Why Your Flight to America Goes Over Greenland

First time I watched the little plane on the seat-back map head for Greenland on the way to LA, I genuinely thought we'd gone wrong. We hadn't.

Why do flights to the US fly over Greenland?

Because the Earth is round. The shortest path between two points on a globe is called a great circle, and for London to the US west coast, that path runs up towards the Arctic and back down over Canada. Greenland is just in the way.

Why does it look like a detour on the map?

Because most flat maps stretch everything near the poles. Greenland looks about the size of Africa on a lot of world maps, and it's nowhere near. That stretching makes the curved route look long and the straight-looking line look short, when it's the other way round.

Try it yourself. Get a globe, or a ball, and pull a piece of string tight between London and Los Angeles. It'll go up north.

Does every flight take the exact same route?

No. Airlines plan each flight around the winds on the day, so the line moves about. Heading west into the wind, a slightly different route can save time and fuel. But the general shape stays the same.

Does it make your flight cheaper?

Shorter routes burn less fuel, and fuel is one of the biggest costs an airline has. You won't see a discount for it, but it's one reason the route is the one it is.

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Photo: BMPanoramio, CC BY 3.0.