World’s longest flights from Sydney to London, New York aren’t meant for cattle class

The question about Qantas Airways Ltd.’s plans to start 20-hour direct flights from Sydney to London and New York isn’t why any passenger would want to take the route — it’s why any carrier would want to offer them.

For all the hardship of spending a day cooped up with the body odours of a couple of hundred other humans, long-haul flying isn’t a particularly attractive business for airlines, either.