Qantas now flies Perth – London non-stop in 787s as well as Perth – Paris and Perth – Rome. Personally I like to break the trip at Dubai or Doha.

One, which 747 had the longest range, the -400 or -SP? And I know that there are variables like winds aloft, time of year, time of day, and so on. But….just as a rule.

And the other. I seem to remember reading many years ago that United once scheduled the -400 between ORD and HKG. And that fuel and range margin was so tight that the plane was actually towed all the way to the runway before the engines were started.

Is that or could that be true or was there maybe some liberties taken with the truth? I wish I can remember when and where I heard that.

You talk about passenger frustration, but honestly 36 hours with a short music loop through a stethoscope headset was pretty awful. My mum would not let us get off at the stops so we were trapped. And of course there was only a small non-smoking section. I let my own kiddo get off at the single-stop QF1 that stops at BKK. Not really worth it TBH.

BTW, as part of project sunrise they’ve already introduced nonstop Perth-London, though why anyone would want to fly between those two cities is beyond me 😈. QANTAS has kind of ignored it.

Not a non-stop connection. They refuel in SFO (or LAX).

I’m not so sure about the 777X even on a technical basis. The -9 is expected to have roughly the same range as the 789 (or 339). And while the -8 does better in terms of range, it still just barely matches the non-ULR 359, if we for a moment ignore that so far there has been zero interest in the -8 so we’ll have to see if Boeing ever actually sells any non-freighter -8s.

The A350’s key selling point has always been efficiency which serves as the enabler for ultra-long range missions (via the ULR variants). The 777X with its massive non-composite body from the 90s just can’t match that — its strength lies rather in capacity (especially cargo thanks to its massive power). The Dreamliner is in design much closer to the A350, but it lacks the range (and even the capacity) to match the 35K.

Boeing can still walk away smiling — ULR is a bit of a niche market, with the “regular” long range market targeted by the Dreamliner being much broader. And the 787 has been a real knock-out there. Exciting times to watch these two manufacturer giants compete.

I’ve done saigon-SFO on a 747 changing planes at narita. Long leg was 14 hours in cattle class elbows-in middle seat, but was bearable. Except for when a bunch of us lined up to use the toilet 90 minutes before landing and asshole inside had fallen asleep. About 24 hours all said door to door.

I will suggest that for these 22 hour non-stops mostly premium class seating, that they come with expedited clearing security and maybe a preferred customs line.