Why is it that flights are longer when flying west? For example, a
flight from Europe to the US is more than an hour longer than a flight
in the opposite direction (between the same two points). Why?
Note that I am not looking for educated guesses - I have come up with
many possible explenations. I am looking for the *right* answer,
preferably backed up by a respectable source.

Hello vered:

Thanks for the interesting question. The site weathernotebook.org has
the simplest, most well-explained answer for this question that I've
found.

Brainstorm Answer: Boston to Ireland and Back
URL: http://www.weathernotebook.org/transcripts/1999/09/17.html

The included maps are also a lot of help. 

Hope this helps. 

websearcher-ga


Search Strategy (on Google):

flying west east time headwind

What I asked for, and very fast.