Looking to Book a 29-Hour Flight? This Airline Has a Ticket to Sell You

Imagine taking a five-hour flight, then following it up with a 24-hour flight without leaving the plane.

Sound fun? Then China Eastern Airlines has a ticket to sell you—for a flight that would put you among the world’s most dogged long-range air travelers.

The carrier recently put up for sale tickets for a trip between its home base, Shanghai, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, with flights beginning in early December. The airline will fly the routes twice weekly in each direction, with brief stops in Auckland, New Zealand, to let off and pick up passengers. (The legs between Shanghai and Auckland are the shorter of the two.)

At more than 12,000 miles, the journeys will become the world’s longest “direct” routes, which have a single aircraft and flight number but make at least one stop. (The longest non-stop flight, meaning no stops between departing and arriving airports, is widely considered Singapore to New York City’s JFK, at more than 9,500 miles.)

The eastbound routes are budgeted at just under 26 hours, according to the airline, while those heading westbound, slowed by headwinds, are scheduled to last 29 hours, departing at 2 a.m. and landing at 6 p.m. the following day.

China Eastern did not respond to Investopedia’s request for comment, which included a question about whether passengers on the Shanghai-Buenos Aires journeys are expected to stay on board for the entire voyage, in time for publication. Several industry blogs reported that they would be.

Economy seats on the inaugural flight from Shanghai to Buenos Aires on Dec. 4 recently sold for more than $1,700, while those in business class were above $6,400. What do you get for the money? For one thing, space: China Eastern will use Boeing 777-300ER planes, with 258 of the 316 seats being in economy. Those economy seats have less than half the “pitch,” or legroom, of the business-class ones, according to SeatGuru.

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