Why is return flight quicker?

The reason it took so much longer to fly back is the jet stream, a river of fast-moving air high up in the sky. Jet streams are usually about 100 miles wide. Jet streams generally blow from the west to the east around the Earth, often following a meandering, curved path just like a river on land.

Why are west to east flights faster?

Since the jet streams flow from the west to east, they make one leg of the journey much faster (when flying with the stream) and one slower (against the stream). Even on shorter transcontinental flights between cities New York and Los Angeles, jet streams can impact the flight time by nearly an hour.

Why does it take longer to fly south than north?

Since the equator gets more sun than any other part, it will always have warmer air rising towards the north or south poles. This warm air just goes around the globe from north to south and back again. Since the globe is always rotating, the fragments closest to its axis move slower compared to those farther.

Does Earth’s rotation influence flight time?

The rotation of the Earth has no direct significant effect on flight times in either direction. As others have already said, since the Earth’s surface is (very nearly) spherical and is rotating rather than moving linearly, Coriolis effects can be significant.

What is the difference between outbound flight and inbound flight?

the outbound flight is the flight to the destination and the inbound flight is the flight back to the origin city. In a normal roundtrip flight, where a traveler is going to one destination and returning to the place they came from, the outbound flight is the flight to the destination and the inbound flight is the flight back to the origin city.

Are you prepared to pay more for a one-way flight?

Most airlines persist in the practice of charging much more for a one-way flight than a return that happens to include a Saturday night. With some apparently prepared to pay, who can blame them? Canny passengers buy a return and throw away the return half – though technically this is breaching the rules.

What happens if you buy a return ticket but fly only outbound?

(Error Code: 100013) When the traveller buys a return ticket but flies only the outbound segment, as my friend would be doing, technically he is liable to pay the difference in price between a return and a one-way. But I am unaware of any airline pursuing them for the difference in fare.

Why do airlines offer the cheapest flights on weekends?

So the lowest prices were made available only to people who bought return flights and stayed away over a Saturday night – with the presumption that business travellers would always want to be home for the weekend. Airlines sought to extract as much as they could from the company that was funding the trip.