Flying from Auckland to Doha with Qatar

Economy Class aboard a Qatar Airways B777-200LR.

Donna McIntyre flies Auckland to Doha on Qatar QR921.

The plane: B777-200LR

Class: Economy. In seat 33D, down the back.

Flight time: At 17hr 50m, this is the world's longest commercial flight, going 14,535km and crossing 10 time zones. Or you could just say a bloody long flight.

On time: Departing and landing.

Price: We were flying Auckland to Brussels, you can get that for $1561 return in Economy Class.

Fellow passengers: Mix of ages, nationalities. Quiet lot getting down to the business ofbeing stuck in one seat for more than 17 hours.

Entertainment: A few good movies but more choice would have been good. I enjoyed 100 Streets, Going in Style was okay and then laughed out loud with Michael McIntyre on the television selections. Pharrell Williams' London concert for landing.

The service: Pleasant, polite, quick.

Food and drink: Standard flight food. I chose chicken as my main and ate the fruit and yoghurt with brekkie. They give you a movie snack box, too.

The toilets: Clean and never much of a queue, apart from the time one person took a whole 10 minutes.

Luggage: You're allowed one bag of up to 30kg checked in, and one carry-on, max 7kg.

The airport experience: Qatar was offering upgrades at the check-in desk in Auckland for $1200 — oh so tempted! I would have been more likely to buy if it was three or four hundy.

Would I fly again? There's no easy way to fly economy halfway around the world. If you can sleep sitting up, this is do-able. I was shattered by the time I had done the following leg from Doha to Brussels after two hours on the ground in Doha. If I did it again, I would be tempted to add a night in Doha. The big attraction is the special deals Qatar keeps offering. Good leg room unless you're more than 185cm tall.

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