What to do on a long flight?

I guess there's not much you can do but sleep, play games, watch movies, visit the little boy's room.
I'd be bored out of my skull if I couldn't sleep so I'd probably ensure that I'd already sorted my sleep pattern in advance so as not to be out of sync with local time on arrival.
Perhaps planes are better nowadays, I haven't been inside one for 39 years but my recollection is that even a three hour flight was painful in the cramped seating, I doubt that's improved unless one is paying a premium.

I don't but even if I wanted to fly anywhere these days I wouldn't with all the anti terror checks at airports. Too much hassle by far from what I've heard and it must be a nightmare compared to what I experienced in 1973 which I felt was too much hassle then!

Invite a girl along with you and join the mile-high club?

Eleven hours sounds bad, but it goes by quicker than you think. If you have a window seat, make the most of watching the clouds from the 'wrong' side. Oddly serene and engrossing, lets the mind wander. Will you be getting two meals on it, with sleep in the middle?

Unless you have work or preparation for a business meeting and the like, its just probably one of the very few times when you can just 'waste' the time without too much guilt; listen to some music, read a good book, enjoy a drink, do a few crosswords/soduko.

The newer models of planes really aren't too bad. I've done a few long hauls; never been too troubled by the seating or leg room, though I'm 5' 9". Perhaps someone over 6 foot might have a different opinion. The least comfortable flight I've experienced was in a 27 seat propeller plane over Nevada.

RT: Wrt security checks, the most stringent I've ever experienced was ironically that for the little propeller plane. Shoes off, belt off, jacket off, open handluggage, empty pockets, full pat down, full scan, finger prints (this was in '05, confused as to whether this was actually permitted back then...), questions about where I was going and why, and to prove that I was indeed studying maths... A gun was permitted though as long as it was declared (!)

The most lax? Heathrow. Empty pockets going out, walk through scanner. Coming back in from what I remember it was just a passport check (visual only) and a walk through scanner.


Enjoy your flight anyway! With a bit of luck you might sit next to someone interesting.

Cripes, real people fly on model aircraft, now that's what I call progress, I guess the airport can accommodate more aircraft that way! Things have obviously moved on in 39 years ;D ;D ;D

Play Tetris and time just flies by ;D!

XF

I last went up from there in 1979. I can't recall the make of plane but it was pretty small and the wing was above the cabin if that's any help with identification. Have to agree that it's much more fun and nothing like commercial flying at all, particularly when the pilot said "you've been flying the plane for the last two minutes", at which point I put it into a dive in blind panic. One of these days I might try for a pilots licence. Look out Lincolnshire.

I find listening to "Thick As A Brick" followed by "Atom Heart Mother", "Amused To Death" and "2112" normally helps me forget cattle class on my way to Menorca each year. Long haul.........well there's the rest of the Pink Floyd back catalogue I suppose.

Thank you for your ideas! It does seem Procrastination will be the only way forward here!

It's BA169 going and BA168 coming back. I just did some research and it looks like a Boeing 777 is the aircraft in use on this route. They're quite new I think so I should have some entertainment on board, right?

bigbaddom; 12 hours! Wow! Did you get any meals on board, and what were they like?

I'm flying economy there and luckily, Premium Economy back. Ironically it was cheaper by about £100 to do that!! I just hope its a good meal (x2!) and the bar service is unlimited .

I'm going to be quite scared though; this is going to be my second time in the air, my only other time was a quick 30minute flight from London to Newcastle - as soon as we took off it felt like we were landing again!

Many thanks,
Toby

From what I've seen you're either on a B777-200 or a -300. The 300 comes equipped with AVOD (audio-video on demand), which means some 30-50 films, 50-75 series and TV shows, games, a moving map showing some flight data - actual position, altitude, speed, time to destination and local time, several hundred CD's and audio books (300+) and some systems even have ebooks. This system is being retrofitted in the -200 (older planes) so there is a remote chance of having a conventional IFE (in-flight entertainment) with 12 or 18 channels, which as a rule are divided into 6 film and 12 audio channels or 4 film and 8 audio channels.
For a preview of what's on: www.britishairways.com/travel/entertainhighlights/public/en_gb?from=LGW%2CLHR&to=PVG&class=worldtraveller&month=this&flightno=


So, aside of that what can you do? Read the BA magazine, explore the aircraft as much as you can (don't try to open the doors tough - you'd need to counteract a force of several tons and will be arrested at arrival). Ask the staff if you can see the galley (that's were your meals come from - there are ovens, boilers and coffee makers there), use a lavatory with vacuum toilets (nice whoosh sound). I grant you that an assembled aircraft is not much fun for the technically inclined.


As an irrelevant piece of info, if you see the designation B777-236 or B777-336, these are not more advanced versions of the aircraft. 36 is British Airways client number at Boeing, so all Boeings bought DIRECTLY by the airline (i.e. not second hand) will always have a 36 added. This code was inherited from BOAC (which formed the then nationalized BA alongside with BEA and some small regional airlines).

Hope it helps.

kkc35348 is right - soft clothing (and especially, comfortable shoes). I have just done a round trip to NZ (and used to commute regularly to Jo'burg* in the course of work) and would recommend a fully-loaded iPod and/or Kindle (or perhaps one of the new generation of tablets if you don't have either of the previous - then you can add your own movies etc!). The inflight movies provided by the airline can be a bit dull, otherwise - Mr Bean and Love Actually seem to be their staple fare.

The main problem with air travel now is that it is the embodiment of the old Army joke about "Hurry up and wait", and it's anything but the chic 1950s product it once was. .

Graham H

*That's as in being sent to Jo'burg for the day - all the flights are overnight, so you can obviously go, do a full day's work there, and return that night. The client doesn't then have to pay for your hotel. Simples...

Well said,that man!

Your aircraft sounds like one of the Cessnas, there were a few at Stapleford.

A couple of things I recall about my visits there were a female instructor who flew a yellow Condor and who was so adept at landing at what often appeared to be little more than walking pace. There was a female club member who was 70 if she was a day, was always dressed to the nines in the latest 'dolly bird' outfits and drove a very nice purple Triumph Spitfire.
There were also the show dogfights in which WW1 type biplanes (probably replicas) performed and the 5 minute return trip to Tower Bridge in a very noisy 9 seater Islander. Happy days and a nice jar or two in the bar to boot.

Of course where I live now I have the Red Arrows on my doorstep and see all their home winter training from my cottage and there are airfields all around here in 'bomber county' many long disused, some now home to flying clubs and the rest still with the RAF. Much as I love Red Arrows displays they do have a habit of making it hard to hear the TV and near impossible to use the telephone at times, their 30 minute training slots often coincide with a decent afternoon film on the box.

I would LOVE to see these movies on an aircraft. Unfourtunately almost all movies are censored edited to suit a wider demographic group and to avoid lawsuits....


Also as others said, clothing is of the essence. Comfortable and breathable. If your shoes are too cumbersome and unable to use others, just wear two pairs of training socks and remove the shoes in the aircraft and and/or wear some hotel slippers you might have acquired in a previous visit somewere.

Closer to home, that reminds me of the 27-seat Trislanders operating between Southampton and Alderney, where the airport is also quite small, but for something really basic (and fun) try visiting Lundy in the winter - the heliport terminal on the mainland is a wooden shed (upgraded from a freight container a few years ago) whilst the one on the island itself is the pub! (In the summer there is a boat service instead)

In the last two years I've had about 20 flights for work or for pleasure with a trip down under included in the latter category. The BA 777 had an ok personal entertainment system on it (although I much preferred the Qantas one on the 'local' flights, and they have USB ports to power your phone/ipod). I would recommend bringing your own headphones and some watching/listening/playing/reading material to your own taste.

The best landing of all those flights was the beach landing in a small aircraft on the beach of Fraser Island...

Another top tip... Don't land back from Australia at 6am when you are meant to be at work at 9am 80 miles from Heathrow... I made it with time to get a second breakfast before work, but it doesn't do much for your stress levels...

Considering I had only 3/4 hours sleep the night before I left, had spent 30 hours travelling with only some vague sleep on the flight, crossed, ten time zones, I didn't too badly and didn't feel particularly out of sync nor too bad at work that day! I did sleep a little bit more over that weekend (when not working) though. I tried the tip of getting on the plane and immediately thinking in destination time... I think that helped...