I’m not sure there were many inns along the routes they were travelling. Maybe an Indian casino or two. 
Not sure if this is a whoosh, but many British pubs, at least those along main thoroughfares, were at one time coaching inns.
I did that flight a couple times RT and loved it. They used to have *Executive *Economy and Business Class only. Boarding was incredibly quick. In EE, more legroom and wider seats than normal.
I prefer non-stop. Now it’s a two hour layover in Frankfurt which is a horrible airport. So in the middle of the night (your time), you have to get up, take all your stuff, schlep off, go through security again, and board the same plane but now with a new set of passengers who take forever to settle down.
Airlines have, however, been able to exceed that level of safety.
I guess you’re right. But when I think of wagon trains, I always think of hostile territory and the Donner party and such.
I was wondering about how the crews manage on these flights, too. That is a LONG workday, for pilots and for flight attendants.
I think they bring back-up crews along. Hope so anyway.
I have tickets for a return trip from the UK to NZ for my stepson’s wedding - I’m going for a week. So leave late friday, 30-odd hours to AKL with a 12 hour time zone shift. Six days visit, then 30-odd hours back to the UK, time shift and back to work Monday am.
Last time I flew back from NZ, I arrived in London on Monday 6:30 am and went straight to work, had a shower and did a full days work. I have a 3 hour relaxation tape on MP3 - I zone out twice each leg with eyeshields - it is not always sleep, but it does help.
However, I now have to reorganize my trip - I have just had a rescheduling email that adds 24 hours into my flight sitting in an airport in China on both legs - not going to happen.
Si
North Island is antipodal to Spain, and therefore nearly so to the UK, so your trip ought to be
the longest so far described:
Map Showing Superimposed Antipode Images (scroll down)
The antipode map shows that eastern China is antipodal to a large swath of southern South America.
Thus direct flights Buenos Aires/Montivedeo to Shanghai would be nearly antipodal. Direct flight from
Lima, Peru to Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam would also be in the running.
It is not direct (stopover in China), so does not count. It is a bloody long way, though.
And with a permanent return to NZ on the cards, I have missed my opportunity to travel to my natal antipode (southern Spain somewhere). It was certainly something I would very much have liked to do. 
Si
Slightly off topic. The longest domestic flight was once Lisbon-Macau, and as it was domestic TAP didn’t serve alcohol on board, according to a friend of mine.
I did San Francisco to Hong Kong in 1980. 17+ hours. At least it was in first class on a Pan Am 747 and they took real good care of us.
My sister flys for American and does Boston - Delhi. There are two flight attendant crews. There are bunks for sleeping down below. She says they are not big, but one gets used to them. Its not a bad deal because she only does the flight only 2 or 3 times a month. The rest of the time she is a home in Boston. The trips last about fours days total with the day layover in Delhi.
Update: We have a new winner, or we will have once service commences next February 1. That’s when Emirates will launch nonstop service between Dubai and Panama City.
That’s 17 hours and 35 minutes in the westbound direction, traversing 13,800 kilometers or 8580 miles.
Yes, since they the Newark to Singapore flight (9,534 miles) was discontinued in 2013.
I did the Newark to Singapore flight once, but it was in business class.
There must be another thread on this somewhere, because I remember a Cape Town to Atlanta flight mentioned as being the longest after that Singapore flight was canceled.
Maybe this is a good opportunity for Colibri to hit the Persian Gulf now.
That’s Delta Flight 200, Atlanta to Johannesburg.
My record is LA-Hong Kong, 14 hours. Even in business class, I was in pain by the end.
How does a home in Boston fit on the plane, let alone in a bunk?
Long flights…I have had a few
I’ll just the over-12 hour ones (in the 8-10 hour category I’ve had more than I could list)
Chicago-Tokyo
Detroit-Tokyo
Atlanta-Dubai
Chicago-Abu Dhabi
LAX-Sydney
Sydney-Dallas
Dubai-Singapore
And all but one of them in coach (I’m 6’ 1.5")
Best advice I could give is figure out the timing of the flight (local arrival time) and try to schedule your sleep/awake periods to help adjust to the time changes. The airlines tend to do this anyway, and serve the appropriate meals early after takeoff and about 1.5 hours before landing.
But some…that Sydney-Dallas flight left at 2PM (late) and arrived about 14 hours later in Dallas at…2:40PM the same day. Figuring your sleep schedule on that can be a poser…
Interesting thread.
I’ve been thinking about it.