Lately the jetstream has dipped significantly, producing headwinds in excess of 160kts for westbound travel, causing major headaches especially for flights headed to Southern California, LAS, and PHX.

My colleague's EWR-LAX on Thursday took well over 6 hours (738) but did not require a fuel stop. A320s, however, are being severely limited on westbound transcons and many flights over the last few days have been stopping en route to take on fuel. The A319 fares a little bit better, but JetBlue, with their all-A320 longer haul operation (very heavy as well, with 166 seats) has been gettin hammered. Heck, DL's MD-88s are barely able to make PHX from ATL! It's times like these I appreciate the fact that the 737NG has longer legs than its counterparts, and I'm sure the winglets don't hurt either.

The airlines are adapting as best they can, DL and AA are trying to swap 738s for MD-8x on the routes most affected, and UA flyers may see 757s on some regular A320 flights for the time being.