re: The world's longest flight, 18hrs from Auckland to Qatar

Bangkok to Nola on our return trip was 5 flights, 30+ hours of flight time, and at least 40+ hours of airport & flight time combined.

That's what you get for booking the cheapest possible flight to Asia . I don't know if I can do that again though. I'd do the 16 hour leg on the way there 100 times again before I went through all that again.