Originally Posted by
Hamilton guy
I have flown YYZ - HKG and back several times and the route differences can be amazing. The "normal" route is up north then west over the Canadian arctic and down over eastern Russia and China, but I have seen differences as extreme as north east over northern Greenland over the high arctic and down over central Russia on one flight. On that flight there was a CX freighter pilot sitting next to me and he said that CX uses very sophisticated weather routing software to determine the most fuel efficient route for each flight.
This is great but scary too, the weather can be "unpredictable" and if your estimate of extra 10,000 miles is correct, and somehow the tailwind isn't there, will CX have enough fuel to make it?
Also, I know for a fact US traffic control now bans air pilots (and airlines) from changing routes as they fly to "catch a wind", citing safety issue of managing the airspace. I guess there isn't that many air traffic over the Pacific, but it does make me a little nervous on CX's willingness to be flexible in their air routes.