17.40 by 'bus? Interesting. Certainly at UAL we don't have any contract language or crewing arangements to fly "sked" past 16 hours. We kind of fall off the edge of the world once we get past 16 hours.
Listened to a Boeing guy the other day, talking about how the Sonic Cruiser will fly LHR - SYD non-stop. If that really were to be the case, I imagine it would be up around 19 or 20 hours, if they stay subsonic.
Those King Size crew beds had better have gooood mattresses!