Flying around the world: Which direction is best?

score:3

There are two effects I'm aware of:

Flying westwards will lengthen your subjective days (because you're moving against the rotation of the earth and thus staying longer in the same "day" relative to the sun). For most people, this reduces the effects of jet lag - you have a longer day, which is effectively like staying up late and sleeping in, just that it's still early morning when you wake up.
Flying eastwards will often lead to shorter flight times due to winds caused by the rotation of the earth.
Neither direction will magically give you more time :-) When you travel westwards, your days are longer, but you will lose an entire calendar day when you cross the international date line, exactly compensating the lengthened days. If you travel eastwards, you have shorter days but when you cross the date line, you get the same calendar day twice -

this is the plot twist at the end of "Around the World in Eighty Days").

If you have the choice, the reduced jet lag is probably more desirable.

Michael Borgwardt 24212

Source: stackoverflow.com