What's it like on the longest flight in the world
The longest flight in the world at 9535 miles (15345 km) is flown by Singapore Airlines. The flight is operated by an Airbus A350-900 ULR (Ultra Long Range). There are two routes: one flying from JFK Airport and another flying from Newark (EWR) Airport in New Jersey. Some people consider both as the longest flights in the world. Due to a technicality, the JFK to Singapore flight wins as the longest flight. The average flight time is around 19 hours, but the reservation usually exaggerates it to 19 hours and 30 minutes. Here’s what it’s like flying on the longest flight in the world. I also give tips on how to prepare yourself if you’re planning to do ultra-long-haul flights.
I reviewed the premium economy product of Singapore Airlines on the longest flight in the world (SQ 21). This is the longest flight in the world at the time of this writing (January 2024) from Newark to Singapore. I do not have any experience flying business, first, or suites on this particular flight.
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Some people who fly this route do it for the experience, and some do it out of necessity. Since I was born and raised in the Philippines, I still have family living in Manila. I need to go to Asia on an almost yearly basis. I have a few choices for ultra-long-haul carriers. However, it turned out that the best price for 2024’s trip was on the longest flight in the world.
If you are a travel hacker, it would also make sense to redeem your points and sit in business class on this flight. Not only will you be more comfortable on the flight overall, but the experience of flying that long up front is worth the splurge.
Yes, because you save on the waiting time you would have at an additional stop at another airport. You tend to get to wherever you need to go more quickly.
However, if I’m not flying with my kid, I try to convert layovers into an actual stopover. One where I leave the airport to go sightseeing and head back a few hours or days later.
The two longest flights in the world are both operated by Singapore Airways, a multiple-year award winner for Best Airline in the World. There are multiple differences in the flights: first is the airport, where one leaves from JFK Airport and the other leaves from EWR (Newark).
The second is the timings. The JFK airport flight leaves in the evening US time, giving passengers time to sleep on the flight in the evening, while the EWR flight leaves in the morning US time. The Newark schedule is better if you want to force your body to adapt to Asian time. You take off in the morning Eastern Standard Time (evening Singapore time) and sleep immediately after the lunch service concludes. If traveling with children, it makes more sense to take off from JFK, giving them a chance to sleep longer and keep their schedule. However, the jet lag will be there once you get to your final destination.
Both flights fly eastward, so you will fly over Europe and parts of Asia before touching down in Singapore Changi Airport. You’ll find some of my photos of the maps as we are flying over Europe. To put it into context, whenever we fly to Vienna, it only takes 9 hours from the US, and that doesn’t even reach the halfway point of this flight.
Unlike American carriers, where the economy passengers are in cattle class even on long-haul flights, Singapore Airlines’ longest flight in the world operates all premium economy seats instead of regular economy seats.
There’s more legroom and space on the seats overall. There is a TV with Singapore’s inflight entertainment, controlled by a touch screen or through a remote located on the side of the seat. Wi-Fi is available on all classes of service, with a free and a paid version. Free Wi-Fi is available as long as you have a Krisflyer account. You can get free Wi-Fi for one device, which you can use for basic internet, like browsing, email, and chatting. I went online to get some articles written and did some basic research online. I also got to chat with my husband on Facebook Messenger even as I was flying a few thousand feet up in the air.
Yes, they do! There are two buttons on the left side of your seat if you are sitting by the window. The button on the top controls the recline of your seat. Push down on it from the upright position and you can get a slight angle tilt. It’s not a lie-flat like in business, first, or suites, but it will do. The second button on the chair controls the legrest. Click it once from the upright position and a portion of the seat will extend, giving you more space.
Every premium economy seat has a legrest. It’s a bit annoying to use the leg rest if you have personal items that are a bit bulky underneath, like if you’re bringing camera gear and a laptop in a backpack. If there is enough storage in the overhead bin, consider putting your items in the overhead bin so you can use the footrest to help make your flight a bit more comfortable.
The route runs nonstop from either JFK or EWR to Singapore and is a whopping 18 1/2 to 19 hours non-stop. Can you imagine being on one airplane for nearly the entire day? For some, it may be a nightmare, but if you prepare, it’s time well spent online.
The EWR-SIN flight is made up of 67 business-class seats. However, every single seat in economy is a premium economy seat, giving you access to recline a bit and it has a footrest.
Imagine going on an Amtrak train (read a review here of the Silver Star Service from Tampa to Jacksonville), except the seat not being as cushy as Amtrak’s. The premium economy configuration is a 2-4-2. One of the last rows has single seats, which makes it perfect for solo travelers since you’ll have a direct aisle and a bit of window access.
On the Newark to Singapore flight, I chose seat 33A. I don’t like sitting in front of the bulkhead since I don’t have access to my computer or other gadgets in front of my seat. I didn’t get a chance to check if there were any other better seats available closer to the flight.
Try to select your seat early so you will have more options. The back of the plane is where people tend to congregate as folks stretch out, look for snacks, or head to the bathroom.
Normally, the fastest way to get to the Philippines from where I’m located will be to fly over the Pacific Ocean. However, there are instances where a better deal on flights to Asia entails flying over the Atlantic and onto Europe and over the Middle East and East Asia before arriving in Southeast Asia. This Singapore Airlines flight entails the latter – where it flies over the Atlantic and passes through a few land masses before arriving in the island nation of Singapore.
I save around 4 hours if flying over the Pacific, with layovers ranging from Tokyo, Incheon (South Korea), or Hong Kong. Coming from the Atlantic side, layovers change: they could be through Europe (with another layover somewhere in another Asian country), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Qatar, among others), and Asia (Bangkok and Singapore).
When flying in premium economy and higher classes of service like business, first, or suites, Singapore Airlines offers a Book the Cook option. This service is completely complimentary, and you can choose more food options than you’ll get on the airplane. You’ll get your food delivered before the passengers who order from the menu. You have more time to finish and savor your meal before the attendants take it away. You can make your Book the Cook selections until 48 hours before your flight.
You’ll have to log in to the Book The Cook website, so you can check the menu for the date and flight you are going on. You’ll then go to Manage Your Booking on the Singapore Airlines website to make your choices for the meal.
The menu options available on Book the Cook are not usually available onboard the plane. Think of it as having a more unique meal than the majority of folks onboard with you.
You will get three meals on the longest flight in the world. More details on the service are below!
This service will be served within the first hour after take-off. You will get an inkling of when that is when a cart will pass by the aisle and the attendants start asking if you want anything to drink. Once everyone has been served their drinks, the flight attendants will come back with the hot meals. If you requested a meal on the book the cook website, you’ll get your meal before the cart comes around to offer meals for the folks who did not book the cook.
You can then get another drink when they start their service to the other passengers. There’s usually a selection of 2 meals if you didn’t book the cook. Since I booked the cook for this service, I got the meal I pre-ordered in advance: it was braised beef.
In my opinion, the beef option was not that great. There was a spice in the beef that I didn’t particularly like, and the couscous tasted bland. Since there was a winter storm in the northeast when I was flying, I was also feeling a bit queasy and didn’t want to eat a lot anyway.
Dinner service is usually served 7-9 hours after the lunch service. You’ll know it’s time for the dinner service when the flight attendants will turn on the mood lights and will go through the aisles offering drinks to passengers.
I opted not to do the Book the Cook Option for the dinner service. There was a choice of three meals for my dinner service. It was cauliflower steak, pulled pork with mac and cheese, and prawns with fried rice. Unfortunately, when the attendants came to my seat, the prawn option was out, so I opted for the pulled pork mac and cheese.
The meal was pretty good. It comes with an entree, a cold salad, and a dessert (a small slice of cake). It wasn’t anything spectacular but this pulled pork mac and cheese was pretty tasty.
There is a third meal service offered on the longest flight in the world. This is served an hour and a half before landing and is a quick bite: a Margherita pizza with a choice of drink from the cart. There is no other pizza option, just the Margherita one, although you may potentially get a special meal if you have dietary restrictions and preordered your meals in advance. The pizza is served hot and is quite good and filling.
Even when sitting in a premium economy seat, the service is amazing. Every single flight attendant I talked to has been nice and approachable. I’ve even chatted with one in the galley. I asked him what it was like doing this route. He said that you get used to it very quickly. And the distinction of serving on the longest flight in the world is quite nice. They got 2 nights off and stayed at a hotel in Times Square, in the middle of all the action, before our flight from Newark to Singapore.
The Singapore Airlines flight attendant uniforms are distinctive. The ladies wear the trademark batik dresses in blue, green, or red. The men are usually wearing suits and business attire.
Water is a staple, and non-alcoholic drinks like orange juice, apple juice, and sodas are available. When you first board, you get offered a glass of champagne. During the flight, you can get beer or wine. There are only two wine kinds you can get: red or white. You won’t have a say on the brands that they offer, only the house wine is available. I haven’t seen any beer options offered on the flight. You will get more options if flying in suites, first, or business class than premium economy.
On Premium Economy, there are plenty of snacks available at the back of the plane (the galley). It’s usually in small carts and you are free to take as many as you wish. There are savory and sweet options like Frito Lay-brand potato chips, bread buns, popcorn, and granola bars.
I tried the cheese bread bun and the popcorn and they make for great snacks while working or watching a show on the IFE (inflight entertainment). If you are a bit adventurous, try grabbing snacks from brands you have not heard of to expand your palette on this flight.
Flight attendants are always walking up and down the aisles offering juice and water, so you will always have a chance to keep hydrated. Every meal comes with a small cup of water, and your choice of drink from the cart. They serve wine in economy class, for those who like drinking. Soda drinkers, Singapore Airlines only serves Coca-Cola products. You can even get small cups of drinking water from the galley. They’re served in plastic cups with a cover on them. It’s like what you’ll get when buying store-bought pudding or gelatin.
If you’re flying business or higher classes, the amenity kit is available in your seat for you. However, Singapore Airlines also has amenity kits for economy-class passengers. You just have to request it. The amenity kit on my flight included a pair of socks, a toothbrush, and a small toothpaste. You can request an eye mask and earplugs since those are not available in the amenity kit. The airline cites sustainability on its website as why it’s not readily available to everyone, but it could also be a cost-cutting measure since not everyone might like the amenity kit.
There are 4 pilots on our flight from Newark to Singapore. These pilots would take shifts looking after the plane and resting. It’s pretty cool to see them all queueing up before they board the aircraft in Newark to make their checks. There are around 12 flight attendants on my count, serving people across first, business, and the premium economy class.
One thing I found a bit odd on the flight from Newark to Singapore is after 4 hours you fly over the Atlantic and it gets pretty dark. It makes sense though, since Europe is ahead of the Eastern Time Zone, around a 6-hour time difference. By the time you fly over to that region, the sun has already set and it’s evening.
Flying east is relatively harder on the jetlag than flying west. I did wake up from naps often, confused about where I was and what time it was since I had only flown a few hours at that point (early in the morning) and it was already so dark outside.
The longest flight in the world is an experience, one that I will repeat. The seats are comfortable, even in premium economy class. The attention to detail of the flight attendants was great, and they are proactively offering water every few hours. The unlimited snacks on the back of the plane are also a plus, so you can try many of their selections. The inflight entertainment is out of this world. There are plenty of amusements from movies, TV shows, music, and even live TV available.
I get why Singapore Airlines wins all this acclaim and awards yearly. The service and the product that they offer for the pricepoint is competitive. I can say that I prefer flying these foreign airlines better than flying the American ones for ultra-long-haul flights. Not only do you get superior service and more space on economy class seats, but the inflight service and attention to detail are way superior to what you get and pay for on American ultra-long-haul flights.
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