Question 790568: Traveling in a plane from East to West & then West to East (without any wind resistance, not even the Jet stream) Which flight would take longer or would it take the same amount of time?
Answer by KMST(5347)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! If the air is not moving, it should take the same amount of time, because the plane moves with respect to the air and the ground.
Although the Earth is rotating, we are rotating with it, and it takes as much effort to move east as west.
If is the same as walking on a train. If you and a friend are standing on opposite ends of a moving train car, walking to your friend will take the same time, regardless of what direction the train is moving.
However, in the real world, the flight times would be different, and would appear to be different than they are because of two reasons.
1) There is always wind, which usually goes in a fixed direction, so usually one way is shorter than the other, and airline schedules reflect that.
2) When you reach your destination, your watch needs to be adjusted to the local time, because of the time difference. If you are flying from New York to Los Angeles, when you get there, you may feel ready to go to sleep, and if your watch tells you that it is 8 PM, it would be 8 PM in New York, but it would be only 5 PM in Los Angeles. If you travel West, you will have an extra long day.
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