Title should be annotated "[in business class]." He had a fully reclining bed. I am not sure that it is even legal to refer to the length of your flight unless you flew in regular seating.
This article sounds like it’s an ad; ie journalists onboard to cover the new route with an experimental twist. If they really want to test the effects on a human body then do it in cattle class (economy) not biz class with creature comforts.
This article puts a heavy emphasis on overcoming the jet lag from NY to Sydney, but you get the exact same time difference flying from anywhere in Europe to the west coast of the U.S. and people do that regularly. In fact, I just did it last week. It's no big deal, at least not in terms of time zone adjustment. Personally, I find it much harder to go the other way, from CA to Europe. My body parses that as a 15 hour difference and it typically takes me a full week before I'm not waking up in the middle of the night any more.<p>Also, being on the plane for 20 hours is not so different from the 18 hours it takes to fly from SF to Singapore, which also happens every day. This all seems much ado about nothing.
NY->Melbourne would be fantastic. Right now the flight there is a 24+ hour trip with at least one layover in HK or LA/SF.<p>What I noticed is after about 3 or 4 hours (for me), I decompress and start feeling like a child on a road trip again. Time is kinda of just going by, you distract yourself. They serve food at good intervals and you eventually get of the plane.<p>To say the California->Australia part is actually not as annoying as the domestic short haul flights from NY->LA which is like being jam packed like a sardine with few amenities. International, even in the cheap section, was comfy enough and I even had leg room!
I've traveled 24-36 hours one-way, probably two dozen times. Staying awake for long periods to "adjust" is the opposite of what helps me: <i>constant naps</i>. Sleep for 30 minutes, sleep for 3 hours, whatever - as much as I can get, every leg. When I arrive, I stay awake until the local time is approximately "late", and then sleep (avoiding alcohol and caffeine, using earplugs and eye mask, to maximize sleep potential). So far I have only been jetlagged once.
If I ever took this flight I’d probably be stuck next to a screaming child, with a seat kicker behind me and a full flight duration seat recliner in front of me :D
20 hour commercial flight. Fly a B2 bomber, from Missouri to the Middle East, and back, non-stop. I think it’s 44 hours, cramped in that little cockpit.<p><a href="https://www.uso.org/stories/253-inside-the-longest-bombing-run-ever" rel="nofollow">https://www.uso.org/stories/253-inside-the-longest-bombing-r...</a>
> airline used this test trip to explore ways to reduce its inevitable downside: Soul-crushing, body-buckling jet lag.<p>Our soul can't travel as fast as a plane, that's why we feel weird while waiting for it to catch up with us.<p>edit: eh, finally saw the day a reference to Gibson is down voted on HN ^^
This sounds quite unpleasant and hard to keep up in economy class. Sydney time is NYC time minus 9h. Why don't they just start at 10am or so and have passengers stay up and go to bed soon after arrival (9pm local time)?