Originally Posted by
GadgetFreak
I’m pretty sure I remember doing it many years ago in JFK-NRT. I flew that route a number of times and on this one we went almost due north out of JFK to just south of the North Pole then down into Siberia and turned east to NRT. I think the pilot even commented on the unusual flight path that trip.
JFK-NRT goes TO Japan from the US, and indeed can benefit from polar routes when the jetstream over the Pacific is dialed up. But, the reverse direction is what we've been discussing here.