Why Don't Planes Fly Over the Pacific Ocean?

Imagine a resident of Los Angeles determined to enjoy a vacation in Tokyo. For an average of $800 (without searching too hard) they can go to one of the world's most interesting cities and return in two weeks. The first thing anyone imagines is a straight-line flight across the Pacific, but the truth is that most flights head north, approaching Alaska and the Bering Sea. Why? The reasons are... quite logical.

Flying can be a unique experience, or a real torture depending on each person and the situation. It's not the same as crossing the world and being devoured by jet lag, than going on vacation to a place with wonderful weather and even better prices. However, airlines are creatures with their own will. Delays, lost luggage, last-minute changes... we all want to travel faster and spend less time on airplanes, but sometimes we have no alternative. At the same time, there are routes that at first glance seem strange and inefficient. For example, if we want to travel from the United States to Japan, it's very likely that the flight avoids a good part of the Pacific Ocean. Why?

Why the Detour?

In the first place, safety. When planning routes, it's very beneficial for everyone involved to maximize the number of available airports along the way. The number of emergencies relative to daily flights is very low, but there aren't many survival opportunities when a catastrophic failure occurs in the middle of the Pacific. But... that's not the main reason.

It all comes down to saving time and fuel. Yes, the most efficient is to fly in a straight line, but here the distortions of maps come into play. On a traditional Mercator projection it's very tempting to draw a straight line between Los Angeles and Tokyo; however, the Earth is a sphere. The curvature of the planet plus its "extra waist" at the equator (courtesy of its rotation) mean that "the shortest route" is not what we visualize in our heads.

Now, in some cases, flying over the Pacific is inevitable. For example, if you travel from Vancouver to Sydney, it's very likely that the flight passes near Hawaii... but it will cross the Pacific one way or another. If you want to learn more about flight routes, I recommend going to the FlightRadar24 portal and watching real-time updated flights.