19 Hours on a Plane: My Hour-by-Hour Account of the World’s Longest Flight

I've never had anxiety flying before, but I'll admit I was nervous to see what the longest flight in the world would do to me. 

Clocking in 9,531 miles and nearly 19 hours from gate-to-gate, Singapore Airlines' route from New York (JFK) to Singapore (SIN) is the longest in the world right now. The airline's route from nearby Newark (EWR) to Singapore (SIN) is only a few miles shorter. And while Singapore Airlines runs this flight every day without horror stories of travelers gone mad, I was still wary that I wouldn't be up for the physical and mental grind that would be almost a full day in the air. 

I hopped on this flight last month and if I had a line to myself 20 hours in the future, I would have told myself to relax because, in all honesty, the flight wasn't that bad! I'd even call it enjoyable, even from my seat in the very last row of the plane. A large part of that had to do with the Singapore Airlines Premium Economy experience. 

Here's what it was like to take the longest flight in the world. 

Hour 0: Wait, Which Way are We Flying? 

Here's something you won't find on any other flight departing from the United States: As you wait to board this flight, you won't know which way around the world you're heading. 

That's right: The direction of travel around the globe isn't decided until right before the flight!

Air traffic control and the pilots decide the day of travel whether going east over Europe or west over the Pacific is faster based on the weather that day. I was so excited to figure out which way we were going, and was pleased to see we would be flying east over Europe, the Middle East, and India, then down over Malaysia into Singapore. 

But sometimes, depending on weather, winds, and the jet stream, the route will take you west instead, like this flight from earlier this year that went out over Alaska, and down past Russia and Japan before reaching Southeast Asia at a whopping 19 hours and 7 minutes.

It seems impossible that there's only a few minutes' difference between flying west or east around the literal earth between New York and Singapore. It's something I really still can't fathom. 

Hour 1: Getting to Know the Most Unique Airplane in the Sky

When you board this airplane, it doesn't take long to realize that something is very different about it. 

The No. 1 and No. 2 longest nonstop routes in the world (from Newark and JFK to Singapore) are flown by a group of A350-900ULR (ULR stands for ultra-long range) aircraft that are specifically designed for a flight this long. How do they do that, you ask? By getting rid of the economy cabin altogether. 

Singapore Airlines doesn't even sell economy tickets on this flight, so no traveler is subjected to nearly 19-hours in a knee-crunching economy seat. Instead, the plane consists of 67 lie-flat business class seats in two full cabins, and a third cabin of 94 premium economy seats. I sat in row 42, the very last row of the plane, in a premium economy recliner.

The interior of the plane is altered to maximize comfort on the long journey but there are some other special considerations taken by Singapore to make this trip work. The craziest thing that happens is the efforts the airline takes to conserve fuel. 

Instead of starting the plane at the gate and using the engines to move around the airport, they fire up the engines remotely on the tarmac after pushback to save fuel! But don't stress about this. These planes are built specifically for these journey, and they've been successfully flying two of of these a day in each direction from NYC to Singapore for six years now. Still, it was crazy once I realized what they were doing. 

Hour 2: Settling Into My Solo Seat

If you're going to make an airplane seat home for almost an entire day, you'd better choose the right one. And I think I did. 

The biggest key to my comfort on this flight was my decision to book one of the “Solo” premium economy seats in the last three rows of the plane by the window. In these early hours after takeoff, it was immediately clear that I had chosen one of the best seats on the plane. 

The plane narrows in the back, so while the rest of the cabin is set up in a 2-4-2 configuration, the last few rows are 1-4-1 since there's not enough room to smash two seats into the space. Instead, travelers who book one of those seats get a little cubby next to them. 

The solo seat ended up being an extra $160, and I think it was money well-spent. If I had been traveling with a companion, one of the side-by-side window seats would have been plenty comfy. If I was with a larger group, the four-across in the middle of the plane would have sufficed, too. But the idea of getting stuck with a stranger for 19 hours meant that a solo seat was perfect. I checked the seat map every week for months to wait for one of these bad boys to open up and it did within a week of my flight! 

Hour 3: Dinnertime

Another special aspect of this flight is the trio (yes, three!) of meals onboard. Shortly after takeoff, we were fed dinner. 

When you fly Singapore Airlines, you can use the “Book the Cook” menu, allowing you to reserve a fancier meal at least 24 hours before your flight. When you do so, you also get served your meal first, which was a nice surprise. 

This pork congee tasted a lot better than it looks, I swear, but making sure I never went hungry on this flight was important to my sanity. 

Hour 4: Hydration is Key, Booze is Killer

Staying hydrated is key when you're in the air for this long, and that's especially important to remember when you're in the witching hour that is after-dinner and before bedtime on a long-haul flight. 

When you board the plane, there's a water bottle waiting in your seat, and whenever you ask, the flight attendants will re-fill that bottle for you. Strangely, they did not give you a new water bottle, just refills, which was fine by me. I also brought my own big, Stanley water bottle with me and had it filled to the brim for the flight so I never ran out. 

I'm no stranger to a few adult beverages when I travel. I'm one of those flyers who uses a trip to the airport as an excuse to imbibe, but I kept my alcohol consumption to a minimum on this flight. I had a glass of wine with dinner and another to get to sleep, but didn't go hard at the lounge pre-flight and didn't try to get too banged up onboard. 

This flight was long enough to conceivably go through a full drunk-and-hungover cycle (maybe even two) if you wanted to, but I wouldn't recommend it. 

Hours 5-11: A Good Night's Sleep

When you do the math, having three meal services really takes up around two hours of time from start to finish, so that eats into the total trip time. The other thing that helps eat into the trip time was getting nine hours of sleep – which I did thanks to my Trtl Pillow. 

The Trtl Pillow is one of our favorite travel accessories. It may look more like a neck brace, but is the only travel pillow I've ever had success with on an airplane. Thanks to melatonin, a glass of wine, and my Trtl, I grabbed seven hours of sleep after dinner (plus another two hours of sleep before landing, but more on that later). 

Hour 12: A Hearty Breakfast

After about seven hours of sleep, I awoke only to realize that I still had about seven more hours of flight time ahead of me. Nothing soothed that harsh realization faster than a big breakfast and a cup of coffee. 

This breakfast was one of the better plane meals I can recall. The eggs, bacon, and potatoes were all cooked to perfection – a modern miracle on an airplane stove.

Hour 13: Time to Get Up and Move

After breakfast, I got up and spent about 20 minutes in the back area by the lavatories doing some light stretching after my long sleep. There were a few of us standing there doing the same thing and we shared a laugh about the strangeness of it all.

I took an extra moment back there several times throughout the flight, and I would take time during my bathroom breaks to stretch my legs, too. You can't physically sit for 19 hours straight. You have to get up and move around. 

But no matter how often you try get out of your seat, realistically you're still sitting for the majority of the flight and all that time spent sitting upright can lead to a lot of discomfort in your legs. But a new-to-me travel accessory I packed for this trip was a pair of compression socks. I've never worn compression socks, but I really think having them helped make me feel more comfortable. 

Hour 14: Fighting Back Against Jet Lag

Taylor Swift and I have the same motto: Jet lag is a choice.

While I doubt the pop star has ever had to endure spending 19 hours in the very back of the plane, for us average travelers, I have a simple mental hack that helps me beat jet lag: Act like you're at your destination already, in terms of time. 

This used to be a much easier feat. Thanks to the latest iOS update, you can no longer change the time on my iPhone or Apple watch to match the time at your destination. But I can put myself in the mindset of being on Singapore time instead of New York time.

For example, when we took off right around midnight eastern time, I told myself it was noon. Every time I looked at the clock, I would check the time in Singapore to keep reminding myself of where I was and when I should get sleep. This always works for me. Jet lag is a mental game. 

See more of our tips for beating jet lag!

When you're in hour 14 of a flight that has a 12-hour time difference, it can be easy to lose the mental battle. But because I knew exactly what time it was (about 2 a.m. in Singapore), I realized that it was best if I tried to take another nap, even if it was just performative. 

Hours 15-17: Another Nap in a Cool Cabin

I was able to get myself back to sleep for another two hours or so, rounding up my sleep to a full nine hours, and I definitely would not have been able to clock all that shut-eye if it weren't for Singapore's extra-comfy cabin. 

On this particular flight, they kept the cabin very cool, bordering on cold. There were some travelers in jackets as a result, but I think this is a smart move to keep people comfortable. A hot cabin on this long of flight would have been a sweaty, smelly nightmare. Bring a sweater if you run cold, though. 

The blanket they offered and the pullover I packed were more than enough to keep me warm enough to sleep, but cool enough to not wake up like a dried-out raisin. 

Hour 18: A Pizza Saves the Day

When you're in hour 18 of a flight, I don't care how tough you are…things can start to get weird.

Just when I was starting to lose the mental battle, an angel dressed as a Singapore Airlines flight attendant dropped a personal pizza on my tray table just about an hour before landing. 

I've never had pizza on the plane, but I can't think of a better time for a pizza to appear in front of me than on hour 18 of a flight. I was delighted.

Hour 19: A Final Vibe Check

As we began our descent into Singapore (SIN), I actually couldn't believe how comfortable the previous 19 hours has been. Maybe I was stuck in that familiar post-pizza glow, but it all felt too good to be true. Was I fooling myself? 

Just in case you think I'm making light of this or am uniquely tough and travel-hardened, I was watching my fellow travelers closely, and I did not sense much, if any, distress throughout the flight. 

This is obviously anecdotal to where I was seated, but even travelers with infants and toddlers seemed content, as did some elderly neighbors of mine, too. There were plenty of smiles to be seen 15, 16, and even 17 hours into the flight. I think the pizza did a lot of heavy lifting in keeping vibes immaculate. 

Hello, Singapore!

After we arrived at the gate, the premium economy cabin had a rather slow de-planing process. There were plenty of grunts standing up and retrieving overhead bin bags as well as some wobbly legs heading down the jet bridge. 

Making those wobbly legs worse was the fact that it was a little after 5 a.m. local time in Singapore and about 90 degrees outside – even before dawn. And at that point, I hadn't seen the sun in more than 24 hours since it set in New York on Monday night.

But honestly, the deplaning process was less like a zombie movie than I expected, and that's all made even easier by the perfection that is Singapore Changi Airport (SIN). The immigration process is a touch-less, contact-less scan of my passport which is exactly what I needed in that moment. Within 10 minutes of deplaning, I was on the MRT Subway system heading to my hotel. 

Plus, if traveling for 19 hours didn't already make you feel like it, being in Singapore can really feel like being on another planet. 

My Takeaways 

Thanks to a specialty plane, some excellent food and drink service, tons of water, and a few handy travel tools, I conquered the longest flight in the world.

So, would I do it over again? Absolutely. I was surprised at the comfort level and specialty of this experience. It's no ordinary flight at almost 19 hours, it's a world class Singapore Airlines experience. Would I fork over a few more points to sit in the business class cabin next time, though? Absolutely. (If not, the solo seat would serve me just fine!)

Ultimately, so long as you take care of yourself by eating well, manage your water-to-alcohol intake, pack some handy travel tools, and move your body enough during the journey, it's not only doable – it's enjoyable. 

The longest flight in the world from New York (JFK) to Singapore (SIN) is really not all that bad…or maybe that's just the pizza talking.