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Friday, Jul 10, 2009
Everything you ever wanted to know about really, really long plane rides, including the do's and don'ts of deep vein thrombosis.
Feb 13, 2004 | On Feb. 3, Singapore Airlines made history when it launched the longest scheduled nonstop flight in commercial aviation history. Fourteen hours and 42 minutes after departing Singapore's Changi Airport, Flight SQ020 touched down at Los Angeles International having covered 7,609 nautical miles -- a distance representing more than a third of the earth's total equatorial circumference. They were 78 minutes early.
Scheduled time for the westbound leg, Flight SQ019, is an unprecedented 18 hours and 42 minutes, actual duration varying with wind and weather. Bring plenty to read, and leave your circadian rhythms at home. The effects of traversing 10 time zones and the international dateline make for some quirky logistics: Leaving LAX at 8 p.m., passengers land at Changi just after sunrise two mornings later. Leaving Changi at 4 p.m., they land at LAX at, yes, 4 p.m. on the very same day. Some advantageous winds and it's possible to arrive, as it were, before you depart.
For the inaugural, Singapore sold a three-night hotel and airfare (economy) package at just over $1,300. Standard fares will be around $1,100. Not bad for a routing almost thrice the flying time of New York-London.
Never one to rest on its laurels, the airline is already planning a New York-Singapore nonstop for next fall that will match or beat the existing pairing. Precise mileages and routings are not yet known, but the flight will proceed up over Canada and the Arctic, then southward, so to speak, across Siberia and down through China. (This "great circle" is the shortest way of connecting eastern North America and Asia, despite how it appears on most flat maps and atlases.)
Both services will be flown by the newest variant of the elegant, four-engine Airbus A340 -- the A340-500. The -500, visually distinguishable from earlier A340s by its wider cowled turbofans, carries enough fuel (56,750 gallons) for more than 21 airborne hours. Emirates put the jet in service late last year between Dubai and Sydney, but Singapore has taken the fullest advantage of its capabilities.
Singapore has proved its typically innovative self in figuring out how to keep 200 or so passengers fed, distracted and comfortable -- to say nothing of sane -- for durations heretofore experienced only by astronauts. They've gone with a two-class arrangement -- a business class, which it brands Raffles Class (after the famous Sir Stamford, eponym of the country's most famous hotel), and something called Executive Economy. Raffles customers, having parted with $5,000 for the privilege, may doze in fully flat sleepers or visit the extra-posh lavatories that include their own windows. While less extravagant, Executive Economy comes with five inches of extra legroom and a spacious, seven-abreast layout (normal coach seating for this model is eight across). All economy seats have 9-inch video screens and a choice of 30 films. While an A340 can hold more than 300 people in a maximum density configuration, Singapore's -500s have only 181 seats. Having plucked a fare from every row, the airline says it can make up the difference from the expanded Raffles section.
With flight times now exceeding the gestation periods of many small mammals, there are growing concerns about an affliction known as deep vein thrombosis, or DVT, allegedly caused by protracted exposure to the knee-crushing confines of most economy seats. Known also as "economy class syndrome," it's a condition where potentially lethal blood clots form in the legs and can spread through the body. Thus far there's no full scientific consensus as to what extent a plane's cramped quarters contribute to DVT, but those on lengthier trips should avoid remaining sedentary for extended periods of time. On Singapore's marathon nonstops, passengers are encouraged to frequent the in-flight buffet lounge, an alcove laid out with snacks, fruits and beverages. The intent here is not only one of diversion, but to entice people to stretch their legs at regular intervals. For those who wander in barefoot after sleeping, the buffet zone has heated floors.
I'm still waiting for a post-flight garbage report. Veteran fliers will know what I'm talking about: By the time most intercontinental flights are docking at the gate, the aisles, floors and seats have come to resemble the scene of a dumpster explosion, the volume of refuse (cups, wrappers, bottles, bodily fluids and food) increasing proportionally with time spent aloft. For 18 hours, I'll venture the passenger-to-trash weight ratio is about 1-to-1.
As with most longer-haul aircraft these days, the planes are equipped with crew bunks and rest areas, in this case in a secluded lower-deck chamber accessed by a rear staircase. Two teams of pilots alternate cockpit shifts, while 14 flight attendants -- still known around the biz, like it or not, as "Singapore Girls" -- work the aisles and restock the buffet. That's only three fewer attendants than staff the airline's 747s, which have twice the number of seats.
