Originally Posted by theLuxuryTravelExpert

The flight path took us to the north of the globe, following a (sub)polar route. We flew north of Novary Zemlya (the big island north of Siberia) before reaching the Norwegian coast. This seems to be the standard route that BA flies on its return flights from Tokyo to London, while other airlines such as ANA and JAL seem to consistently follow a much more southerly itinerary for the same route (check it out yourself on Flightaware). I am puzzled by this, so if there’s an aviation expert or pilot reading this, please leave your expert opinion in the comments.