I have to say that living in DC and being in this category constantly, I have to disagree with your "If you're seated in category 1, chances are your ears are ringing and your knees are getting bruised. That's because you're wedged into a turboprop or a regional jet."

I'm 6'5" and know a thing or two about knees hurting and well, have had far worse flights than an Embraer 170. In fact, a coach seat on a 737-300 has 1-2" less pitch and lacks the extending headrest and leather of a US Airways all-coach Embraer. Reminds me of people making fun of Toyota in the early 80s and we all know how that turned out.

Hmmm. In 1957 with my family, as a five-year-old, I crossed the Sahara Lagos-Paris in a Lockheed Electra (I think it was).

It took all night. We refueled in Kano before setting out over the desert. On landing we received the traditional caravanseria's trumpet-fanfare greeting.

It was a bit grueling -- those planes were noisy! Only one sunrise during the flight, though.

Nortwest's direct DTW - NGO clocks in at 6,552 miles, easily putting it in 9th place.

I think another category for ridiculously short flights should be added:

When my wife and I were adopting in China in 1997 we flew the final leg from Hong Kong to Guangzhou on a Chinese airline (There was no western service to mainland China at the time I supposed). The airplane was a sparkling brand new Boeing jet. The trip lasted less than 20 minutes. Nevertheless, full cans of soda and a snack were distributed to all passengers. The collection cart was 20 rows behind the serving cart. I barely had time for one sip.

-m

On the topic of super short haul flights, sometime in the early 1980's I took a flight from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe that made a stop in Oakland. Since Oakland resides on the other side of San Francisco Bay from SFO, it was the shortest flight I've ever experienced. It consisted of a short climb and a short decent in a continuous banked left turn. From wheels off the ground to wheels on the ground I think it was literally 4 or 5 minutes.

There was no beverage service.

I have no idea why a commercial airline (I don't recall which one) thought this was a good idea, but it didn't last long.

Opus, your statement that the 37-300 has a smaller seat pitch and worse seats than the Embraer is putting the blame on the plane.

People need to understand that seat pitch, and seat selection, is entirely the choice of the airline. As long as FAA/EASA requirements for egress and other interior requirements are met, Boeing and Airbus will accommodate the airlines desires.

thanks

Air Tahiti Nui already offers a Sydney to New York service. It's relatively new. I booked it in September when I was looking for a flight back home to Montreal from Oz. Because Air Tahiti Nui was trying to publicize the new route, flying via New York and paying an extra $100 to fly from there to Montreal saved me almost $1000 over the regular price on Qantas/Air Canada. The flight is via Papeete, where there is just enough time to step off the plane into the sultry tropical air, pass through security into the airport, spot a gecko running across the ceiling of the open-air terminal, and then proceed through security again to the next plane. However, the list of longest flights SOLD is a bit disingenuous, because it's not a list of the longest NON-STOP flights; for instance, SYD-YVN stops of in Honolulu (and we economy passengers say thank G-d for that!)

When Qantas pioneered the Sydney-Johannesburg flight the stops were Perth Cocos Island Maurituis Included on the ftight in both directions was a sleepover in Mauritius.The service was fortnighly and it was contingent on the cyclones in the Indian Ocean.

These are some other long, sold nonstops, with the great circle distance according to Swartz's tool. Sorry to pick nits on an otherwise interesting article and column.

JFK-SEL, 6895, KE/OZ

ATL-NRT, 6850, DL

JFK-PEK, 6837, Air China

EWR-PEK, 6831, CO

DFW-SEL, 6825, KE

LHR-SIN, 6765, SQ/BA

DFW-KIX, 6695, AA125

CDG-SIN, 6667, AF

DTW-KIX, 6620, NW69

LHR-KUL, 6593, MH

ORD-KIX, 6507, UA877

Ignore my previous letter - mental lapse.

I am surprised to see that the venerable Madrid-Santiago de Chile route operated by both LANChile and Iberia are not included on the list. According to the Great Circle Mapper the distance is 6648 miles putting it easily in the top ten.

Regards

MD

The list of long range flights was composed from a north-american perspective for obvious reasons, but I'd like to point the fact that Korean Air once operated a route from Sao Paulo to Seoul (GRU-SEL), with one stop at LAX until 2001 (9/11 apparently made the operation unprofitable, given that Korean Air had offices and facilities here at GRU just for that route).

Using the Great Circle Mapper, the great circle route (flying eastbound over Northern Europe) would take a whopping 11.380 mi. Korean Air, however, had to use their LAX facilities and the travel would take some 12.132 mi. Weather allowing, the whole trip, including an one-hour refueling stop at LAX, required 25 to 27 hours. That was not for the faint of heart, but it certainly was very, very convenient :)