Trip Reports - AA292, the extended version

My flight from Chicago to Delhi will (I hope) hold the record as my longest flight for as long as I live. The flight time (takeoff to landing) was estimated at approximately 14 hour and 15 minutes, which is about as long a flight as I'm ever likely to have been on anyway (unless Australia, which I plan to get to someday, is longer). We boarded in Chicago around 7:00pm for our 7:35pm departure. A few minor issues were encountered in Chicago due to the need for fuel stirring (a procedure apparently necessitated by the frigid cold zero degree temperature) and the ground crew being inside warming up (another procedure necessitated by the weather...I do not envy that ground crew) so we were a bit late pushing back. Add a runway change at the last minute (due to wind changes) and we took off around an hour late.


Upon takeoff, the captain informed us that unfavorable winds would cause the flight to be a bit long(er) and we were planning to arrive Delhi between 11:00pm and 11:30pm (scheduled arrival was 9:45pm). The flight went quite smoothly, I slept well (thank you business class upgrade) and we were on approach for landing when the Captain announced that we had been placed in a holding pattern. There was smoke obscuring the visibility and we needed to circle until it cleared. So we circled. And circled. (Odd that you don't get dizzy when circling like that). After 60-90 minutes of circling, the Captain announced that we were going to our alternate airport for re-fueling and to wait until visibility improved.


We landed and parked on a quiet taxiway at Jaipur around 1:00am. I did not expect to be there long, but I misguessed - I saw the sun rise in Jaipur. The weather did not clear in Delhi until the early morning hours. Once we were given the okay to go, we encountered another issue: There was an (empty) Air India plane that had been parked in front of us overnight. It took what felt like eons to get that plane moved. Finally, we took off around 8:15am for our (short) remaining flight to Delhi.


The total time from pushing back from the gate at Chicago to arriving the gate at Delhi was 25 hours and 19 minutes. Overall, I was on the plane over 26 hours. The flight attendants (who I wish to commend for staying professional, courteous, and helpful the full time) joked as we were deplaning that this may be a world record. I hope it always remains my personal record.

The total time from pushing back from the gate at Chicago to arriving the gate at Delhi was 25 hours and 19 minutes. Overall, I was on the plane over 26 hours. The flight attendants (who I wish to commend for staying professional, courteous, and helpful the full time) joked as we were deplaning that this may be a world record. I hope it always remains my personal record.

26 hours? Yikes. That's not the kind of trip one wants to have on a regular basis, but I'm glad you eventually reached your destination. I suppose there is always the consolation that "it could have been worse". :)

Have you considered writing to AA to commend the FAs? Sounds like they deserve it.

Wow that must have been a nice sight! A silver AA 777 in Jaipur!

Also I thought Delhi recently installed the Cat-IIIB system on their new runway. Which should allow landings during low visibility. Fog is very common in Delhi during winter.

I am thinking taking the same flight in august, but I might end up just taking BA CW b/c its goes to my final destination HYD without a 10hr layover in Delhi.

That's a long time to be in an airplane. Good thing you were in J. Imagine being in a middle seat in Y!!

For passengers, I presume since AA boards 3 meals on this flight, food and beverage aren't quite an issue.

For crew, I'm not sure how many are on board and how they rotate shifts, but I'd imagine that this extended time racked up some overtime hours and cost AA quite a bit of money. I guess you were luck the crew didn't claim they are over hours and cause a further delay in getting a replacement crew.

My longest flight was CDG-SCL at 14h10. Luckily (a) we were in biz and (b) we were on time! I would consider keeping people in Y for more than 18 hours or so as a humanitarian crisis.

26 hours sucks.

The longest scheduled commercial nonstop flights are SIN-EWR vv (see my trip report (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-reports/333373-some-fters-do-inaugural-worlds-longest-flight-sin-ewr-vv-28-june-2004-long.html)).

My longest flight was CDG-SCL at 14h10. Luckily (a) we were in biz and (b) we were on time! I would consider keeping people in Y for more than 18 hours or so as a humanitarian crisis.

I think my longest flight was LAX-HKG, at about 15 hours (CX 885, once), with LAX-SYD (a close second - although about 300 more miles longer) in the 14s, and quite a few SFO->HKG runs which can get up into the 14s.

My longest domestic "flight" was about 10 hours on an MD80, but 7 of those were mostly asleep in F while we were stuck at the gate (people were allowed off, but I was happy to just stay on board and snooze.)

Great report!

Small question and OT: How many miles is credited on this route ORD-DEL?

Small question and OT: How many miles is credited on this route ORD-DEL?

According to AA, it's 7484 miles.