I assume United is now using that new software to guide flight paths through cheaper airspace.

I'm fresh off UA 898 PEK-IAD, and the route was curious. The plane made a hard left turn quickly after takeoff to get the heck out of Chinese airspace for the nearest country. In this case, it was the home of yak's milk. We jetted straight for Mongolia (which is mostly the wrong direction on the way to IAD), and as soon as we crossed that little line on the screen, we did another quick turn to head north for the pole.

Inside Mongolia, we headed for the top right corner of the country to stay in their airspace as long as possible before crossing into Russian airspace for the trip over the top to Canada.

I didn't notice any aberrations on the Canada-USA routing... straight down across Toronto.

Thought this was all very interesting, and I could only attribute it to the ATC cost savings scheme. Anyone else have an alternative explanation?

(FWIW, F service was good, very friendly FAs, quiet cabin, got lots of work done, enjoyed an uncharacteristically good filet mignon and glass of Shiraz.)