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Source: https://www.quora.com/Why-is-there-...the-to-fro-flights-from-New-York-to-Hong-KongAs the other answer said time differences between East and West bound flights are not due to Earth's rotation but due to prevailing winds. This causes the East bound segments of most Trans-Pacific flights to 1-3 hours shorter than the West bound segments. NYC-HKG is somewhat unusual in that the difference between segments is only about 30 minutes. For example looking at scheduled block times on Cathay Pacific LAX to HKG is about 15.5 hours while NYC to HKG is about 16 hours. However, HKG to NYC is about 15.75 hours while HKG to LAX is about 12.5 hours. The explanation for this is that both segments of LAX to HKG fly over the Pacific so the direction of the prevailing winds has a large effect on flight time. HKG to NYC also flies over the Pacific although more Northernly than HKG to LAX while NYC to HKG often takes a Polar route and so is not as subject to the prevailing winds. The exact routes depend on daily wind conditions but you can look at flightaware to get a good idea of typical routings.