Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Image
Topics: Travel, China, World News
James Moorhouse
The world's longest direct flight is set to launch soon, with passengers expected to be in the air for 29 hours before touching down at their destination.
Flying can often be a stressful experience, and that's before you even get on the plane, whether you're worrying about remembering all the kids and their passports, or simply making sure you've got the right colour suitcase.
Even though planes travel at ridiculous speeds, humanity hasn't quite figured out a way of going across the entire world in a short space of time yet, although commercial space trips run by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin do mean you can travel much further in a far shorter period of time.
So, as anyone who's ever travelled to Australia or the US or Japan will know, you're going to be stuck in the air for a serious amount of time, to the point where the extended versions of Lord of the Rings couldn't even keep you occupied for the full journey.
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Unless you're a big sleeper or a huge fan of Uno, you're going to be stuck for things to do on those trips but soon you might have the prospect of spending more than an entire day on a direct flight, which I suppose is one way of dodging any jet lag.
Well, for those of you hoping to fly from China to Argentina, you'll soon have the option to take a China Eastern Airlines flight. It will take passengers from Shanghai Pudong International Airport to Buenos Aires Ezeiza Airport, with a pit stop in Auckland Airport, New Zealand.
The current longest direct flight goes from Singapore to New York, with travellers on board for nearly 19 hours and covering close to 10,000 miles but the new trip will smash that record, clocking in at 12,229 miles and just under 29 hours, with a two and a half hour layover in New Zealand.
Given that food on planes is rarely the best, it might well be a struggle to enjoy perhaps four or five meals on the flight, and you certainly won't be able to avoid using the bathroom in that period either - unless you've got a seriously strong bladder that you can hold until you reach the pit stop in Auckland.
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Despite the stopover, the flight is still considered to be direct as passengers will travel on the same plane, in the same seats. I hope the pilot gets a little break too.
Reports vary on how much a ticket could cost but one-way tickets are said to range between £1,280 and £1,400, so you'll have to spend a pretty penny to get yourself a seat. And given how long you'll be on there for, it might be worth paying a little extra for the luxury of first class.
Flights are due to commence on 4 December, so you can probably expect a MrBeast video trying it out the following week.