 2 hours) – if it wasn’t for G & T… I flew with Air New Zealand and British Airways and was sent this crazy way by my employer

  23. Back in the day, direct BA Heathrow to Buenos Aires, Boeing 747 -400 – 14 hours non stop – and back – all in Economy
    Staff were superb, aircraft was a wonder, and the turbulence on the way back the worst I have ever encountered!

  24. Flying from Mumbai-Seoul (7 hours) – 20 hours layover in Seoul- next day flight Seoul- Houston (13 hours 30 minutes) – time of arrival in houston, tx 8:30 in the morning- same day 7 p.m. flight to atlanta- from there to Jackson, MS. WOOSHHHHH! more than 72 hours in transit.

  25. I flew Calgary to Frankfurt many years ago when it took 14 hours (not sure how many kms) and that was long, but what FELT like the longest flight was Air Asia in economy from Melbourne to KL. I am 199cm tall and the seats are spaced about 12cm apart. I didn’t sleep the entire trip – it was hell.

  26. I took Qatar Airways Jakarta to Philadelphia via Doha.
    It was almost 9 hours (8hrs 55 minutes) on the first leg. Transit for about 3 hours. Then comes my longest non-stop flying experience : 14 hours!
    Lucky Qatar has a promo so I can fly business class.
    Good experience!

  27. Flew QF 8 DFW-SYD last October. I won’t say I didn’t want the trip to end but the giant suite in First made for a fantastic trip!

  28. I was under the impression the recently introduced Dubai to Auckland was the worlds longest non stop flight, 8819 miles.

  29. Edinburgh to Auckland via Hong Kong. From walking into EDI to walking out of AKL 35 hrs didn’t sleep a wink, loved every minute

  30. For New Year’s Eve 2016 my sister and I made the flight from Houston to Atlanta to Johannesburg. I want to say it was a total of around 17 hours (ATL to JNB was 15 hours). Flying business class and flying with my best friend/sister sure helped make the trip not seem so long. Also the KLM flight had the second level business class which made it roomy enough to walk around easily and do some stretching when needed.

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