When flying from the uk to america, would the outbound flight last longer than the inbound flight?

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Nukie

Due to the rotation of the earth, upper winds are predominantely west to east, and at the altitudes that jets travel, those winds can cause anywhere from 80 to 120 miles per hour (or more) head winds. When considering most passenger jets travel around 500 mph through the air, you can see why the winds will slow you down going west, and help you considerably going east. The same is true going from Los Angelos to New York. That's the simple answer.

Pilots use some strategies to deal with head winds. One being to increase cruise speed moving into a head wind, as the increased fuel burn caused by going faster will be overcome by the fact that the aircraft will be exposed to the headwind for less time. In a tail wind, reducing cruise speed decreases fuel burn, and lets the aircraft "ride" the tail winds for a longer period of time, reducing fuel used.

Regardless, it still takes a considerable amount more time to fly west than it does east. Hope this helps.

Sue

If you are confused by the times on your ticket/itinerary consider that the times are given in local time and factor in the time differences.

geoff b

Generally the answer is yes - due to the jet stream effects - which are west to east.
Flight corridors are higher west to east - i.e 37,000 feet and lower east to west 33,000 feet.
The higher the flight the greater the tail wind / head wind depending on direction. I was once on a flight from US to UK, the flight was late - the pilot went looking for the best tail wind 42,000 feet, needless to say we arrived early.

bibounet0909

Hummm i think it is easy answer... Because the Earth is turning on itself from East to West... so obviously if you are flying West to East it is shorter...
that is the only reason why... of course wind, bla bla bla, but that is not the only reason

xaulleo

Yes possibly. I have found this quite a lot when travelling to and from the west coast of the US and the reason given is a tailwind. It's always nice to get home earlier than expected!

john r

It is possible to add or subtract as much as 45 minutes to the journey if the winds are favourable some pilots search for a favourable wind or try to avoid a head on wind

mastinox

You may have had a tail-wind.

ffordcash

High altitude jet streams help going one way.

BOO!

Tail wind and time difference.

gypsy

yes, i fly from uk to north carolina every year and going to the usa it usually takes around 9 hours for me to get there but coming back to uk its usually around 71/2 hours flying due to tail winds

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