As the flagship carrier for Australia—one of the world’s hardest-to-reach, and well-traveled, countries—Qantas knows a thing or two about creating a comfortable long-haul experience. That’s a good thing for an airline with ambitions to fly the world’s longest route, Project Sunrise, which will connect Sydney to New York in 20 hours.
Though that won’t launch till 2026, Qantas did start traveling between the two cities last year, flying three times a week on the Boeing Dreamliner 787. In effect, their current New York to Sydney flight is two legs on one plane: New York to Auckland, a route Air New Zealand launched in 2022, followed by Auckland to Sydney. Passengers do need to deplane with their belongings in Auckland but return to their cabin two hours later (generally you will be booked on the same seat for both legs, but not always). All together, passengers travel for roughly 22 hours.
That’s a long time to be in one plane, even with the break. But Qantas is ahead of the game. Partnerships with architectural engineers like David Caon have helped craft an experience to minimize all those hours of criss-crossed time zones, down to the rattle of the tea cups on the beverage cart. And a food program done in consultation with celebrated Aussie chef Neil Perry helps the carrier introduce passengers to some of the flavors of Australia as well as the country’s trademark easy hospitality. All these elements are amplified in Qantas Business Class, which has the essential bonus of a lie-flat bed that doesn’t require you to sleep at an angle and amenities that include, for my money, the best airplane pajamas in the skies.
Onboard comforts
There are 42 business class seats onboard this aircraft, in a 1-2-1 configuration, with rows separated by a crew service area. It doesn’t feel like a squeeze by any means, but you are certainly aware of the passengers around you. Each seat is semi-private, with a ton of different space for storage. I was able to unpack pretty much my entire shoulder bag to set up for the duration of a 17-hour leg, finding a spot for my books (which I never opened), my magazines (though I opted to read Qantas’s own inflight title instead and it was fabulous!), my phone and charger, as well as my laptop (it’s a good opportunity to get some work done. Pity this route is yet to have Wi-Fi….). There was decent surface space, too, for when I did tap away at my keyboard.
Though let’s get real, the majority of my awake hours were spent glued to the 16-inch seat back screen, making my way through box sets like a Gentleman in Moscow and a few films. Good selection. Nothing extraordinary. But plenty to keep you entertained if you want to spend every minute of 20 hours of flying with something to watch.
