For me, rather than boarding long-haul flight, I would like to transfer at intermediate airports to go to as many destinations as I can in a limited time and money. I guess backpackers and poor travellers would prefer airport-hopping flights to long-haul flights. So, passengers who seem to board long-distance flight will be businessmen and the rich that don't mind paying much money on flight fare. Then, long-haul flights can be much more expensive than usual.
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/14/aviation/longest-flight-ultra-long-haul/index.html
