Skip to content

The 10 longest (and 10 shortest) American Airlines flights

Dec. 22, 2019
3 min read
The 10 longest (and 10 shortest) American Airlines flights
This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. For an explanation of our Advertising Policy, visit this page.
Sign up for our daily newsletter

Singapore Airlines made global headlines last year when it relaunched its Newark-Singapore flight. The 9,534-mile flight allowed the carrier to reclaim the title of having the “world’s longest flight,” bumping Qatar Airways and its 9,032-mile Doha-Auckland, New Zealand, flight out of the top spot.

Another title shift could happen in the coming years if Qantas Airways decides to push ahead with its “Project Sunrise” flights. The Australian carrier made headlines of its own this fall as it tested several ultra-long flights to Sydney – including from New York and from London – to great fanfare. Each would be longer than Singapore’s current record-holder, and Qantas days it will decide soon whether to press ahead. If it does, flights could begin in 2023.

But have you ever wondered what the longest flight is on your preferred carrier? Or the shortest? Given all the buzz about long flights recently, we decided to see what clocked in as the longest and shortest flights for each of the 11 biggest U.S. carriers.

Sign up for the free daily TPG newsletter for more airline news.

What did we find? Today we look at American Airlines. Its longest route on the December schedule is Dallas/Fort Worth-Hong Kong while its shortest is the 55-mile hop it operates between Philadelphia and the Lehigh Valley International Airport near Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Next: Delta Air Lines. Previous: Alaska Airlines | Allegiant Air

Longest

  1. Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) - Hong Kong (HKG): 8,111 miles
  2. Los Angeles (LAX) - Sydney, Australia (SYD) 7,487 miles
  3. Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) - Shanghai (PVG): 7,351 miles
  4. Hong Kong (HKG) - Los Angeles (LAX): 7,260 miles
  5. Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) - Beijing (PEK): 6,971 miles
  6. Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) - Seoul (ICN): 6,826 miles
  7. Los Angeles (LAX) - Auckland (AKL): 6,504 miles
  8. Los Angeles (LAX) - Shanghai (PVG): 6,485 miles
  9. Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) - Tokyo (NRT): 6,427 miles
  10. Los Angeles (LAX) - Beijing (PEK): 6,251 miles

Shortest

  1. Philadelphia (PHL) - Allentown, Pennsylvania (ABE): 55 miles
  2. Chicago O'Hare (ORD) - Milwaukee (MKE): 67 miles
  3. Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina (GSP) - Charlotte (CLT): 76 miles
  4. Greensboro, North Carolina (GSO) - Charlotte (CLT): 82 miles
  5. Philadelphia (PHL) - Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (MDT): 83 miles
  6. Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) - Waco, Texas (ACT): 89 miles
  7. Charlotte (CLT) - Columbia, South Carolina (CAE): 89 miles
  8. Philadelphia (PHL) - Baltimore (BWI): 90 miles
  9. Charlotte (CLT) - Asheville, North Carolina (AVL): 92 miles
  10. Philadelphia (PHL) - New York (JFK): 94 miles

Source: American Airlines. Flights based based on regularly scheduled flights during the carrier’s December schedule. Next update: March 2020.

For more info about the airline, check out TPG's American Airlines by the numbers post.

Featured image by (Photo by JT Genter/The Points Guy)

Top offers from our partners

How we chose these cards

Our points-obsessed staff uses a plethora of credit cards on a daily basis. If anyone on our team wouldn’t recommend it to a friend or a family member, we wouldn’t recommend it on The Points Guy either. Our opinions are our own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by our advertising partners.
See all best card offers