Airplanetire From United States of America, joined May 2001, 1809 posts, RR: 3 Posted (10 years 9 months 3 weeks 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 1037 times:
I was just doing a search and Continental's EWR-HKG flight is scheduled as 15 hours and 40 minutes. The return leg is scheduled as 15 hours and 45 minutes. Why is it longer going eastbound? Also, how long is the actual flying time on these flights? On the UA ORD-HKG and HKG-ORD flights? Thanks!
Seiple From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 1, posted (10 years 9 months 3 weeks 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 1016 times:
The answer is simple and if you went into the schedules to look at most other flights, you'd find scheduled time different between flights at different times of day, even the same flight number on different days of the week, or routes on the opposite direction. The airlines pad the schedules. Congestion at Newark or Hong Kong is at different levels at different times of the day. Taxi times may be extended on the return due to it being in the midst of a bank of flights, or something along those lines. As for larger discrepancies, prevailing winds aloft often cause differences in flying time westbound versus eastbound.
Airplanetire From United States of America, joined May 2001, 1809 posts, RR: 3 Reply 2, posted (10 years 9 months 3 weeks 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 998 times:
I knew about the prevailing winds, but is the HKG-EWR leg actually longer in the air?
Seiple From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (10 years 9 months 3 weeks 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 988 times:
Depends on the actual flight on the actual day with the actual weather conditions to know what the actual flight time is. Some days longer, some days shorter.
Airplanetire From United States of America, joined May 2001, 1809 posts, RR: 3 Reply 4, posted (10 years 9 months 3 weeks 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 982 times:
Well, generally I mean. Thanks for the info on the taxiing times though. I never knew that.
Bombayhog From United States of America, joined May 2001, 554 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (10 years 9 months 3 weeks 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 894 times:
Although I'm not speaking from personal experience, I would imagine that eastbound would almost always be quicker in the air due to tail winds on that route. I've been on a number of NRT-JFK flights and they have always been at least an hour quicker in the air than in the opposite direction, going to NRT. But I wonder if, maybe, the fact that the flight is almost over the top of the earth means that tail/headwinds have less of an effect? Just a possibility I thought of.
STT757 From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 16260 posts, RR: 52 Reply 6, posted (10 years 9 months 3 weeks 2 days 18 hours ago) and read 844 times:
Im not sure if it's year round, but CO uses two different routes for the HKG flights.
The flight from EWR-HKG takes the polar 2 route straight North from EWR almost directly over the Pole then down Russia and across China.
The route from HKG-EWR takes the more conventional routing over Alaska and across Western Canada.
I think they do this because the winds are favorable on the return leg, and the Russian Governement charges for the use of the Polar route. So not using it both ways saves money.
Cba From United States of America, joined Jul 2000, 4530 posts, RR: 3 Reply 7, posted (10 years 9 months 3 weeks 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 800 times:
Remember, the flight time listed actually represents the time between when the aircraft pulls out of the gate and when it pulls into the gate at its destination.
ContinentalEWR From United States of America, joined exactly 13 years ago today! , 3762 posts, RR: 15 Reply 8, posted (10 years 9 months 3 weeks 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 770 times:
Good point Cba. Continental routinely pads its schedule on flights leaving Newark due to chronic congestion there and limited taxi way space. The problem has abated somewhat since 9/11, when airlines cut their schedules. Nevertheless, flights out of EWR are usually timed to be longer (10 to 25 mins) than their return legs. For example, EWR-BOS is typically listed as 1h25 mins but the actual air time is 39-45 minutes.
As for why HKG-EWR is longer. Not sure. But is five minutes all that important on a 15H + flight?
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From United States of America, joined May 2001, 1809 posts, 
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
Some days longer, some days shorter.
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