How come my eastbound flight is actually longer than my westbound one?
You'd think that since weather moves west to east, the winds do, too, and therefore, it'd always be faster to fly east, 'cause you'd have a tailwind. This has held true in the two previous times I've flown. But now, I have tickets from Atlanta to Tucson and back, and according to the itinerary (factoring in the different time zones as well), it will take around 3 hours to fly west to Tucson, but almost 5 hours to fly back east to Atlanta. Can anyone explain why this is? (And no, neither flight has any stops in the middle.)
Air Travel - 5 Answers
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1 :
There is no reason why non-stop flights of that length should have a two-hour difference based on direction -- I have a feeling that you have miscalculated the time difference. If you post your dates and arrival/departure times, perhaps someone could help you figure it out -- Daylight Saving time might be an issue, as most of Arizona doesn't observe it.
2 :
Could be just the time of day you are travelling. If you travel early, most flights are pretty much a straight shot. If you travel later inthe day, the plane may have to go around to avoid any other air traffic.
3 :
The only carrier that flies that route nonstop is Delta. When I pull up the flight info. on that route it shows a flight time of about 3 hours and 45 minutes each way (actual times depend on time of day and vary by a few minutes). Are you factoring in the fact that Arizona doesn't observe daylight savings time? For half of the year this puts them an hour off of the rest of their time zone, which would account for an hour each way on your flight times and would put travel in each direction at about 4 hours. Good luck!
4 :
Both the eastbound flights and westbound flights are scheduled for about 3:40, depending on the exact flight. The apparent "difference" is the change in time zones. Tuscon is three hours behind Atlanta during the summer and two hours behind in the winter.
5 :
I've checked several airlines, and the flight time to Tucson from Atlanta is 4:33; the return is also 4:33. There are three reasons for such a discrepancy. The higher the plane flies (and the longer the distance) the more effect the tailwind/headwind has on flight time. Also, air traffic control determines the flight path for each airline. The established airlines, like Delta, United etc. are assigned the shortest and fastest routes to their destinations, while the "newcomers" are routed along much longer paths to their destinations. But, the major thing affecting your flight time calculation is the fact that most places in Arizona DO NOT CHANGE TIME in the summer. As a matter of fact, Tucson stays on MST (Mountain Standard Time). So right now Tucson is 3 hours earlier than we are instead of the usual 2 hours.
Title : How come my eastbound flight is actually longer than my westbound one
Description : How come my eastbound flight is actually longer than my westbound one? You'd think that since weather moves west to east, the winds do...