USA to India traveling always eastward - save a day possible?

Edor

Getting there is half the fun, right! Starting to look at flights and costs (from west coast of USA) probably to Delhi or Mumbai round trip. Has anyone been able to travel from USA to India and then continue eastbound for the return home? By traveling always to the east and crossing the international date line from west to east, I was hoping, perhaps to save one calendar day and thus add to my actual time in India.

Most routes I have found from western USA to India on the outbound travel toward the east and then return traveling to the west.

Any thoughts, experiences? [However one does it, it is always a long flight duration. Even though most people experience more jet lag traveling from west to east, if I gain a whole calendar day by crossing international date line I expect that I'd still be ahead of the game if I can find an airline/route/price that works.]

MY SUMMARY
My thinking was definitely off, yet I have enjoyed all the posts in response and learned a bunch. Flying from India back to the western USA the only thing that counts is the actual number of hours of flight and layover time; the time zone and date line crossing, if any, is not relevant. Typically cost of a continuously eastward (or continuously westward) trip versus an out and back loop is more expensive from my little bit of research. Some posts indicate that jet lag is less if you travel from west to east; and others pointed out that prevailing winds (tail winds) when traveling east might make for shorter flight durations. I expect that unless I opt for a round-the-world ticket with a couple of layovers, I will do the simple out and back type flight since airlines set it up that way for their RT fares.

For those who want yet another "explanation", here it goes:
Leave India and travel west to the west coast of USA ...
Set watch back a total of 13 hours = - 13
Leave India and travel to the east to get to the west coast of USA ...
Set watch ahead a total of 4 hours = + 4
Cross international date line - set watch back 24 hours = - 24
Cont. east crossing time zones set watch ahead 7 hours = + 7
Net of watch setting traveling eastward = - 13
Hence the math gives the same result in either direction.

capt_mahajan

err, you can only save time provided you don't have to return to the US.

If you do, you lose the time you gained coming in, whichever direction you fly in.

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Edor

capt_mahajan Don't think your statement is true, but perhaps it is already too late at night my local time for me to make sense of all this.

What I am suggesting is that a typical round trip between USA and India is generally setup as an out and back loop e.g. outbound you fly to europe and onward to india and reverse this coming back hence you are flying west to east on the outbound; and east to west on the return. In this case no crossing of international date line. Alternatively for example you travel from USA to Bangkok and onto India and reverse on way back; outbound is west to east and return is east to west. You cross international date line once in each direction cancelling out the impact.

I am exploring:
Outbound traveling USA to europe and onward to India.
Then for return continuing east from India perhaps thru Bangkok connection and onward back to USA. By crossing international date line only once and doing it from west to east a calendar day would seem to be saved.

I am not looking toward stop overs, just a trip that is always moving from west to east. (My version of around the world in 80 days.)

Sorry to have to get so detailed but obviously my original post was probably not clear enough.

nycank

I gather you have never done this before ? Yes, I did it in the dark ages, when kai-tak was operational, and I can say that it does not save diddly-squat It was via HongKong and Singapore. And here is the reasoning why - It is not the international date-line it is elapse time that you have to watch for. If two people fly out at same time, one going east and one going west; and they arrive at the same time then how does the international dateline matter ?

Here is a real world example -

You fly from MAA (Chennai) on a Monday at 2:45 AM with a stop over in HongKong and arrive in San Francisco on the same Monday at 11:35AM {Cathay & American}

You fly from MAA on a Monday at 2AM with a stop over at Frankfort and reach SFO on the same Monday at 12:05PM the difference of half-hour. The layover in Frankfort being 45 minutes more than HongKong. {Lufthansa}

From Delhi(DEL) via HKG to SFO is about 9257 miles. From Delhi to SFO via Amsterdam(AMS) is about 9435 miles.

To add to your confusion..Once, Russia, China,India and US hammer out the flight path issues, the concept of flying east or west will be moot as it will be fly north over the polar route.

In the meanwhile do keep looking for an airline,route,price eastward that might get you from there to here and let us know what you come up with. On the other hand, if you were a mileage hoarder, flying east might be more beneficial if the stop-over is SIN

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obione980

No. Time is an absolute. If it takes you 15 hours to fly somewhere - you've lost 15 hours. Your relativity to the International Date Line may appear to save/lose you time - but it's not so.

Boston123

Yes, sometimes airlines might give you a price break, if you fly Round the World, in one direction. Also, flying west to east, you have the jet stream behind you( tailwinds), and the flying time is a little less ( e.g. New York to Frankfurt is 6.5 hours, while Frankfurt to New York can be 7.5 to 8 hrs).

Edor

Interesting and helpful; and yes I have never done this. As pointed out, it actual flight schedule that will rule including such things as in-flight duration and layover time versus cost, departure/arrival time convenience/lack of it.
Thanks again.

capt_mahajan

Yep.

If one just tries an exercise with an actual case, this becomes obvious.

What happens is, you lose or gain hours (1 hour for every 15 degree of longitude) going in any direction. Then, when and if you cross the dateline, you gain or lose a day. The day thing can throw you off, but it doesn't mean anything.

Edor

Explored a few around the world specialist websites. One of some interest to me is shown below, as stop overs in Kathmandu, Bangkok, Hong Kong would be of interest, however this airfare is about $600 more than simple RT from LA to Delhi. So much fun to play in the imagination.
Again, thanks for all of the ideas and input.


LA > London > Colombo > Delhi > Kathmandu > Bangkok > Hong Kong > LA - total cost $2,330

Airlines: Virgin Atlantic / Sri Lankan / Royal Nepal / China / Cathay

Notes: Arrivals in India may also be in Bangalore, Bombay, Madras or Trivandrum at no extra cost. Departures from India may be from Calcutta (as well as Delhi) at no extra cost.

Haylo

This is like thinking that changing the clocks in the summer gives you more hours of daylight...

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70s-80s overlander

In terms of jet lag, flying east is always the best -- so, yes, flying east on an around-the-world ticket would be the best if one has the money. [In general, military troops are flown across the world heading east for this reason.]

For myself, the preference is flying west on the way to India and flying east on the way from India -- as I figure I can recuperate after landing in India but I need to get back to work after landing in my home country.

This approach also makes sense since one should seek the morning sun upon arrival if flying west -- and most arrivals in India end up depositing one on the street before sun rise, whereupon one can start the day early then go to bed early that evening, thus more quickly accommodating to Indian time. Likewise one should seek the afternoon sun upon arrival if flying east -- and ideally one would leave India at a time that would deposit one back in one's home country in the afternoon.

Hal

If you can find a flight which goes close to light speed you could save some time, and age a bit less on your trip.

thirdreel

I suppose the easiest way to disprove it is this: imagine you keep a clock in your luggage, set to your home time zone. It remains in working order while you travel, and you don't remove it until you get home. No matter which direction you go, the clock will still be correct when you get back. So if you're away from home for 500 hours, it doesn't matter whether you cross the date line, because the clock will still show that you missed 500 hours at home.

If you have a specific reason to want to be a certain place on a certain day, there are ways to game the system, but I think it's easier with the hour at a time you pick up going West than the 24 hour jump at the dateline plus the hours you lose. But unless you think it would be really special to be in Delhi on a Sunday afternoon then be able to go to work (jet-lagged to hell) Monday morning, well, I suppose you could make it work.

I've heard that about eastward jet lag, but it hasn't matched up with my (admittedly limited) experience. For me it's been more about timing. If I sleep on the plane, then wake up to get off the plane and go do stuff, then after a few hours go to bed, it's not that tiring. If I sleep on the plane, then wake up and go to the hotel, then try to sleep because it's late at night, that's when jet lag is killer.

Alohaguy

ThirdReel, that is the best explanation I have heard / read so far! You should be a teacher.

Boston123

But didn't Phileas Fogg, in 'Around the world in 80 days', gain a day when he landed in landed in London,travelling west to east, and barely win his bet ??