In February of this year, Qatar Airways commenced the longest flight in the world from Doha to Auckland. The non-stop service covers a massive 9,032 miles. The carrier uses a 777-200LR which is currently the only aircraft that can fly the route, it’s even said that the A350-1000 will just fall short of the range. The Doha – Auckland leg is around 15.45 – 16.30 hours but the leg back to Doha is even longer at 16.30 – 17.40 hours long.

For this flight, I used 80,000 AAdvantage miles which is pretty fantastic for a flight of this length. The award space out of Doha is much better than out of AKL.

Qatar’s 777-200LR features 42 flat bed seats which are in a 2-2-2 configuration. For this flight, I selected seat 7A which is the last row of Business Class and it’s found in the second section of the Business cabin which is a lot smaller.

The seats may look aged and they are fairly old however, in the coming years all of Qatar’s 777’s will be fitted with their new Qsuites which is a massive improvement.

The seats are still well cushioned and have more than enough comfort. If you’re travelling with a companion, these seats are brilliant for you. Another thing I noticed is Qatar is very good at blocking seats for Oneworld Elites and I was able to tell thanks to Expertflyer.

Row 7 is directly in front on Economy, there is of course a curtain to block people from coming into the cabin. Also note that the first row of Economy has bassinets so you may encounter screaming and crying babies but I didn’t have any which was great.

As you can see, the seats are spacious and offer a ton of legroom.

The IFE system is a high-quality touchscreen and it’s packed with a lot of content. The 777-200LR doesn’t have Wifi so watching TV series and movies is the best thing to do to pass the time on the long flight. Your IFE remote is found where your right arm rest is.

At your seat, you’ll find your duvet. The crew also come around to offer pyjamas and the BRICS amenity kit.

There’s also slippers in the front storage section of your seat.

The new BRICS amenity kits include refreshing face mist, moisturiser, lip balm, socks, ear plugs and an eye mask.

After you’re given your pyjamas and amenity kit you’ll be given the menus and offered a pre-departure beverage. I opted for the So Jennie non-alcoholic champagne which I absolutely love. 

There’s two menu’s provided, one for food and one for beverages.

Here are the menus for both food and drink on the Doha – Auckland leg:

We left Doha on time after our very long taxi and the crew didn’t waste any time in starting the meal service. The service started with an Amuse Bouche which was a few pieces of spiced chicken.

They tasted fantastic and would of had them as an appetizer!

Next was the appetizer. I went with the Arabic Mezze and it proved to be a good choice:

Just as I started eating the sun was starting to rise. The cabin is made completely dark so passengers are able to maximise their rest.

And for the main, I went with the Arabic spiced biryani:

And for dessert I had the hazelnut and salted caramel tart:

I do really love the details in the cabin, especially the Oryx which is the logo of Qatar Airways.

As you can see the cabin is kept dark with all of the shades closed. The mood lighting is only turned on when the meal service is happening.

Qatar’s 777-200LR has 4 washrooms for Business Class passengers. 2 at the front of the cabin and 2 at the back of the first Business Class section.

There’s dental and shaving kits available as well as Rituals amenities:

After having the fantastic meals, I was ready to get some sleep.

The crew put a mattress topper on the bed and it’s quite comfortable. Not the most comfortable I’ve slept on but it did the job and I was able to get over 12 hours of deep sleep which was well needed.

After waking up about 1 hour and a half out of Auckland, I decided to have some breakfast. Good tip – request what you would like early as the catering is limited and they ran out of a number of things like the date and cinnamon smoothie and grilled fillet of beef with breakfast.

The crew instead offered a sausage with eggs which I was more than happy with.

Shortly after having breakfast we started our decent into Auckland. I felt fantastic and full of energy which I was quite happy with. Next to the seat, there’s a storage section for reading materials.

The seats have both power plugs and a USB point which is found inside the right armrest if you’re seated at a window seat.

The crew came around the cabin to hand passengers a box of Godiva chocolates and New Zealand arrival cards.

We arrived just after 4:00 in the morning and Immigration was empty at that time of the morning. I was able to get through in around 10 minutes and proceed to check into my flight back to Brisbane.

Overall

I really enjoyed the world’s longest flight and would definitely take it again in the future. I can Imagine once the 777’s get their suites fitted and the aircraft gets wifi, that will be a very, very enjoyable flight to take and one I’m really wanting to do once all of that happens.