Originally Posted by
FedUp2
That is because AA studiously avoids Iranian air space; whenever I have flown on AA to DEL, I have noticed the plane taking a sharp left turn at the southern tip of Kazakhstan and giving Iran a wide berth. Presumably, AI has no such problem in overflying Iran.
Agree 100% that the lack of AI's affiliation to a recognized alliance stops a lot of people from flying them
Hmm ... why would AI go out of its way to go a longer route to go over Iran. When I first saw the map it looked weird. AI takes a more southerly route just hitting the southern tip of Greenland and then goes over Moscow etc. AA OTOH goes further north almost to the north end of Greenland and then comes down.
AA is 300 miles shorter (and roughly 1 hour less time). Still dont get why any airline would *choose* to go a longer route (more fuel burnt, longer flight time etc). The return for AI is almost 16 hours (AA return flight is 14 and half hours).
Something is fishy here
. Since both do over parts of greenland and Russia it isnt as if there should be any permissions issue. 300 miles is a lot. An hour of extra time is a lot. Wonder who got kickbacks here