Flight check: Dallas to Sydney

A Qantas A380 passenger jet lands in Sydney. Photo / Supplied

Winston Aldworth flies on the longest commercial flight in the world - Qantas QF8 from Dallas to Sydney.

The plane: A380-800.

Class: Business.

Price: Return tickets start at $8143.

On time: We were on time and a long time. This is the longest flight in the world - and, courtesy of the winds, it takes longer to fly from Dallas down to Sydney than it does to get from Sydney over to Dallas. Quite a bit longer. It's 13,804km both ways, but the northbound flights are scheduled for 15hr 35 min (they're 10 minutes quicker from late October until March) and the Dallas-to-Sydney run lasts a mammoth 16hr 55 min. The biggest in the world. That's what the pros call a "two-hangover flight".

My seat: 21K. The Business Class cabin has a 2-2-2 configuration with plenty of room all round. I was in a window seat but still able to get out and wander about without bumping against Deirdre, the lovely woman sitting next to me. It folds down into as fine a Business Class, fully flat bed as you could hope for. It's wide and the head of the bed is tucked into a privacy shell. Nigh-nighs ...

Fellow passengers: My neighbour Deirdre is an ex-Qantas staffer. For years, she didn't take advantage of the cheap flight deals available to former staffers. She only has a couple of years left to cash in and is getting some serious travelling done. She's nice.

How full? Despite the Herculean flight time, this is a great flight to get aboard. A Qantas staffer tells me the Economy section is often under-sold as the A380 is so loaded up with fuel for the long haul to Sydney. That means if you're sitting back there in Economy you're more likely to get empty seats around you and thus be able to stretch out. It also means you're more likely to land an upgrade.

Entertainment: With more than 100 movies to choose from and a gazillion miles to fly, you can get some serious movie watching done on this bird. It's such an epic long-haul flight, I had my dinner, spent an hour reading my book (the excellent Case Closed, by Gerald Posner - compulsory reading for a trip to Dallas) and watched Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. All with a few glasses of good red wine along the way. Normally that amount of eating, watching and reading would have you halfway home - I checked the flight time remaining and there was 12 hours to go. Genuinely awesome.

Food and drink: Qantas pride themselves on a slick menu. The wine list is a credit to them with a fantastic selection from many Aussie suppliers. Hit the reds.

Would I fly this again? Yes. Flights like this will make you love long-haul flying. The writer travelled courtesy of Qantas.