Are people missing traveling that much, that they are willing to pay $500 to $2,800 for a 7 hour flight to nowhere?
And why does flying to nowhere make a person popular?
I don’t see the appeal; airplane flights to me are the torturous necessity to get somewhere I want or need to be. I can only get through the flight by thinking about the people or places I’ll see when I get there.
This is essentially just a really long sightseeing flight, yes? I wouldn’t do it myself – too much time, money, and carbon for it to be worthwhile – but the concept doesn’t sound all that crazy.
Gee, just find a buddy who has (or has access to) a small airplane, and a pilot’s license, and go up for a spin. (For added excitement, really go for a spin.) Expensive, but not that expensive. Just head off to some small-town airport a few hours away, have lunch there, and head back home.
ETA: And there’s no farting around with TSA body cavity searches either!
Yes. I sit by a window so that I can watch the wing flex.
What a waste of resources!
The best non-stupid reason I could come up with is that pilots have to log a certain number of actual flight hours as opposed to simulators to maintain their qualifications. Some genius in marketing realized that there had to be some people out there who have more money than sense and figured, hey, we’re going to be flying anyways so why not see who’s silly enough to go with us.
That they can pay flight attendants and other support staff to actually work is just good optics.
If you are going to take a flight to nowhere, do it correctly:
I’m not seeing this as a new pastime.
Back in 1995 there were several different students in my English Conversation classes who told me they had gone to some strange places. e.g.:
“What did you do over the weekend?” [It’s a good conversation starter for their level of fluency.]
“Oh, I went to Eedin burg.”
“Edinburgh?”
“Yes.”
“You went to Scotland. Why?”
“I have never been there.”
“W–well, neither have I.”
“But–but I went there.”
“Yes, so you told me. But you didn’t say why.”
“My travel agent is a friend.” [This was a student who carefully constructs his sentences, so this was quite an interesting juxtaposition.]
“Oh. Okay.”
“He said he had a ticket to Edinburgh. Very low price.”
“Ah! And he knew you always wanted to go–”
“No.”
“He didn’t know?”
“I didn’t – I haven’t ‘always wanted to go’…”
{cough} “–to…”
“I haven’t always wanted to go to Edinburgh.”
“Ahhh…” [Sometimes, even as an inscrutible Asian it’s difficult to hide a bewildered expression.]
“But! It was a very good price.”
“Oh. And did you use your English there?”
“Mmm. A little.”
“And was it fun?”
“Mmmm? Mmm. Mm-Yes! I think so.”
–G!
Nope. At least not in the US; I can’t speak to Australia’s regulations although our esteemed @Richard_Pearse certainly can.
I haven’t flown a jet since March. But I requalled in the sim in Jun and again 2 days ago. And will again around Christmas unless something changes here.
There are issues with leaving aircraft sit too long without either flying them or “pickling” them in long term storage. The whole industry is reeling with how to manage that. Manufacturers are coming up with “warm storage” techniques that are enough, but not too much.
At least at my carrier we are (with the exception of our MAXes) “rotating our stock” so each airplane gets flown at least every couple of weeks. Which is short enough that it falls below the duration threshold for needing any special storage prep or return-to-service prep beside the usual overnight checks of fluids & gasses.
Done right, aerial tourism in a big jet can be pretty neat. Lots to see and a good platform for doing it. Just going for a ride in a middle seat on a widebody seems pretty silly. Then again, we’ve seen plenty of evidence that humanity has lots of silly people in it. The OP’s article says “134 seats sold within hours”. That’s hardly a ringing endorsement of a new mass market phenomenon.
OK, that (flight to nowhere but over Antarctica) would be interesting, although it is a twelve-hour flight and the cost is not insignificant. But there’s no point unless they’re only selling window seats.
And I worry about carbon emissions when I get on a plane to see my kids.