Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Unusual routing for LAX to HKG?

Instead of flying the great circle route, CX 883 recently flew almost due west along 32-33N until around 160E, when it changed course toward Taipei and Hong Kong. Was this an unusual routing?

I had a similar routing back in the mid 1990s on a daytime CX LAX-HKG flight. I had flown UA a few times before, and they'd always turn right and you could usually see the SFBA (at least the East Bay hills above the fog). On that CX flight I never thought I would see Point Conception on the right side. The plane just never turned right and kept flying west. Eventually it entered the South China Sea between Taiwan and Luzon.

Apparently in summer, the jet stream is around 50N-60N (instead of 30N-40N in winter), resulting in 100 knots of head wind right along the GC route. Comparatively, you can often get 20-30 knots of tail wind flying south of the subtropical high/ridge, or simply over the high/ridge where there's no wind.

That's the same route that SQ19 LAX-SIN usually takes.

I've flown that way a few times in the Summer. It always surprises me that we keep going straight after take off. Other times of the year we always follow the great circle route.

I wonder how much longer (in miles) the "straight" route is versus the great circle route.

LAX-HKG never flies the great circle route anyways. If it's not using this "Southern" route like it's doing this summer, it's usually hugging the coast up to Alaska - a route that's to the north of the GC route. Again to avoid hitting the jetstream headon.

I've flown that way a few times in the Summer. It always surprises me that we keep going straight after take off. Other times of the year we always follow the great circle route.


Yup, it's quite common in the summer actually. It's always a little odd to wake up somewhere over the pacific, look at the flightmap and not see any landmass, just a redlineof the flightpath across the screen...