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Doesn't this sort-of imply that they could do the same thing the other way also? Or are they already doing that by catching the polar jetstream at the top of the polar route?

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Last year a flight from JFK - LHR made a record crossing of 5 hours and 16 minutes by taking advantage of the jetstream:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1...

I'd assume it's not worth it from SFO though, as the polar route is so much shorter.

I fly SFO-LHR often. Sometimes the flights do actually take a southerly route (overflying New York) to take advantage of the wind. It's all a tradeoff of increased distance vs increased speed, depending on wind patterns on that day.

I was on a BOS-LHR flight once that picked up a good tailwind and we arrived well ahead of schedule, only to sit in a holding pattern for 30-ish minutes so we could land after the airport noise restrictions were loosened at 6am.

Super frustrating to fly over your house repeatedly when all you want to do is get home!

The wind goes the other way that way.

And so would the plane. That's why it's longer, so the Polar route is generally preferred.

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