[ As an old Navy Flyer, you are right, slower conserves better, but ONLY at altitude. the turbofans on most kets today do not reach full efficiency until they are above FL300 and become really efficient above FL400. What you want is the lowest pounds per hour for the highest speed (of course weight plays into this, along with quite a few other factors). Also the airlines have been light loading fuel (destination plus reserve) rather than putting a full fuel load on for years to save weight. [/QUOTE]

You bring up an interesting comment that I have often wondered about. If the engines are much more efficent above FL400 why don't United jets fly higher. I realize that the planes may not be able to get that high on intitial climb due to the weight of the aircraft but surely it could about half way, and I realize the jetstream altitude play a factor in flight planning. I've been on lots of transcon 777s that seem to be between FL 300 and FL 340. Are UA's planes just not capable of the higher altitiude - I figured that the 319s, 320s, and 777 would be. When I listen to Ch9 I often hear WN pilots asking for altitudes higher than the UAL flight - especially up an down the west coast.