Question about travel time USA to Australia

[487]

Could someone please help me out with a question?  Rest assured this is not a school home work question (like train "A" vs train "B")

 

1.  A flight from the USA leaves Texas at 10PM on a Friday, and the flight lands in Sydney on Sunday morning at 730AM.

The flight is listed as having an "in air" time of 17 hours.  Springtime in northern hemisphere

Will most of the flight time be in darkness?  I'm thinking the answer is yes, since it's dark in Texas when leaving and the night would follow the flight eventually overtaking it before landing.  Guessing the flight crew will start getting everyone awake by about 5am (Sydney time) to serve breakfast and it will just be getting light outside, so about 3 hours of outside visibility?  Trying to decide if a window seat is of any importance.

 

 2.  Anyone done this trip are economy seats OK for old people or is premium economy or if at all affordable business class a must?

 

Your thoughts and experience please.

Thanks

[lyndarra]

1. I made a similar flight from Vancouver to Sydney last year, departing YVR at 2130 and arriving SYD about 0630. It was and all night flight which is IMO the best way to fly that route. BTW jet lag has a lesser effect flying east to west IMO. Whether it is dark or not on arrival will depend on time of year but most likely it will be light except for mid winter - June.

2. It depends. I'm a 6'1"  74 y.o. and was hestitant about my comfort but I was unable to to secure an upgrade. It was a Qantas flight and my previous Qantas flight was SNG/SYD earlier that year - it was my worst ever international economy class flight. However, as it turned out, the YVR/SYD was my most comfortable international, economy class,  flight ever. I was able to stretch my legs out fully under the aisle seat in front where previously (SNG/SYD) my legs spent most of the time in the aisle.  I'm not sure what the aircraft was but I think it was a 787-9 Dreamliner.

If you have trouble sleeping on long haul flights and can afford premium or business, go for it.

I have flown SYD/DFW business class and very glad I did. IIRC it was about 15.5 hours. I was lucky with that one by scoring a AUD650 upgrade at SYD check in.

 

Edited April 27 by lyndarra
add info

[lyndarra]

I'm just north of SYD and sun is just rising now 0610.

[MicCanberra]

Agreed, night time flight.

However, in my experience even if it wasn't, and it was a day flight, the air stewards tell you to close your blinds and keep them closed after the first meal service until just before landing. 

Personally, I think they want people sleeping so they are quieter and less demanding on them for service.

[Bizziecruzer]

With regard to class of seat. Purchase whatever you can afford. 

[sailing canary]

1 hour ago, Bizziecruzer said:

With regard to class of seat. Purchase whatever you can afford. 

As a friend once said to me, "Fly business class - if you don't your children will" So now I always do!! 😹😹

[Chiliburn]

6 hours ago, 487 said:

Could someone please help me out with a question?  Rest assured this is not a school home work question (like train "A" vs train "B")

 

1.  A flight from the USA leaves Texas at 10PM on a Friday, and the flight lands in Sydney on Sunday morning at 730AM.

The flight is listed as having an "in air" time of 17 hours.  Springtime in northern hemisphere

Will most of the flight time be in darkness?  I'm thinking the answer is yes, since it's dark in Texas when leaving and the night would follow the flight eventually overtaking it before landing.  Guessing the flight crew will start getting everyone awake by about 5am (Sydney time) to serve breakfast and it will just be getting light outside, so about 3 hours of outside visibility?  Trying to decide if a window seat is of any importance.

 

 2.  Anyone done this trip are economy seats OK for old people or is premium economy or if at all affordable business class a must?

 

Your thoughts and experience please.

Thanks

It’s an extended night flight and economy is ok ,save the money for a better hotel.

When you arrive you may have to wait until the afternoon to get your room. 
A better hotel will give you somewhere to have a shower and freshen up if they haven’t got a room.Plus they will hold your bags until check in.

Or you can book the night before but I don’t think that’s necessary.Freshen up , a bit of a walk and your room should be ready .

[Galesa]

About to follow the sun from Sydney to Johannesburg. 14.5 hours of daylight flying. Ugh!

 

In PE this time but it's still awful.

[cruiser3775]

It will mostly be in darkness, and there's not much to see when flying over the sea anyway.  I'd opt for an aisle seat for one of you, so getting up to use the restrooms will not involve clambering over another passenger in the night.

If the plane is a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, then there is a reasonable amount of legroom, so moderately tall people do not feel cramped.  However, if you can afford it, an upgrade may make things easier for you.   Personally, unless someone else is paying, I'd rather have the extra money to spend on better accommodation.  A 17 hour flight is not going to be easy even if you have a lay flat seat.  Take it easy the first couple of days, try to walk around in the daylight to adjust your body clock, and definitely don't hire a car and drive for a day or two.

 

[ceeceeDee]

We did Brisbane to Houston in economy. Not ideal, but bearable and we very quickly recovered in a good hotel with minimum jet lag. We tried to time sleeping on the plane to Houston local time and it seemed to work. With delays and plane changes we were 27 hours start to finish. 😒

[Chiliburn]

4 minutes ago, ceeceeDee said:

We did Brisbane to Houston in economy. Not ideal, but bearable and we very quickly recovered in a good hotel with minimum jet lag. We tried to time sleeping on the plane to Houston local time and it seemed to work. With delays and plane changes we were 27 hours start to finish. 😒

You can buy gummy bears in the chemist over there. 
A Marriott bed and mister gummy . Jet lag just drifts away.

 

[MicCanberra]

More like Gemmy bears

[Pushka]

8 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Agreed, night time flight.

However, in my experience even if it wasn't, and it was a day flight, the air stewards tell you to close your blinds and keep them closed after the first meal service until just before landing. 

Personally, I think they want people sleeping so they are quieter and less demanding on them for service.

Well, there's that but also having the sun streaming in during a daytime flight makes it impossible to see any enertainment screens. 

[Muffinz]

We flew Auckland - Vancouver return in July last year on Air NZ

it's a 13 hr direct flight and it was in darkness pretty much the whole way (maybe I didn't know it was daylight as the blind thing was shut?) flight left Akl 8pm and arrived Vancouver 2pm

We chose the 'sky couch' option on Air NZ and it was ok, but all you're really paying for is to have the whole row to yourselves. Unfortunately we had a lot of kids on the plane that were very 'vocal' and we didn't sleep much at all.

Coming back we managed to bid and win an upgrade to Premium economy and that was very good. Flight left Vancouver 9:30pm and arrived in Auckland 5:45am and was in darkness the whole time

[487]

Many thanks to all for your help.  Hoping to go aboard a A380 if possible.

[Yaya_in_Oz]

38 minutes ago, 487 said:

Many thanks to all for your help.  Hoping to go aboard a A380 if possible.

 

Great choice. The A380 is the most ergonomically friendly economy class seat in the sky. I try and get on one for long haul flights as much as possible. I fly economy as I'd rather go 4 times in economy than once in business. I have been in PE and business but not at my expense.

 

Last year I went to London on an A350, its also great but smaller so not so many on board which is a blessing in economy, so thats one to watch out for as they phase the A380's out because they cost too much to run. I'm not a fan of the Dreamliner as the seats are just not as comfortable. I hate the Boeing 777, I think I'd rather stand! but I have to suck up 9h on one in a few weeks.

I go for an aisle seat a few rows from the toilets so I can get up and wander, stretch and not trip over body parts in the dark. Putting me by the window amounts to false imprisonment but its good if you just want to take a sleeping pill and sleep all the way as I've seen others do. I also wear support socks which helps stop any swelling or cramps. Then I watch movies, make myself a playlist and play games on my phone. And I'm an old lady (69) 😄 but have been doing it all my adult life.

[OzKiwiJJ]

The thing I hated most about the Dreamliner, other than uncomfortable seats and cramped legroom, was the shape of the seat backs. They are more curved at the sides so don't block views of the TVs in the row in front, so you get this constant light flickering at the corner of your eyes all the time. It made me feel nauseous. It was a day time flight so I wanted to read otherwise I would have had my sleep mask on. So annoying. 

[phoenixx]

21 hours ago, Muffinz said:

We flew Auckland - Vancouver return in July last year on Air NZ

it's a 13 hr direct flight and it was in darkness pretty much the whole way (maybe I didn't know it was daylight as the blind thing was shut?) flight left Akl 8pm and arrived Vancouver 2pm

We chose the 'sky couch' option on Air NZ and it was ok, but all you're really paying for is to have the whole row to yourselves. Unfortunately we had a lot of kids on the plane that were very 'vocal' and we didn't sleep much at all.

Coming back we managed to bid and win an upgrade to Premium economy and that was very good. Flight left Vancouver 9:30pm and arrived in Auckland 5:45am and was in darkness the whole time

Did you find premium economy better than Skycouch?

[Tranquility Base]

Air New Zealand are introducing Skynest later this year.

6 lie flat sleep pods which will be available for purchase for 4 hours.

Starting on selected services to / from a couple of US cities. 

[cruiser3775]

When you choose your seats, stay away from ones nearest to the toilets. You get maybe four or five people lining up to use them, and they are holding onto your headrest, bumping your shoulder, or even having a conversation with a fellow traveller as they wait, in the middle of the night.  Choose seats that are at least eight or ten seats away from the toilets.

[Muffinz]

4 hours ago, phoenixx said:

Did you find premium economy better than Skycouch?

yes - way better, as you have a much more comfortable seat with more leg room.

 

with the sky couch it's just a row of 3 seats really and 1 or 2 people can book it., but we had more space between us because we had 3 seats between 2 and we could put up the arm rests. but it's certainly not big enough for 2 'slightly larger' people to comfortably lie down and sleep.

 

if I had the money I'd do Premium economy - especially for a long haul flight

[Blackduck59]

I am a pretty big guy and several years ago we decided if we couldn't afford at least Premium Economy we couldn't afford the trip. For others they would prefer to save that money for something else. We will be getting serious about booking our down under flight sometime in June. Right now we are leaning towards Qantas Premium Economy, with a direct flight Vancouver to Sydney. If we can get a good deal we may upgrade to Business class. That flight will be in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. We decided to eliminate the return flight by cruising home.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Blackduck59 said:

I am a pretty big guy and several years ago we decided if we couldn't afford at least Premium Economy we couldn't afford the trip. For others they would prefer to save that money for something else. We will be getting serious about booking our down under flight sometime in June. Right now we are leaning towards Qantas Premium Economy, with a direct flight Vancouver to Sydney. If we can get a good deal we may upgrade to Business class. That flight will be in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. We decided to eliminate the return flight by cruising home.

Check what deals the cruise line is offering for your flight. Sometimes it can work out cheaper than booking direct with the airline. For example we got a business class fare Sydney to Auckland on Qatar, which codeshares with Qantas, at only a little more than Qantas wanted for an economy seat on the same flight. The Qantas business class fare for that flight was several hundred dollars more.

[cruiser3775]

You might also look at flying via Hawaii.  That gives you access to the Jetstar direct flights to Australia from Honolulu. Yes, it's a low cost carrier, but it does have Business class on those flights, at considerably lower prices.

[yarramar]

This has recently been posted on the technology forum. Looks good & I may give it a trial for the next long haul.